walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays) (05/08/90)
In article <7198@crdgw1.crd.ge.com oplinger@minerva.crd.ge.com (B. S. Oplinger) writes: > I sent in the info to set up the account, and after a month of use, > I'll post a follow-up and let people know what I think. Good News I bought CheckFree version 1.5 from SoftView 3/13; they set up my accout a couple weeks later. Purely as a checkbook program it is very nice, automates much of the work of entering transactions, does some error checking without getting in your way or forcing you to adopt someone else's idea of budgeting, and uses the Mac interface quite well. You can even choose IRS form and line numbers for budget categories, and export to Macintax at the end of the year, which will start filling out your taxes for you. (I tried it with dummy data.) Even without EFT it would *almost* be worth it. Bad News No EFT. Customer support confirmed the communications software for the Mac and any modem is broken. They expected a fix 3 weeks ago, but no word yet, nor any reply to my letter. Meanwhile they sent through an EFT withdrawal for $2.10 payable to themselves with no explanation. Now $2 is considerably short of Keating-class bank sleight-of-hand, but is another indication they just don't have their act together. I'll try once more to contact them, and if I get a reasonable response I'll stick with it, because it definitely looks like it will be a great system if they can fix the s/w. Otherwise, I'll return it and ask them to call me when they're really open for business. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My opinions are my own. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. UUCP: {pyramid,sri-unix,ingr}!garth!walter (415) 852-2384 USPS: Intergraph APD, 2400 Geng Road, Palo Alto, California 94303 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rtp1@tank.uchicago.edu (raymond thomas pierrehumbert) (05/09/90)
>Bad news >No EFT. No, that's good news. Your savings are safe. Did you read the fine print? You have absolutely unlimited liability for unauthorized withdrawals of any amount (even more than you have in your bank account, even, say $100000), up until the time you inform CheckFree that you suspect something wrong. They will even help your bank defend itself if you sue it for improper withdrawal. What awesome security measures protect you from this unlimited liability? (1) The hope that nobody can find out your address and social security number, (2) The hope that no criminal can get a copy of the CheckFree software. (Gues they don't have phones, so they can't order through the 800-number). (3) I mighty password of ...FOUR DIGITS. Not even letters and digits. Even without getting fancy, a thief could break into your account solo in a year by trying three passwords a day. Your password is sent to you ON PAPER, and you have no way to change it online. This all spells TROUBLE to me, with a capital TROUBLE. I am shocked that this service lacks the customer protection that is a key part of the bank card and credit card business. . :
rtp1@tank.uchicago.edu (raymond thomas pierrehumbert) (05/09/90)
>...By trying three passwords a day...
Sorry, I meant by trying THIRTY passwords a day. Slip of the key.
So, maybe s/he might need to recruit ten friends to help
break your account, of s/he were feeling lazy.