A good credit card company!

[dennis thompson]

Two days ago my grandson applied to 5 colleges using the "common application" for each. He used my American Express card to pay for each application...about $50-$70 per application. Yesterday American Express called to question the 5 charges to the "Common Application". I thought this showed some pretty good control procedures & I just thought I'd say so.....certainly in these times you hear very little good about credit card companies.
Dennis

[Matt Meiser]

They are pretty good at spotting odd behavior. My number was stolen this fall and they managed to stop it before any fraudulent charges were put through. And our credit union spotted a similar situation about 8 years ago. I've had it catch me twice though. Once when we used our debit card at 4 locations within a few hundred yards of each other in rapid succession while running errands--Kroger, Kroger Gas, O'Reily, then declined at Home Depot. There is a drawback though--once I got "caught" when I returned from a trip out of town and drove to a Best Buy to buy my wife a laptop for her birthday. They called her at home before I even got home!

It amazes me when I do odd things and it doesn't concern them. When the incident this fall happened, I'd been in Cleveland for a wedding and was supposed to go to KC for work. I flew from Cleveland to Chicago, then the bomb scare incident in KC on 9/11 kept me from flying to KC so I flew to St. Louis instead, rented a car, then made a couple stops along I-70 (one at a Walmart to pick up a car charger for my almost-dead phone) and that didn't look odd to them at all. The simultaneous charges in Wisconsin however....

[Eric DeSilva]

AMEX's anti-fraud people called me once--it was a quick exchange.

AMEX: "Did you order $17,000 worth of computer equipment, specifying a shipping address in the Netherlands?"
Me: "Huh?... no"
AMEX: "We'll Federal Express you a new card tomorrow."

With my ATM card, my medical insurance card, and my driver's license, it is one of four cards in my wallet.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My credit card company does it frequently as my wife and I travel separately a lot and she uses it often when out of town. The catch is, however, I don't answer the phone as I can't hear. I need to ask my wife if they verify charges on via her cell phone now.

[Matt Meiser]

That's about how mine went except for the longer and longer, escalated higher and higher calls each subsequent day due to them messing up sending the replacement. They did give me $100 in the end "for my trouble" which didn't come close to making up for the wasted time. I think it was one of those "everything goes wrong situations--it got ridiculous at the end.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I don't understand why people are concerned about their credit cards being compromised - you have no liability for unauthorized charges. If the company calls to verify transactions, they are trying to save themselves money, not you. I'd be awfully annoyed if my card was declined when I was trying to use it legitimately!

[Matt Meiser]

Get back to me when you are traveling and it happens while you are out of town.

Plus who do you think pays for any charges that actually go through? Walmart or whoever gets stuck with the bill has to get that money from somewhere.

[Art Mulder]

The catch is, however, I don't answer the phone as I can't hear. I need to ask my wife if they verify charges on via her cell phone now.

Kind of a related story...

This fall was election season in Ontario. Political parties are exempt from the federal "do not call" list. Therefore we were *inundated* with random 1-8xx and other unknown Long Distance numbers. Thanks to call display we just stopped picking up unknown calls. The problem was that our bank was one of those random 1-800 numbers trying to call us to talk about Fraudulent use of my VISA card.... Oops.:(

Interestingly enough, when I finally did call the bank to clear up the bogus charges on my bill, they told me that this is becoming quite common that people don't answer the phone. It would be nice if the Call Display would identify the 1-8xx number with the name of the Bank, but it doesn't.

Anyways, no experience with Amex, but the VISA arm of TD Bank is also very good at dealing with Fraud. I was quite impressed.

[Dave Ogren]

I have been real impressed with Discover. They watch it so closely that it in my best interest to call them before I go on a trip in the motor home and give them my schedule and about when I will get back home.
Dave

[Matt Meiser]

This thread reminded me of this SNL skit.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/metrocard/1353393

[Brian Elfert]

My problem is Chase will cut off my card when I go on cross country trips. They used to send text messages to verify if it was me using the card, but that didn't happen on this year's trip.

[Steve knight]

I have had wells Fargo cut my card because I used it twice in one day at the grocery store. Had to cal lthem and tell them all was fine. the thing is I have done that all the time at that store.

[Steve Griffin]

I have never had a problem of a card getting cut off, but I have two credit cards from two different banks just in case something goes wrong.

While credit card companies are often given a hard time, I think the product and business model is incredibly good. Maybe that's because I never pay interest and last week cashed in my awards points for Chase and they gave me $850. I love those guys!

-Steve

[Brian Tymchak]

Kind of a related story...

...The problem was that our bank was one of those random 1-800 numbers trying to call us to talk about Fraudulent use of my VISA card.... Oops.:(



FWIW, my wife and I NEVER use the callback number left in a phone message like that. Too many scams running around like that. I always call a customer service number I know. I eventually get to the fraud unit or whatever I need.

[Ron Natalie]

I was really concerned Friday. There was a box full of kids toys from amazon that I didn't order and a phone call from American Express. Last time this happened (unordered merchandise) was when the local pool hall had an employee who was scamming the patrons credit card numbers (I guess they order some junk just to make sure the card is valid). Well it turns out after the "Are you in possession of your card" question they verified three charges that were suspect but were indeed ones I'd made. A call to Amazon finds they just screwed up, the card used to order is not mine and some woman I'd never heard of (and an Amazon Visa to boot which I don't have).

My favorite time was when I left Oshkosh Wisconsin in my plane (paying the hotel bill), stopped in Broken Bow, NE for lunch (using the card) and then ended up in Fort Collins buying $2000 of beer and wine for my daughter's wedding at one of their big liquor stores. Amex would like you to call them. Yes I am in possession of my card. Yes that was me in Oshkosh, and Broken Bow, and yes I am now trying to purchase $2000 worth of liquor. Yes I am in possession of my card...

[Jim Becker]

I'm also a very long time AMEX customer and what is described in the OP is one of the reasons. You can be sure I give any merchant the "hairy eyeball" when they refuse to accept payment with AMEX and I do choose merchants that do over those that don't when I have the choice.