credit card problems

[Kevin]

I urge everyone to please look closely at your credit card bill, either on paper or on the computer. Last summer our card got stolen and used by others on three different occasions.

It just happened again. It was a charge of 9.99 from "spotify" which apparently is for online music. So with Chase bank, my wife denied the charge, which isn't a big deal but they immediately canceled our card and we should get the new card today.

They permanently blocked me from using my credit card at Starbucks, because of all the trouble the last time. Or perhaps they are trying to save me money, not sure...ha ha ha...

But seriously, make sure the charges on your card, no matter how small, are from you, and not someone in a different state.

 

[Kanook]

The small purchases are to see if the card is still active and to see if they go unnoticed. My numbers were snatched from using PayPal years ago.

 

[Kevin]

I think you are right. Often times in a family a small charge might go unnoticed. Last fall, the thieves were reloading Starbucks cards with my credit card number. Well it wasn't an uncommon thing, and if they had just done in one time we wouldn't have known. But they did it for like 650 dollars.

So since last summer, we have had like 3 or 4 different credit cards. It's a royal pain. And more than a little embarrassing when your card is declined. Now I'm just used to it though.

 

[powder smoke]

About a year and half ago I got a call one evening my card company asked
me about a purchase from LLBean shipping to Va. I said it wasn't I and
it never went thru. Yup things happen how they got my number I have no
Idea, glad the Bank was on the ball. ps

 

[callshot]

I very seldom use a card and when I do I check the statement and pay the balance. It is easy to check it if you don't use it. Just my old fashioned way of life.

 

[mhblaw]

Several years ago we were in England and had Easter brunch at a nice golf club in Surrey. As I had played the course I purchased a sweater in the pro shop. Young lad said the machine wasn't working so wrote down my credit card number. Left for home on Monday and on Tuesday got a call from the CC company that someone had tried to use my number in Russia! As said, they did not honor it and promptly issued a new card.

 

[jeffmb]

We had our CC company contact us once about some purchases. We had not made them. These were not out of the country charges but online. The CC company must have an algorithm that helps identify unusual activity. We told them it wasn't us and they denied the charges. I was impressed. Still had to get new card numbers. The penalty for this sort if thing should VERY severe. Identity theft should carry a minimum of 25 years. Your life can be very screwed up if you are the victim of this type of crime.

 

[ronto]

I keep all credit card receipts and match them to the statement BEFORE I pay it.

 

[Kevin]

Yes. I agree. All our problems are from online charges in different states. I'm not sure what the credit card companies do besides just deny the charges. Do the companies then have to just eat the costs?

What gets me is how do the thieves use my card without ID or billing address or zip code or the three digit code on the back?

 

[mikewriter]

I've had to cancel 3 cards in the last few months, after being notified of unauthorized charges - usually for small things purchased online through iTunes. I don't deal with apps, never bought ANYTHING through iTunes. Had problems with my Apple ID some time back - it will not work with my password, and Apple will not help/allow me to straighten it out. Still, every once in awhile I get an email that someone has tried to use my Apple ID - THE ONE I CAN'T USE - to make a purchase. So far, the bank has declined to pay any of these charges, and notified me about them. Still a pain in the rear!

 

[Kevin]

I just can't figure out how the credit card companies are letting this continue. Or why, is more like it.

 

[Ray Newman]

Like my bank accounts, I have my credit accounts set up to pay and check the balances on-line.

Before retiring for the night and in the morning, I check the balances on the accounts. Takes about 10 minutes and is now a daily habit. From what I have observed and been told, the earlier you identify and call in about a discrepancy, the easy it is to rectify.

 

[SamV]

Yep. Been there multiple times. Have had a few accounts closed because of fraud. We check our accounts frequently. No small purchases are ever assumed as something forgotten. My wife will call me and ask if I spent $2.83 at McDonnalds today. Yep, ran out of cash. OK, just checking.

 

[SamV]

Oddly enough, I had a denial on a trip once though. The bank declined a $30.00 purchase at the Beretta store in Dallas. They explained that it looked like a suspicious purchase. They didn't question the airline tickets, hotel charges, car rental, restaurants, gasoline, or other retail shopping in the prior several days. For whatever reason their software said something was odd about that purchase even though I just used the card twice within the hour at a restaurant and kitchen store in the same shopping center.

 

[opos]

I seldom use cards but on my bank statement I had a "draft" that had been drawn by my credit card company (not the same bank as where I bank)..it was for something like $25 which was the exact "payoff" amount of my card balance that month (big spender..)..I write a check on my bank account each month to pay off the balance (if one exists) at the one credit card issuer. My bank said that they pay sight drafts and it's up to the customer to catch it...I called the credit card company with the draft number and all at once they got very interested...turns out they had someone working for them that was doing this as a prelude to making large draft transactions on the accounts...I had a sizable balance and had this not been caught the next step was for the perp to draw a draft and clean me out...I cancelled my bank account...the card company cancelled and replaced the cards and that was the last I heard...they did tell me they were on the trail of the perp and would prosecute to the fullest.

 

[Colonialgirl]

I look at our bank accounts daily and question my spouse about any "strange" Amounts or entries I see.