PIN Solicitation is a turnaround form which allows a cardholder to request a personal PIN number. As customers can now change their PIN number at the ATM it is rarely used anymore.

A form, sent to the cardholder contains a reference number (an encrypted account number). The cardholder enters the requested PIN and returns it to the issuer.

An operator enters the requested PIN number and the reference number into the HSM via a console, which would have been enabled for this function by a Host command.

As the customers’ name and address would not be on the form the operator would not have any way of knowing who requested the PIN.

A perceived security risk exists if only one solicitation form is entered and encrypted, therefore these forms are entered as a batch to reduce this possibility.

When the details of sufficient mailers are input and the PIN Solicitation Batch size, (which is a minimum), reached or exceeded the operator would inform the officer in charge who would then send a command to the HSM.

This would request that the HSM process these multiple entries so alleviating the possibility of fraudulent activity.