PDFs downloaded as "secured" But I have never created a password cannot unlock them

Hi, I came accross your post looking to find this feature in Acrobat itself (talking about bank statements also). I have a workaround for you all. It's called Small PDF. I have a yearly subscription and use it to "unlock" all of the secure bank statements I deal with (Accountant) so I can mark them up, make comments, etc. It's drag and drop web based interface and is super easy, no password needed to unlock. I wish Acrobat had this feature as well because as cool as it is (Small PDF) it has the same features as Acrobat and the Unlock feature is literally the only one I use from it. Good luck! 

This exact thing just happened to me!  I download charge card statments monthly from my chase app for the purposes of providing proof of payment for my heathcare visits.  Ordinarily, I redact account number and all other charges using markup, then I send them on with claim form.  However, for the first time ever, I can no longer access download to markup, instead receive an error message that to unlock, I need owners password.  I tried every password I could think of, ipad access, chase bank , adobe, apple, google, etc and nothing worked.  I called Chase yesterday and they told me they dont place a password recquirement.  i tried downloading directily to adobe reader, and exporting/transfering document from folder to adobe, didnt work.  however, I was able to successfully download without restriction using windows laptop.  windows is using a different pdf reader associated with their microsoft edge browser, which is fine, but mark up tools are limited.  seems like the problem lies with either apple pdf or adobe.  would love to fix this issue.

A secured PDF file is one that is protected against one or more actions by whoever created the PDF file. Quite often, financial institutions will protect PDF files of invoices, statements, etc. to prevent after-the-fact modifications of such files, possibly for criminal purposes. (This isn't conjecture. It actually happens. In one case, a non-profit that I did volunteer work with had to deal with an employee submitting “doctored” PDF files of credit card statements.)

The only way to get pass that protection is for the originator of the PDF file, in this case your bank, to provide you with the password or with a set of non-protected PDF files. Quite frankly, that is not very likely.

That having been said, one “workaround” is to create a PDF Portfolio in Acrobat and copy the protected PDF files into that portfolio. The individual PDF files will still be protected, but they will conveniently appear in a single file.