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I just went to the SSA website. Under a list of topics for those who wish to use the website, it says, "We offer the choice..." and gives info on how, if you CHOOSE to, you can get extra security for your online account, by having them send you a code by text message, which you enter on the website.
THIS IS NOT MANDATORY. FREE CHOICE ONLY!
Please go over to the SSA website and check it out for yourself. You do not need to log in to view this information!
From what I known of seniors on fixed income, this idea is a horrible FAIL.
I don't know a single person over 65 who TEXTS. AT ALL.
As other posters have already pointed out, although not exactly in the same way, your statement says a lot more about the particular social circle you inhabit than it does about the actual percentage of people over 65 who text. I find it amazing that you know only seniors who do not text - how did you manage that?
It would be interesting, although it is probably unknowable, to know the percentage of people of various ages who do not text. Obviously the percentage would go up as the age brackets in question go up. If you said you didn't know a single person over 90 who texts, I would believe that. Statistics on ownership of cell phones which allow texting would not be measuring the numbers of people who actually text, because some may have been given such phones by their children in the vain hope that they would learn to use them. About three decades ago, my sister gave my mother a VCR and instructed her in its use. How many times did my mother use it? ZERO. She had a phobia about learning anything new. She had had the same car for years, and when I would visit her she would ask me to reset the car's clock to reflect daylight savings time or standard time; this sometimes occurred months after the time change. But my mother had two master's degrees. Go figure.
If already receiving SS, wouldn't it be rare to need to access your online account?
Once we are up and running, that is, receiving our monthly Social Security retirement benefit payments, there is very little call for going online. I can think of only two reasons (and maybe other posters will think of more):
1. You have moved and you need to change your address.
2. You have changed banks and need to change the electronic depost info.
Neither situation happens very often, and one can always go in person to an office to take care of it. That's less convenient, for sure - some folks may even need to get a ride - but it's very doable.
Why not email the code to the recipient? I'm planning on retiring in Thailand. Do you think I'll be able to get a code to my place in the hills? I doubt it. What a bunch of clowns do we have running our government! Who thinks up this crap? Maybe I should just stop paying my taxes until we get some people in Washington that are not a bunch of bobble-heads!
One thing that might help would be a website where you could sign up for a text message number and give them an email address to always forward your text messages to. That would be especially useful if you could turn it on and off at that website. Turn it on when you're expecting text messages and turn it off when you're only expecting spam.
One problem with cell phones is that a lot of seniors have trouble reading the small print. On a computer monitor you can make the print any size you want it.
The best way to solve problems caused by big organizations such as SSA and Fidelity is to use technology to work around their stupidity. The kind of website mentioned above is that kind of solution.
Not to mention all the people who don't have smart phones or texting ability. At least an email option would have been better. This tells me they either
a) did NO user research on what this demographic wanted,
b) they did the research very poorly, or
c) they just plain disregarded it and let some consultant talk them into it!
I have online access to every financial account (bank, brokerage, utilities, etc. etc.) I deal with and not one of them require only texting to access the account, but have other security like additional questions or a form that's physically mailed to your current address giving alphanumeric string of 3 characters to input. I don't know the name for the numbers process but basically every time you login, the website provides two numbers, then you look up on your paper form the alphanumeric string that corresponds to the two numbers, then input that string of characters. I think this process is far superior to text. SS could send you this form by mail to your address of record, and require you to authenticate that way or by text or by security question, whatever is most convenient for you. Plus the form can be printed out oversized to help with seniors who can't see up close anymore.
If I wanted to, no doubt I could access my ex's SSA account. I know which passwords he would use and could answer every security question asked. And yes, I could access his email account as well. What I could not do is intercept the code sent via text.
One thing that might help security would be for the SSA to send you an email message every time you log in. The usual "if that was you, no problem. But if it wasn't you, please contact us."
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Here's a thought!
