I've been extremely cautious about using my computer to access financial accounts since my bank account was hacked and $30k was transferred without my consent a couple of months ago. Although the bank made me whole the experience was unsettling at best. Schwab is the custodian of the vast majority of my holdings and I read the following from Schwab as I was considering using an aggregator like Personal Capital/Empower:
The Aggregator and Those They Work With Are Your Authorized Persons. You agree that by instructing us to share your Account Information with an Aggregator, you are authorizing any activity that the Aggregator undertakes as a result, even if you did not anticipate that activity. This includes activities by the aggregator, its employees and agents, and the financial apps and companies with whom the aggregator does business and will share your Schwab Account Information. You understand that sharing Account Information could potentially expose you to increased privacy and security risks, including fraud and unauthorized transactions.
I have decided to not use an aggregator because of these security concerns as Schwab makes it clear that if your aggregator gets hacked and your login information compromised and your money is stolen well that's your problem and there's no recourse against Schwab. Maybe I'm being paranoid but when my bank account was hacked I had 2FA in place, used a unique password generator, had a VPN, had up-dated malware and virus software, etc. and they still got into my account. It's my understanding that these aggregators don't have access to your login information when they share data but I also thought I did everything right to avoid the hack and it still happened.
Do you guys use an aggregator? If so, how do you protect your accounts?
The Aggregator and Those They Work With Are Your Authorized Persons. You agree that by instructing us to share your Account Information with an Aggregator, you are authorizing any activity that the Aggregator undertakes as a result, even if you did not anticipate that activity. This includes activities by the aggregator, its employees and agents, and the financial apps and companies with whom the aggregator does business and will share your Schwab Account Information. You understand that sharing Account Information could potentially expose you to increased privacy and security risks, including fraud and unauthorized transactions.
I have decided to not use an aggregator because of these security concerns as Schwab makes it clear that if your aggregator gets hacked and your login information compromised and your money is stolen well that's your problem and there's no recourse against Schwab. Maybe I'm being paranoid but when my bank account was hacked I had 2FA in place, used a unique password generator, had a VPN, had up-dated malware and virus software, etc. and they still got into my account. It's my understanding that these aggregators don't have access to your login information when they share data but I also thought I did everything right to avoid the hack and it still happened.
Do you guys use an aggregator? If so, how do you protect your accounts?
Statistics: Posted by Thomas3857 — Mon Jul 01, 2024 5:00 pm — Replies 8 — Views 786