Too Much Information.....TMI

[Bob Turkovich]

I can't remember the last time I had that happen to me. In that situation, I simply go elsewhere. There is effectively no one that doesn't accept credit cards these days.

My local lumber source. Cash or personal check only.

[Ronald Blue]

All of my cards have chips and a pin number assigned although they haven't ever required it for any purchases. I think we have caught up. Not all retailers have chip readers but they are responsible if a card is fraudulent if they receive a fake.

[Mike Henderson]

With the chip in the card, it's pretty hard to fake. In the old days, the thief would scan the magnetic strip and then make a new card with the same information on the strip. But it's essentially impossible to copy the chip.

So the crooks have moved to the Internet where the chip doesn't do you any good. You have to put in your credit card number, which can be stolen. The fraud detection software is pretty good now and detects many of the fraud attempts. I have set up my card(s) so every time it's used, I get a message on my iPhone.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

What's the situation nowadays with birth certificates and fingerprints or foot prints? To get my driver's license renewed, I'm required to present my birth certificate. But birth certificates of my era didn't have fingerprints or footprints with them.

For the previous generation, many people didn't have birth certificates. All they had was an entry in a bible, or maybe a baptism certificate.

People used to start new identities by looking in the old papers (available at the library) for a baby who died about the same time they were born. Then, they'd request the birth certificate for that baby and use that to start a new life under a new identity.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

With a PIN required even stealing or copying the card won't do them much good. Maybe the US will catch up some day.

The story I've heard is that the card issuers in the US felt that their cardholders couldn't remember a PIN...despite the fact that most also have debit cards...that require a PIN. Go figure... I hope we do move from chip and signature to chip and PIN before too long purely for security reasons.

[Rick Potter]

I'll bet Harold has the same phone number as me.

555-1212

[Bruce Wrenn]

I can't remember the last time I had that happen to me. In that situation, I simply go elsewhere. There is effectively no one that doesn't accept credit cards these days.

Generally for the first two weeks after a hurricane, cash is definitely KING! That's why I keep some on hand.

[Mike Henderson]

The story I've heard is that the card issuers in the US felt that their cardholders couldn't remember a PIN...despite the fact that most also have debit cards...that require a PIN. Go figure... I hope we do move from chip and signature to chip and PIN before too long purely for security reasons.

The claim that US customers could not remember a PIN is totally bogus. People remember their ATM PINs and other PINs. But I don't think that's why they chose not to go with a PIN.

The only advantage of the PIN is that if your card is lost or stolen, the thief cannot use it to make "in person" purchases because they don't know the PIN. But those kinds of fraud are extremely small and probably not worth the confusion that people might encounter with a PIN. No one has been able to come up with a way of verifying a card over the Internet with a PIN like you could with an "in person" transaction.

Instead of a PIN, the card has a CVV (card verification value) which is designed to test whether the person has the physical card.

Because of the security of the chip for "in person" transactions, most credit card fraud has moved to the Internet.

Also, most people have multiple credit cards and if they had to remember a PIN for each, they would tend to use the card for which they could remember the PIN (unless they can make all the PINs the same). The banks didn't want to have people be afraid to use their card because they weren't sure of the PIN for that card.

Mike

[John K Jordan]

The story I've heard is that the card issuers in the US felt that their cardholders couldn't remember a PIN...

The claim that US customers could not remember a PIN is totally bogus....
The banks didn't want to have people be afraid to use their card because they weren't sure of the PIN for that card.

Seems to me that "not sure of the PIN" is effectively the same thing as "can't remember a PIN".

The joke is the claim that Chip-and-Signature is as secure as Chip-and-PIN in the event of a stolen card. I can't remember EVER being asked to verify the "signature" I scribble with either pen or stylus.

JKJ

[Mike Henderson]

Seems to me that "not sure of the PIN" is effectively the same thing as "can't remember a PIN".

The joke is the claim that Chip-and-Signature is as secure as Chip-and-PIN in the event of a stolen card. I can't remember EVER being asked to verify the "signature" I scribble with either pen or stylus.

JKJ

You're right but the amount of fraud on account of lost or stolen cards is miniscule compared to the credit card fraud on the Internet.

First, if the owner recognizes that the card is missing they will cancel the card. Second, the credit card companies have your purchase history and flag purchases that are significantly out of the ordinary (they use this to flag suspect Internet purchases, also). I suppose the credit card companies decided that the loss from physically stolen cards was not worth having someone not use their card because they couldn't remember the PIN.

Mike

[John K Jordan]

First, if the owner recognizes that the card is missing they will cancel the card.

That is the part I would gladly memorize a PIN to avoid. Canceling the card is easy but the cleanup is time consuming. Someone got my wife's VISA once and immediately bought some gas and snacks. We got it canceled and lost no money but it took hours - find the phone number (we were on vacation with no internet access), call VISA, followup, and monitor just in case. But not quite as bad as the time a pick-pocket stole her phone in Paris.

JKJ

[Mike Henderson]

That is the part I would gladly memorize a PIN to avoid. Canceling the card is easy but the cleanup is time consuming. Someone got my wife's VISA once and immediately bought some gas and snacks. We got it canceled and lost no money but it took hours - find the phone number (we were on vacation with no internet access), call VISA, followup, and monitor just in case. But not quite as bad as the time a pick-pocket stole her phone in Paris.

JKJ

I'm pretty sure that once your card is stolen, with or without a PIN, the credit card company is going to cancel the card. To leave a valid card in the hands of someone who stole it would allow them to use the card on the Internet where they don't need a PIN.

Unless you have your credit card "registered" at a bunch of sites, getting a new card is not much of an issue. I had a card compromised and the credit card company expressed me a new card in two days. They offered it overnight it but I didn't need it that quickly.

I have a card that I use with web sites (such as a backup card for PayPal) and that card does not get used anywhere else (no "in person" usage). If that card is compromised I know it was a web site compromise, and if my "in person" card(s) are compromised, I don't have them on any web sites so the credit card company just has to send me a new card.

I always carry more than one "in person" cards so that if one is "refused" for any reason, I have a backup.

Mike

[Jerome Stanek]

Up until just 3 weeks ago one of our drug stores didn't accept credit cards.

[Matt Meiser]

My "signature" on most of the signature pads is either an X or a scribble because they are usually badly out of calibration and extremely ergonomically incorrect.

Yes, the cleanup is a pain. Numerous accounts need updating in our case since we have a lot of things on auto-pay through the credit card so we get Costco rewards.

Up until just 3 weeks ago one of our drug stores didn't accept credit cards.

I wouldn't have gone there then because I do my co-pays with a FSA card. Paying cash and getting reimbursed is harder than switching pharmacies.

[Jerome Stanek]

My "signature" on most of the signature pads is either an X or a scribble because they are usually badly out of calibration and extremely ergonomically incorrect.

Yes, the cleanup is a pain. Numerous accounts need updating in our case since we have a lot of things on auto-pay through the credit card so we get Costco rewards.



I wouldn't have gone there then because I do my co-pays with a FSA card. Paying cash and getting reimbursed is harder than switching pharmacies.

For me I do use the Pharmacy even though I own a lot of stock in another one. I can get my scripts for less than $20 for 3 months and that is without a prescription card that would cost me more as I could only get 1 month at a time with it