answer:Similar experience with my bank account online, sadly. I have a very common last name, and was one of the first to join my (large US institution) bank’s online banking program when it started oh..I don’t know, well over 8 years ago. So, my user name was my first initial and (very very common) last name. Apparently, someone else who likely has a similar name—but perhaps has a number at the end of their user name (e.g. if mine were jsmith, they might’ve been jsmith9) tried logging in several times..and it caused me to be locked out of MY user name. To say I was pissed is putting it mildly. I found out, half-way round the world, when I attempted to log on to pay my Visa bill while on a work trip in the UK and was told that: “Too many attempts to log in to your account with your account name have occurred. Please go to your local branch to reset your account.” Not an option for me – and when I called their helpline (at my expense, because I couldn’t use an 800 number from London) they were unable to help. Luckily my husband could still get into our accounts with HIS user name and password – -so he just did the online banking (paid our visa bill, transferred funds for me) in the meantime. I think I wrote a nasty letter to the bank’s IT department about how some other user’s failure to remember THEIR user name should not have inconvenienced me.