Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Credit card issue also happened during my family vacation over the spring break. I found two unauthorized charges elsewhere on my Discover card and I notified Discover right away. A new card was sent the following day. In this case the embedded chip technology did not prevent the fraud. On the same trip, my Mastercard was refused in one location while it worked in other transactions. Lesson is that one need to review their credit card statement more than once a month and watch for unusual charges.
My Capital One account paid a balance transfer of 5K+ and no one but I noticed. Generally, if I buy a coffee out of town with the card I get texted. The "fraud" rep said alerts for transfers don't happen. Worse, she said the transaction was done by phone meaning the miscreant had a lot of info about me (address, phone #, SS #, and more). Of course the card was inactivated, I had to change all my bill pays and accounts, and they said to get the credit bureaus to do their schtick. They did, I'm OK, there have been no further attempts. The rep suggested adding another security code to the account for times when I need to call them. Scary stuff.
BenWP.. How does that happen ? Miscreant had to supply card Co. with transfer account number. If he did that wouldn't credit Co. then e-mail you for verification ? I was thinking of opening account with capital One , but will pass . Thanks for the info.
I have credit cards with and without chips. At many points of sale some card readers are not set up to use the chip technology so the card must be swiped through the strip reader. At others I must use the chip even if the traditional swiping function is available because the machine rejects the swipe. Bottom line I'm not sure who is responsible for fraudulent card use, the vendor or the card reading machine or a combination of both. Vigilance is prudent.
In my case, the Discover card has an embedded chip but the gas station where I bought gas does not have chip reader. Instead it requested to have the magnetic strip swiped. Since the card reader appeared normal, i.e. no wire or other hanging outside the card reader as a sign of tempering, I reluctantly swiped the card. On the same evening I checked my account where two unrelated charges appeared. I then notified Discover two days later to cancel the card. Still chip readers are widely available yet and those that read the magnetic strip are most vulnerable.
Sometime when sizable charges in location outside the home address can also trigger the rejection of the credit card. Several time I called in to clarify the matter. So your usage pattern is tracked for security purpose.
I have been a victim of identity theft. To cut a long story short, I realized that credit card "protection" offers no protection. Just like Terminix does not protect against termites. You are paying for something that allegedly helps you manage the aftermath.
I never pay for credit card protection. In my case the problem was a rogue employee at the bank at which credit card was issued. I will spare you the details other than saying what happened to me there was no way to "protect" against it. When the very people you trust turn crooked there is nothing you can do.
This was my response to it. Hunker down. Buy cheap used car every 2 years. Don't get a loan. Eventually buy a house well within my means (no i don't have a home theatre). Luckily my wife's credit history was good and we got a mortgage. I gave up all my credit cards. Until 2 years back I ownly had ONE credit card. I needed the convenience for paying at the pump. I made it a point to carry cash - a habit that most of my family has as well. Don't keep too much cash, but when you know you will spend something use it instead. There's an ATM in every building, don't be lazy.
Now then let me tell you how I got my problem fixed. It took me 2 years. EVERY time I called the "bank" (which has ceased to exist now) I heard "the person you spoke with has left the bank, let's start over". EVERY month for around 22 months. I lost it.
I had kept good records. I remember paying $27 at Kinko's made photocopies of every piece of document, every conversation transcript (yeah I recorded my phone calls and transcribed them after the 6-7th call or so). I wrote a formal letter to the "bank" with all photocopies. Simultaneously I sent the same documents to 4 major newspapers (yeah in those days, people read newspapers). At the bottom of the letter I had the CC: with name of all Newspapers. Bank new which newspapers I had sent the same letter. Each newspaper knew the bank and the other 3 newspapers I had sent the letter.
5 days after I mailed the letter I received a call from the bank. Everything was taken care off. I should have done this the FIRST time instead of waiting 22 months.
I was automatically put on the "list". I had some inconveniences. For instance, I filled gas on my way to best buy to buy a hard drive. Couldn't use my credit card because "credit card thieves first test the card at gas station, and then...". I was not mad. Things were "working". After 7 years I got a call "Would you like to be taken off the list"? My reply - "No keep me on for another 7 years".
I never got call after 14 years. I guess that's the limit. Now I don't use cash anymore. I have 2 credit cards. I used one card for basic necessities. I use the other then I do something out of the ordinary, like buy a TV.
Sometimes I wonder if this episode actually helped me. My response to being a victim was not to navigate the system. It was to completely try and do without the system. No credit rating? Can't get a loan? Ask yourself, do you really need a new car? Do you really need to go on vacation? My answer was "NO". My family is AWESOME. Now we go on vacations. My credit score is fine. I and my wife have never even pulled our Free credit report. Why? We didn't feel the need.
Recently I received a letter in the mail that my kids (I kid you not) identities were stolen...
It never ends. For the first time (after my identity theft) I will be pulling credit reports for all of us including my kids. Maybe next week.
I have had fraudulent charges on a card that I only use rarely, occur the next day after I used the card at a wine store. There was no other source for the fraud than an employee at the store.
When I called the card company they couldn't care less. I protested saying it would be easy to identify the crook. Apparently it is cheaper for them to pay the fraud than investigate.
I have my card company email me after every single transaction so I know in real time when the account is used. Just set up an alert for "transactions over $0.01"
All our family members have credit freezes on their credit accounts. While not fool proof it prevents a lot of nonsense. The only inconvenience si you cannot open another credit account but why would you need another card?
Comments
I was thinking of opening account with capital One , but will pass . Thanks for the info.
Derf
Sometime when sizable charges in location outside the home address can also trigger the rejection of the credit card. Several time I called in to clarify the matter. So your usage pattern is tracked for security purpose.
I never pay for credit card protection. In my case the problem was a rogue employee at the bank at which credit card was issued. I will spare you the details other than saying what happened to me there was no way to "protect" against it. When the very people you trust turn crooked there is nothing you can do.
This was my response to it. Hunker down. Buy cheap used car every 2 years. Don't get a loan. Eventually buy a house well within my means (no i don't have a home theatre). Luckily my wife's credit history was good and we got a mortgage. I gave up all my credit cards. Until 2 years back I ownly had ONE credit card. I needed the convenience for paying at the pump. I made it a point to carry cash - a habit that most of my family has as well. Don't keep too much cash, but when you know you will spend something use it instead. There's an ATM in every building, don't be lazy.
Now then let me tell you how I got my problem fixed. It took me 2 years. EVERY time I called the "bank" (which has ceased to exist now) I heard "the person you spoke with has left the bank, let's start over". EVERY month for around 22 months. I lost it.
I had kept good records. I remember paying $27 at Kinko's made photocopies of every piece of document, every conversation transcript (yeah I recorded my phone calls and transcribed them after the 6-7th call or so). I wrote a formal letter to the "bank" with all photocopies. Simultaneously I sent the same documents to 4 major newspapers (yeah in those days, people read newspapers). At the bottom of the letter I had the CC: with name of all Newspapers. Bank new which newspapers I had sent the same letter. Each newspaper knew the bank and the other 3 newspapers I had sent the letter.
5 days after I mailed the letter I received a call from the bank. Everything was taken care off. I should have done this the FIRST time instead of waiting 22 months.
I was automatically put on the "list". I had some inconveniences. For instance, I filled gas on my way to best buy to buy a hard drive. Couldn't use my credit card because "credit card thieves first test the card at gas station, and then...". I was not mad. Things were "working". After 7 years I got a call "Would you like to be taken off the list"? My reply - "No keep me on for another 7 years".
I never got call after 14 years. I guess that's the limit. Now I don't use cash anymore. I have 2 credit cards. I used one card for basic necessities. I use the other then I do something out of the ordinary, like buy a TV.
Sometimes I wonder if this episode actually helped me. My response to being a victim was not to navigate the system. It was to completely try and do without the system. No credit rating? Can't get a loan? Ask yourself, do you really need a new car? Do you really need to go on vacation? My answer was "NO". My family is AWESOME. Now we go on vacations. My credit score is fine. I and my wife have never even pulled our Free credit report. Why? We didn't feel the need.
Recently I received a letter in the mail that my kids (I kid you not) identities were stolen...
It never ends. For the first time (after my identity theft) I will be pulling credit reports for all of us including my kids. Maybe next week.
When I called the card company they couldn't care less. I protested saying it would be easy to identify the crook. Apparently it is cheaper for them to pay the fraud than investigate.
I have my card company email me after every single transaction so I know in real time when the account is used. Just set up an alert for "transactions over $0.01"
All our family members have credit freezes on their credit accounts. While not fool proof it prevents a lot of nonsense. The only inconvenience si you cannot open another credit account but why would you need another card?