Watch Your Credit Card Account

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I'm not going to name names, because this is about CC accounts in general.

Also, I am the one who precipitated the following, but . . .

Because of the possibility of identity theft, I check our CC acount online every morning. Friday, 3/8, in noticed a $39 late fee because I had not made a $988 payment due 3/6. I had screwed up.

I called and asked what I needed to do to pay the account in full, to stop interest from running (we pay the full amount due each month, so never pay interest). I mentioned that we had been good customers for 14 years and had never missed a payment, expecting the late fee to be waived, etc.

I was told The total of all charges was $2137, and offered to pay that then. She refused and told me to pay online.

3/9 our bank account showed the $2137 charge, but the CC account didn't, so I called again and spoke to a manager. In the mean time a $75 Wal*Mart purchase had posted. I asked the manager the same thing, how much to pay in full and stop interest from running? She said $144. $144 more when only $75 more had posted?

I paid it and put my thoughts together in an email to customer service.

I was two days late paying $988, so gave them $2200 instead, $1200-plus of it not being due for another month, and got stuck with $108 in penalties?

As of this morning it appears that they have waived the late fee and the interest charges, but I haven't heard that for sure.

So, pay your bills on time or expect the worst.

[Arkansas Winger Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Arkansas Winger]

It is probablly actions such as this by the credit card companies that have congress looking into their practices.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

It is probablly actions such as this by the credit card companies that have congress looking into their practices.

I heard it on the radio the other day that there Finally going after them. The ones with the best CS I have kept. The worst ones I dumped.

I find that Amex has always given me the best CS with the best protection.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

As of this morning, the late fee has been reversed and they say they are mailing a check for our balance, what appears to be late fee and interest, but I can't them to say what they are actually doing.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I noticed our interest rate for purchases was 19.24%, so I followed up on that.

They dropped it to 9.9% and asked if we needed anything else. I said yeah, some cheap money for about a year.

They put $32000 in our checking account for a $75 fee and 1.99% for 12 months.

Wow!

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

On a slightly different angle but still concerning CC accounts, I got a call the other day concerning a charge account I had cancelled. Someone had attempted a $200 charge to right-aid in Downy, CA using that account number. The account has been closed for two or three years now.

There security division had called asking about the charge. They went on to explain that it was probably someone who had just been randomly trying account #'s and found one that was an actual account number.

Now this is disturbing to think that someone could run a computer program of 16 digit number series and be checking to see if they're actual CC account numbers and then attempting to use them.

The charge was denied and never added to my account but it's just one more thing to look out for.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Similarly, when we got back from Florida in January, we got a very real email from this same CC company saying that fraud had been attempted on it while we were in Florida. Of course, we used it a lot there instead of carrying significant cash.

It just so happens that there had been some pay-at-the-pump gas stations scams in Florida while we were there, where @$$)%!#$ put ID collectors on the pump scan pads, and Homegoods announced that their computers had been hacked and CC information stolen. Jenny had made a purchase at a Homegoods.

So the security breach notice from our CC company had meaning. Although it was as real looking as it could be, I contacted our CC company directly, rather than through the link on the email, which also looked 100% legitimate.

It was phishing.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Similarly, when we got back from Florida in January, we got a very real email from this same CC company saying that fraud had been attempted on it while we were in Florida. Of course, we used it a lot there instead of carrying significant cash.

It just so happens that there had been some pay-at-the-pump gas stations scams in Florida while we were there, where @$$)%!#$ put ID collectors on the pump scan pads, and Homegoods announced that their computers had been hacked and CC information stolen. Jenny had made a purchase at a Homegoods.

So the security breach notice from our CC company had meaning. Although it was as real looking as it could be, I contacted our CC company directly, rather than through the link on the email, which also looked 100% legitimate.

It was phishing.

Just goes to show you that you should NEVER answer an E-mail or click on an E-mail link wanting any sort of financial information.

I learned this morning that an aquaintence of ours that has taken travel nursing positions has recently had her ID stolen and all of her CC's are involved. The thief managed to get a good amount of info on her and maxed out her CC's within 24 hours.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Speaking of coincidences, this morning in my daily run through our financials (it's a short run, like a 40-yard dash ) it would not let me access the account I am talking about. It told me to go to a security site.

That site would not let me access our account number and told me to call a phone number.

There there was a recording zipping through recent transactions, asking me to approve them.

Of course, I figured that big chuck of change going to a strange bank account would be the culprit. What it really was was our resort taking our 2009 fees for two weeks, a transaction in which our card was not scanned.
- - - - - - -

While I'm whining, we have something like ten accounts with our local bank. Hers, Mine, Ours and Ours. Our bank is a biggie in the Springfield/Branson area and they brag about their online banking.

But, in order for me to check our accounts online I would have to have three separate online thingies with three separate userids and passwords, each with two separate test questions, and they require you to change everything every 90 days and if you don't use one of your access thingies for 6 months, you have to start all over with it by calling a person and setting it up all over again.

So I sent an email to the president of the bank. He said he knew and he didn't like it either, since he has to do the same thing. He had already asked his techies to do something about it.

And, they really do not offer online banking, just the ability to view your accounts online. We recently had a CD mature and I had to take the certificate in, surrender it, and tell them what to do in person.

I tried to explain to them what online banking meant, that we have CDs around the country with no physical certificate and we actually do that banking online. Of course, folks buy and sell securities online millions of times a day.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

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Watch Your Credit Card Accounts - TUG Bulletin Board