Haha, I remember griping about two-factor authentication last summer after we moved and knowing this is a pain point of yours too. My bank (which I like for all other things) sends a six-minute text if you want to log in on your PC. Better make sure you don't live farther than 5 minutes from a strong enough signal such that you can get home and input the code before it expires. Luckily they only started the mandatory two-factor bullshit right after we returned from Bahrain because I can only surmise how that would have worked (I had a US VOIP number while overseas, but guess what? No one will send a text to a VOIP.)
While I hate two-factor in all contexts, I especially hate it in cases where I can't gauge its usefulness. I assume that you OWE money to Canada. It's not like someone else is going to log in and pay it for you. So why bother? Because it has your personal information? That's the whole damned internet.
And you're right, it makes things unnecessarily difficult for people who move and/or change phone numbers or email addresses. I had a situation with a bank that had been acquired by another bank and had somehow lost my login email address, wouldn't text my (cell) phone number on file because it's the secondary number on my family phone account, and when I'd moved a year earlier I hadn't updated my physical address (because I couldn't log in due to the aforementioned problems). However, they had my social security number and the bank account information from the bank I'd funded the account with 13 years earlier, so don't give me any bullshit about things being "more secure" that way. I closed that account and don't intend to ever do business with the acquiring bank if I can help it.
I hope you have a better experience than we expect.
Oh no! Expiring text messages! I've had that problem too. Some places still use email-based 2FA and that's really annoying because sometimes their email server doesn't send out the email quickly enough, so by the time it gets to the head of the queue and is sent out, it's passed the deadline before which you are supposed to use the code. I think Steam (the gaming service) is notorious for that, where sometimes i end up with 10 emailed codes in my inbox before i finally got one in a short enough time that i can actually log in. Infuriating.
Fortunately it turned out dealing with the CRA was easier than expected. I made the call from Skype, so i didn't need to use my phone, and after answering a bunch of security questions i was able to confirm my identity to the point where they reset my 2FA to a passcode grid. I'm not sure how that's especially different from a password, since i am just going to store the passcode grid in my password manager anyway, but whatever. At least i can log in now. Best part is... the message was a refund for $1900!
That's a great resolution! Hopefully you won't have to deal with them again for a long time... except by then the password grid will have expired and you'll have to do the whole rigmarole again. :-)
While I hate two-factor in all contexts, I especially hate it in cases where I can't gauge its usefulness. I assume that you OWE money to Canada. It's not like someone else is going to log in and pay it for you. So why bother? Because it has your personal information? That's the whole damned internet.
And you're right, it makes things unnecessarily difficult for people who move and/or change phone numbers or email addresses. I had a situation with a bank that had been acquired by another bank and had somehow lost my login email address, wouldn't text my (cell) phone number on file because it's the secondary number on my family phone account, and when I'd moved a year earlier I hadn't updated my physical address (because I couldn't log in due to the aforementioned problems). However, they had my social security number and the bank account information from the bank I'd funded the account with 13 years earlier, so don't give me any bullshit about things being "more secure" that way. I closed that account and don't intend to ever do business with the acquiring bank if I can help it.
I hope you have a better experience than we expect.
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Fortunately it turned out dealing with the CRA was easier than expected. I made the call from Skype, so i didn't need to use my phone, and after answering a bunch of security questions i was able to confirm my identity to the point where they reset my 2FA to a passcode grid. I'm not sure how that's especially different from a password, since i am just going to store the passcode grid in my password manager anyway, but whatever. At least i can log in now. Best part is... the message was a refund for $1900!
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