I have two ATM cards, one for personal and one for work. One of them is a meaningful number but the other I seem to recall best by pattern.
It was really awkward one day when I was with a friend and he was driving, and I had to tell him my PIN to use my card. I couldn’t remember it at all (that’s the one I know by pattern). Then, I got out of the car and tried to do it myself and I STILL couldn’t do it. I actually know that # to that one a little better now. At least where it starts.
My PIN was originally the alarm code at the first place I ever worked. It’s a random number and since I’d already memorized it I used it for my first PIN when I opened my first checking account.
I chose my PIN for my only debit/ATM card, and it is, against the advice of security people, a birthday.
It is, however, not my birthday, nor that of anyone I’ve ever met. Whose birthday is known only to me and my mother (who knows the number) and even if someone could figure out that my PIN is the birthday of someone within the organization that the person is a part of, they’d have to figure out which person in that organization’s birthday I chose, and in what form. It feels reasonably secure.
I have never used an ATM, nor do I wish to.
Yes, mine is a year that has special significance for me.
This. But also, it happened to be a pattern of numbers that I was planning on using anyway.
Numbers, I guess. I just remember it, though - I didn’t have to consciously memorise it; it’s only four digits.
If you have a fiddle around with the options when you’re withdrawing money, you might find one that lets you change your pin.
Wow - I doubt anyone in Britain could say that unless they were under 16 or had some disability stopping them from using an ATM.
STOP!! IT’S A TRICK BY THE OP TO STEAL OUR ATM PIN!!
It’s a little ususual.
That’s just weird. Do you prefer to keep your excess cash in a matress or jars burried in the backyard?
A magical one perchance? That is what mine references, a rather magical time in my life. 
The pattern on the keypad.
If I try to type in a phone PIN on a keyboard or vice versa, it takes forever because my fingers go to the 1 when they should go to the 7 &tc. And one of my phones has a circular keypad. Typing in PINs there is nearly impossible.
Once you have a single PIN memorized (i.e. the one you always had), you can easily write down all of your others on a business card, without worry.
Just add your favorite PIN to the new one using “clock” math (a.k.a. modulo math) and write down the result. The explanation sounds more complicated that it really is.
Example: My favorite PIN is 2855
I have a new PIN that is 9123
1978 <— Write this down in your wallet.
Now, when you need to decode the number, reverse the process, with modulo subtraction instead. Do each digit in isolation, with no borrowing:
9123 <-- decoded PIN
Note that in this example, the first digit is (1 - 2). Just add 10 if the result is negative.
Sounds more like a joke about urban life, probably from some sitcom.
Any ne’er-do-well who can pick a lock has studied them enough to know exactly which direction will unlock a lock and which will lock it. They even have special gadgets for quickly spinning the cylinder in the opposite direction from the way they picked it, in case it was much easier to pick in the “wrong” direction.
Bank of America Military Bank gives the option of specifying the PIN or having a random one issued with the card. I did the former with my current debit card; it’s the first four numbers from my previous card.
Huh. In Japan they’ll rearrange the keyboard numbers, presumably to deter people watching you put in your number and seeing which buttons you pushed. Heck, the lock on my work building flips the numbers around all the time too. So the keyboard thang wouldn’t work here.
This worked for me with my Very Firstest PIN Ever. It happened to be the Post Code where a friend lived. So, easy peasy. Sadly for me, every PIN since has meant nothing, so I’ve had to resort to remembering the actual digits.
I only have one debit card, and no pins on my CC. Why would you need a pin on a credit card, anyway? Our pin for our debit cards is one my husband has had forever. I memorized it years ago.
I have a secret panel in my head.:dubious:
Mine is based on letters. So I remember it by the letters.
I have it written on my forehead and I ask the cashier to input it for me.
I don’t remember if you Yanks have this, but in Canada our ATMs have letters over the numbers, kinda like you do on a touch tone phone.
So yeah, I spelt a word. Option three.