<p>The company – Fraud Alert section – called me last week to ask about certain charges on my bill. They weren’t mine nor my husband’s; someone had tried to use our credit card number to purchase merchandise and travel (air and hotel). Some charges never hit the account at all; they were turned down. Others did, but were then backed out.</p>
<p>I had no idea this activity had taken place; it happened over just a couple of days (Sunday and Monday), and I likely wouldn’t have caught it until the bill came and it was thousands more than I was expecting.</p>
<p>The account’s been closed to prevent further fraud, and a new account has been established.</p>
<p>This was excellent service on the part of the company, and though I am not crazy about credit card companies, have to admit that I’m very impressed with their performance in this. Kudos!</p>
<p>Fraud is a huge problem with credit cards. This type of fraud alert is actually not all that unusual, owlice. Most companies have large numbers of staff whose job it is to watch for fraud. There are many different circumstances which will send up an alert and then they will call you. We’ve had this happen several times, unfortunately, and it’s always been caught prior to the bill arriving. It’s a pain having to change all the automatic things on the cc with a new account number but the new card is usually available in a couple of days.</p>
<p>We received a call last week regarding possible fraud. We had made a couple of online charitable donations, and somehow that raised a red flag. We were very impressed that someone was watching that closely.</p>
<p>We just got back a mission trip to Honduras, and I didn’t notify Citibank ahead of time because I didn’t expect to be using my card much at all. It turned out I did a lot of supply-purchasing with it and I just knew Citibank would do a fraud check. I had my per sitter check the home phone messages every day and, sure enough, there was one from Citibank. I had to jump through hoops to call the US fraud number from Honduras to verify my charges etc. I’m glad they are vigilant, but I wish I had notified them before the trip.</p>
<p>While we’re thanking our credit card companies, I would sincerely like to add mine. Thank you for informing me that you will be raising my interest rates so very high. It’s great to see that the bailouts you got from my taxes is trickling down to kick me when I’m down. Yes I will be cancelling you and no I won’t be back. Way to go!</p>
<p>I use Discover Card and they offer one-use credit card numbers.</p>
<p>These are useful for online purchases where you worry about numbers taken in transit or from a compromised website or employee theft of credit card numbers.</p>
<p>We never bother to look at the interest rates as we never pay interest on credit cards. If you’re paying credit card interest rates, you should be looking for a much cheaper source of financing.</p>
<p>Well then you don’t have an issue with what they’re doing do you? While they’re at it they should also charge people to use their banks. That way they could collect even more money from the people that don’t have to pay interest on credit cards! After all the bailout money wasn’t enough…
Also, is it just me or is there a new bank cropping up on every corner?</p>
<p>“Well then you don’t have an issue with what they’re doing do you?”</p>
<p>I’m perfectly happy with my credit card. They pay cash back and provide a nice service. I charge college tuition on it and have two months to pay it back in addition to the cash back.</p>
<p>“While they’re at it they should also charge people to use their banks.”</p>
<p>They do. But it’s the vendor; not the consumer. Unless you pay interest.</p>
<p>“That way they could collect even more money from the people that don’t have to pay interest on credit cards!”</p>
<p>More money? They don’t collect from people that don’t have to pay interest.</p>
<p>“After all the bailout money wasn’t enough…”</p>
<p>I have a credit card with my credit union too. They haven’t accepted any bailout money.</p>
<p>If I don’t like the financial arrangement with a bank, I can do something else like pay cash and use checks. No big deal. What I’m saying is that folks here that are usually well-off and intelligent shouldn’t care about interest rates on credit cards as they should never have to pay it.</p>
<p>this happened to H recently on AmEx when a $1.00 charge appeared from a Russian location.That triggered an alert.It was then followed by a try at a large charge at an online site for a large store9not successful).
Am Ex explained the $1.00 charge is the attempt to see if a charge will go through.The foreign server…in this case Russian… is the tipoff.
H’s card hadn’t been used for awhile except for Itunes charges.AmEx thought the crooks might have been phishing the ITunes site even though its supposed to be so secure.
To the poster who was cancelling accounts due to interest rate changes: be aware that closing accounts isn’t good for your FICO score as it lowers your a/v credit to debt ratio.Keepng your FICO score high is very important right now.Don’t cancel the account, just don’t use it anymore, and if anything is owed on it, pay it off and leave it dormant.</p>
<p>BCEagle91, I get what you are saying, but I think the “intelligent” thing is neither kind nor true. Considering the number of families who go bankrupt due to medical costs, I would think that would go without saying.</p>
<p>"I get what you are saying, but I think the “intelligent” thing is neither kind nor true.</p>
<p>This is one of the boards where people are generally more intelligent than other boards that I frequent on general matters.</p>
<p>“Considering the number of families who go bankrupt due to medical costs, I would think that would go without saying.”</p>
<p>If you are going to declare bankruptcy, then by all means, go hog wild into credit card debt. Of course the interest rate doesn’t matter in that case either.</p>
<p>The interest rate does matter if you’re going to pay interest. It matters even more if you plan on living while carrying a balance. This makes no economic sense as a way of life unless you plan on stiffing the credit card company.</p>
<p>We had this happen recently from our Capital One card. They notified us of a charge that seemed fraudulent (it was even from a major chain retailer that we’ve shopped at regularly) but in a city across the country.</p>
<p>I like knowing that the fraud alert folks are keeping their eyes open. We just had a double dose of fraud alert. DS is studying abroad in England and someone charged $200 worth of pizza in Toronto. Card cancelled; new card coming. In the meantime, I told him to use a card from a joint account that I’d set up for emergencies. DS tries to charge Eurail pass and the charge was declined until they’d contacted me. I needed to tell credit card company that European charges are okay.</p>
<p>Fraud alerts are NOT generated by people looking at your account. They are generated by computer programs. We get fraud alerts a lot because my husband buys things that set off the triggers. Anything that can easily be sold on EBay for less than $200, is bought with overnight or two-day shipping, and is bought online is likely to set off the triggers. </p>
<p>That said, a cash advance in a city away from home will do it too.</p>
<p>To tell you the truth, it can become quite annoying.
Yes, they did catch our stolen number /visa card many years ago and they did call us (they actually called at like 2 AM) to inform that they closed the account.
On other occasions , more recently, the calls were just to confirm the transactions, all local, all small amounts, nothing excessive.
They are protecting themselves as ultimately they are responsible for paying the fraudulent charges, I believe.</p>