So far I hate home banking

So, after much discussion with my personal tech stalkies, The Canuck and DJ, I decided to try online banking.

So far, I hate it.

First I had to fill out a form and snail mail it to my credit union.

Then they sent me back a piece of paper with my pin number (great. another number to remember.)

I log on and try to get going, with The Canuck on the phone from Canuckia for support, only to find out that there's another step, and I have to wait until they email me to tell me it's OK to start.

(Can you hear the "24" clock ticking in the background, as the due date for my bills comes closer and closer?)

Then, I start asking questions that The Canuck doesn't know the answer to, since, as has been pointed out in other places, Canada is in fact a foreign country, and that becomes blatantly obvious when it comes to things like banking (and Beer Stores).

So I have to wait until today to try again from home. I know better than to try and do this on my lunch, because if you attempt to log in from strange computer, they will want to know the answers to the confirmation questions, which are not easy questions like What is your mom's maiden name? What hospital were you born in; but rather, quantifiable questions like what is your favorite food (all depends on what day of the month it is, buddy my pal), who is your favorite band? (I dunno. Does it have to be a rock band?) You can see how this might cut into my lunch and complicate things.

So I wait until I get home. I purposely don't start any other projects because I want to get this done, when I realize that my complete lack of a filing system in my new place is not helping the situation. Of course, the fact that I have actual panic attacks about forgetting to pay a bill and getting evicted from my home doesn't help either.

Anyway, after much looking through my pile o'paper and checking and double-checking the bills that I have paid (last month), I sit down again, at 10 pm, with my stack of bills in my hand, ready to go.

AND I CAN'T GET ON TO THE STUPID SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This stinks!

Plus I am so scared that a bill is not going to get paid. I'm not kidding. It really has me freaked out.

Do you think it's too late to back out of this now? I'm someone who has done email statements in the past, only to cancel it after a couple of months because I'm certain the Kremlin is monitoring my statements.

I don't like feeling not in control of when and how things get paid. I don't like worrying that I'm going to get hacked. I don't like that I have now spent HOURS on this and yet NONE OF MY BILLS ARE PAID.

I hate this. Make it stop.