| [Rant] Credit Card Fraud Detection First... I'll acknowledge that there are probably plenty of people who have been saved huge sums of grief by the fraud detection programs of credit cards. As such, I won't summarily condemn all fraud detection, rather I want to rant about my experience with a seemingly inane system Bank of America uses.
My wife, son, and I started a ~10 day vacation on the 25th of June headed to my parent's lake house in Alabama. We were breaking up the ~14 hour trip into two days by stopping at my parents mountain house in North Carolina for one night. We get to the mountain house without incident. We get up and head out and get south of Atlanta before a gas station rejects my credit card with the pump saying 'Call Card Issuer.' Well, something tripped the 'fraud detection' system.
My rant... I don't have an f'ing clue what the hell actually tripped it. My beef is that the 'making a charge so far from home' tripped the system is totally bogus IMHO. Here's why: Two weekends before Memorial Day, I drove to Atlanta for my friend's 'bachelor weekend.' Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I drove to Atlanta for the wedding -- again, making a stop at my parent's mountain house to drop off our son. So, I make a nearly identical trip, not once... but TWICE without a single problem. Then, suddenly, Bank of America wonders why, after filling up with gas and buying food, someone is doing nefarious things by trying to get even more gas!!!!!!!!!! OH NO!!!!!
There was absolutely NOTHING suspicious about our spending. The trip mid-May was just gas and food at various gas stations and fast-food restaurants and maybe one sports bar/grill in Atlanta. The wedding weekend was gas, a lot more food, a manicure/pedicure for my wife, lots of eating out, an expensive hotel stay, etc. That somehow didn't trip anything. Yet, a few weeks later... doing nearly the exact same f'ing trip... FRAUD ALERT. Someone is using this card to buy gas and food!!!!! There were no random stops at electronics stores or malls... etc.
The CSR were utter jackasses, even after calling I was unable to use the card for another few hours. Of course there is no option to disable the 'fraud detection feature.' This is second time BoA's fraud detection system has caused me problems. |
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 AlcoholPremium
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI
kudos:3
 ·Comcast
| Switch to chase. I haven't had any problems with them making random purchases.
Citi on the other hand declined me when i tried to buy a computer from dell 
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I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock. |
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| reply to phantom6294
I have capital one for years, and their fraud system has saved me a few times after eating at dishonest restaurants where the wait staff has copied or stolen my numbers....
Anyways, they always let the transaction go through, but if it looks suspicious, they will place it in a pending for 3 days (means I can go on my merry way, but merchant will need to wait for a few days to get the monies. At that point when it goes into pending, I get a robo-call on my cell phone that tells me amount of the charge, and merchant name, and asks 1 for verified I made the purchase, or 2 for no, I did not.
If I press 1, alls said and done, and no other problems, if I press 2 for no, I am imediately transferred to fraud protection dept and the charge dispute is set in motion.
Excellent system, and has never been a inconvenience.
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| reply to phantom6294
I always notify my card company in advance if I'm traveling or plan to do any purchase out of the ordinary. |
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 OmegaDisplaced OhioanPremium
join:2002-07-30
Cheyenne, WY | reply to phantom6294
I've had that happen for purchases I have made online. But, that was through keybank, and I have switched main banks since then.
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Whats smells like blue? |
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 JahntassaWhat, I can have feathersPremium
join:2006-04-14
Conway, SC
kudos:4 | reply to phantom6294
I've had the Fraud stuff trip on my BoA card twice, but that was back in 2004.
When it happened, it seemed like there was the front end customer service people, and a separate fraud department. Back then I had asked the fraud person (who asked what purchases I had made when, etc) if they had a direct line. He had given me the number and I wrote it down somewhere, but have since lost it.
If you can get the direct number to the fraud department it should save you a lot of hassle. Each time it happened my card was working within minutes, not hours. |
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 TechnogeezAgape in amazement.Premium
join:2007-01-20 | reply to phantom6294
It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
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The farther one travels, the less one knows. |
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| reply to phantom6294
Bank of America. You could have stopped there.
I hear ya though. Many companies do some very strange and illogical things. I do my best not to do business with any of them. |
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disy
join:2003-01-02
Norwalk, CT | reply to phantom6294
Just make your life easier and get a second card with a different carrier - makes situations like that much easier.
I do agree with you, citi bank has done it to me a couple of times and so has my credit union visa, very annoying (but I do kind of like the feature, might actually stop a fraudulent purchase (although...not in my personal experience). Never had a problem with my AMEX or Discover and no fraudulent use there either. |
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| reply to Alcohol
I have. I sent a hard drive to a place in Canada for recovery, and Chase denied the charge. I then gave them my Capitol One card info and that went through without issue. |
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OmegaDisplaced OhioanPremium
join:2002-07-30
Cheyenne, WY | reply to Technogeez
said by Technogeez:It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. true, but with most credit cards, the owner of the card is not liable for fraud. Basically, this is the banks covering their own ass, often at the expense of the cardholder.
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Whats smells like blue? |
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 KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | reply to phantom6294
As soon as I make a foreign purchase or a larger purchase from a smaller unknown-ish vendor (CA, NY, etc) Citi will lock down my card and attempt to call me at home.
If I am not at home. I will get a decline next time I use the card.
I will then call them, and then they ask me a few questions and the card's back on.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | reply to Omega
said by Omega:said by Technogeez:It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. true, but with most credit cards, the owner of the card is not liable for fraud. Basically, this is the banks covering their own ass, often at the expense of the cardholder. Actually the banks just make merchants eat it. They don't lose. 
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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 Anonymous_AnonymousPremium
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1
kudos:2
·RoadRunner Cable
4 edits | reply to phantom6294
said by phantom6294:First... I'll acknowledge that there are probably plenty of people who have been saved huge sums of grief by the fraud detection programs of credit cards. As such, I won't summarily condemn all fraud detection, rather I want to rant about my experience with a seemingly inane system Bank of America uses. My wife, son, and I started a ~10 day vacation on the 25th of June headed to my parent's lake house in Alabama. We were breaking up the ~14 hour trip into two days by stopping at my parents mountain house in North Carolina for one night. We get to the mountain house without incident. We get up and head out and get south of Atlanta before a gas station rejects my credit card with the pump saying 'Call Card Issuer.' Well, something tripped the 'fraud detection' system. My rant... I don't have an f'ing clue what the hell actually tripped it. My beef is that the 'making a charge so far from home' tripped the system is totally bogus IMHO. Here's why: Two weekends before Memorial Day, I drove to Atlanta for my friend's 'bachelor weekend.' Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I drove to Atlanta for the wedding -- again, making a stop at my parent's mountain house to drop off our son. So, I make a nearly identical trip, not once... but TWICE without a single problem. Then, suddenly, Bank of America wonders why, after filling up with gas and buying food, someone is doing nefarious things by trying to get even more gas!!!!!!!!!! OH NO!!!!! There was absolutely NOTHING suspicious about our spending. The trip mid-May was just gas and food at various gas stations and fast-food restaurants and maybe one sports bar/grill in Atlanta. The wedding weekend was gas, a lot more food, a manicure/pedicure for my wife, lots of eating out, an expensive hotel stay, etc. That somehow didn't trip anything. Yet, a few weeks later... doing nearly the exact same f'ing trip... FRAUD ALERT. Someone is using this card to buy gas and food!!!!! There were no random stops at electronics stores or malls... etc. The CSR were utter jackasses, even after calling I was unable to use the card for another few hours. Of course there is no option to disable the 'fraud detection feature.' This is second time BoA's fraud detection system has caused me problems. That is because 99.999999999% of people do not buy gas more then one time per day it's a auto lock if you do so
Shuts down gas station credit card scams were some one uses your stolen card and someone pays the person to get gas on that stolen card
as seen on the news |
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Reviews:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to phantom6294
One of my cards (Capital One) was hijacked from somewhere. It has not been used online in at least 1 year, noticed 4 big charges in the last few days from internet stores. Their system didn't catch it... At least they issued a new account and I have 0 liability... |
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 CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | reply to phantom6294
My CU asks that you inform them of when you travel and want to use the ATM\debit card - or face the possibility of having the card deactivated for possible fraud.
They have a large warning on their website and I think include it with the statements.
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Brian
"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain |
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OHN
join:2003-02-05
Appleton, WI
kudos:1 | reply to phantom6294
Did you call BofA to let them know you were going on vacation in advance? |
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| reply to Alcohol
said by Alcohol:Switch to chase. I haven't had any problems with them making random purchases. Chase and I are not on talking terms. Though I maintain an account with them, I try and avoid giving them any business. They royally screwed me over (in excess of $4000).
said by Anonuser:I have capital one for years...[snip] ...Anyways, they always let the transaction go through, but if it looks suspicious, they will place it in a pending for 3 days (means I can go on my merry way, but merchant will need to wait for a few days to get the monies. At that point when it goes into pending, I get a robo-call on my cell phone that tells me amount of the charge, and merchant name, and asks 1 for verified I made the purchase, or 2 for no, I did not. Now that sounds like a sensible solution. I'll look into a Capitol One credit card (I get mailings from them at least 2-3 times a week!). Thanks!
said by craig70130:I always notify my card company in advance if I'm traveling or plan to do any purchase out of the ordinary. said by OHN:Did you call BofA to let them know you were going on vacation in advance?
Like I said, I had traveled twice within a month and a half when this happened, and drove the exact same route. That's what irks me... either the system failed the two previous times or whatever tripped it the third time was just asinine. More so, I don't think I should have to inform my bank when I travel -- I travel up to New Jersey frequently (almost weekly) and have no desire to be calling my bank on a weekly basis.
said by Anonymous_:That is because 99.999999999% of people do not buy gas more then one time per day it's a auto lock if you do so Again, as I said, then BoA's system utterly failed during two previous trips where I filled up multiple times in one day. I also frequently fill up multiple times a day -- it's a common occurrence on my card since I travel frequently. I remember the first time BoA's system tripped (shortly after getting the card) the CSR mention that it should get better since the system will eventually 'learn' what is 'normal' for me. Perhaps he was blowing smoke up my ass, but it would seem the system has not yet learned. |
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OHN
join:2003-02-05
Appleton, WI
kudos:1 | You should if you do not want to be annoyed and use that card as your primary source of funds. Small inconveniance to save a big head ache. |
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 OvrQualifiedSlightly Ahead Of TimePremium
join:2002-01-27
Winter Park, FL | reply to Alcohol
said by Alcohol:Switch to chase. I haven't had any problems with them making random purchases. Citi on the other hand declined me when i tried to buy a computer from dell I have. Chase flat-out declined a large charge from Apple for a new computer I ordered. Didn't even call me about it until 6 hours later. Ran it on my BofA card, and BofA raised a flag and called me, too (it's not out of my spending pattern, trust me), but didn't decline the charge.
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The enemy of my enemy is my WHAT?! |
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