Community Chat

[chickenbutt]

I'm sorry this happened. I've also had it happen a few times, over the years, and it's frustrating.

I've always said as another poster mentioned - the bad guys are always a step or two ahead of the good guys.     The card companies I've talked to about it just say that it's not cost-effective to pursue it, so they just write off the loses.  Meanwhile, the crook has free license to keep ripping people off.  That is disturbing to me.  I wish there was another way.

As for the 'alerts' mentioned - Can one do another kind of alert?  I don't text and I have texting blocked on my phone.  Plus I don't give out my cell phone number anyway.  I wonder if there is another way - even if just email - to get alerts.

[ROMARY]

Using credit cards/chips might be easy in one way, but very time consuming when things go wrong............

[geezerette]

---

@ROMARY wrote:

'What I don't understand', is that those 'chips' supposedly can be scanned through our handbags by someone standing and sitting nearby.  It seems to me that they should forget using 'chips' and revert back to the former credit cards that cannot be remotely scanned.  Some banks are switching from the old-fashioned credit cards over to the new 'chipped' ones.  Doesn't make much sense to me........... Somebody 'set me straight'........

---

Romary,

There are two types of "chips" in credit cards.  The ones that can be remotely scanned send out radio waves so that you can have the convenience of just waving your card in the vicinity of the terminal without having to slide it in.  It's continually sending out radio signals and that's what the criminals can scan.  This is considered an out-of-date technology now.

The other chips are embedded within the credit card also, but it's an extra layer of security, they don't emit any waves.  They still have to be inserted in a terminal, but they don't slide like the current cards.  So that means that in order for the merchants to use them they need the new terminals--expensive, so many don't have them yet.  These cards also have the magnetic strip so you can still use them on the current terminals the usual way.  These cards have been in use in Europe for several years.

[Nuttmeg]

---

@chickenbutt wrote:

I'm sorry this happened. I've also had it happen a few times, over the years, and it's frustrating.

As for the 'alerts' mentioned - Can one do another kind of alert?  I don't text and I have texting blocked on my phone.  Plus I don't give out my cell phone number anyway.  I wonder if there is another way - even if just email - to get alerts.

---

CB, I have email alerts setup on all my CC. I do not own a debit card and do not want one, call me old fashion.

[geezerette]

---

MissBonBon wrote:

I've always wondered how the credit card companies know that it is not you making a purchase at a particular store, especially if you shop at various stores. How can they tell?

---

Everyone has a buying pattern, even if you can't tell what it might be.  The credit card companies use their computers to see when they feel that your buying pattern has suddenly changed.  They're pretty good at it, given the number of transactions and how much identity theft is going on now.

Several months ago we needed a new satellite system and thought we might as well replace our ancient analog TVs then so the guy could hook everything up at once.  We went to a store in a town we never shop in (our store didn't have what we wanted) and bought two TVs at the same time using our credit card (in case there was a problem we've found it's much easier to get a refund with a credit card purchase than cash).  By the time we got home, there was a message on our answering machine from the credit card company saying they suspected fraud and to call their hotline.  I did, and sure enough, they wanted to know if it was actually us that made those purchases.  That was completely out of line for how we normally use that card, and it also is exactly the type of purchase someone would make if they had stolen our card.

[chickenbutt]

---

@Nuttmeg wrote:

---

@chickenbutt wrote:

I'm sorry this happened. I've also had it happen a few times, over the years, and it's frustrating.

As for the 'alerts' mentioned - Can one do another kind of alert?  I don't text and I have texting blocked on my phone.  Plus I don't give out my cell phone number anyway.  I wonder if there is another way - even if just email - to get alerts.

---

CB, I have email alerts setup on all my CC. I do not own a debit card and do not want one, call me old fashion.

---

Thanks, Nutmeg!  You are always so helpful and I look forward to what you have to say on numerous subjects.

I should go into my credit cards and see what kind of notifications they offer.   What I almost wouldn't mind, especially because most of my shopping is online, is if they email you and you have to click through that the sale is ok, before they process it.  That would be ideal for me.

I do have the one debit card with my checking account and I try to keep that one as safe as possible because I do keep quite a bit of money in there.  Maybe I need to change that part of the equation and stash that money elsewhere. 

[muttmom]

---

@ROMARY wrote:

Imtep:  Yes, you make a lot of sense.  Show a photo ID card each time (when using the card in person)!  Perfect!  I don't do any ordering online, only by telephone where/when I'm talking to a person, make a note of her/his name, time of order, etc.    p.s.  Actually, the safest way is to use cash.  No way to trace/track our important information.  I forsee a day when we will have to use cash if we want to avoid the headaches of straightening out identity theft issues, which could eventually be a very normal occurance, if it isn't already.

---

Phone orders are no safer than ordering online.  Because you ask someone his or her name does not mean they are going to give their real name.  Noting the time will not make it any safer.

[geezerette]

After our credit card was compromised a couple of years ago right after I had made an on line purchase, I quit ordering on line except for companies that offer no other choice.  I use the phone also, preferring a live person.  I also use my credit card sparingly in stores and only carry two, in case there happens to be a problem with one.  I normally have enough cash for an emergency, but things are so expensive now, I just want to be sure. Thankfully, we live in a rural community with many older people that still use cash and checks, so not using a credit card isn't much of a problem.   

We leave our one card with the radio wave chips at home, wrapped in foil.  I'm not into all these electronic devices--I have one laptop computer and a flip cell phone for emergency use only--and I am not into online banking, etc. and don't want any part of it.  The internet is great for research, but I get stomach pains every time I have to enter my credit card number on a website.  In fact, I don't like entering any personal information online anymore.

[Nuttmeg]

---

@NoelSeven wrote:

---

@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

---

@NoelSeven wrote:

---

@MissBonBon wrote:

I've always wondered how the credit card companies know that it is not you making a purchase at a particular store, especially if you shop at various stores. How can they tell?

---

***************************

Mine was from the Midwest, I live on the West coast, and it was for an unusual product ordered online.

My daughter's card had multiple purchases from a country in Europe and one from another state.  They red-flag oddities like that.

---

Mine had a $20 manicure purchase in the Philippeans.

I didn't freak out.

The credit card company called me and asked me if I had made the purchase. 

I told them that I hadn't.

They closed that account, and issued me a new card.

I went on with life.

---

*******************************

Hers is up to $2000 already and her bank keeps adding additional false charges to the list.  They did nothing to stop the new charges and told her she would have to go through paper work and deal with it herself, no new card.

She's young, they also told her that her entire savings could be hacked.  You'd be upset, too.  Especially if you were young and paying off student loans with your savings.

---

I do not believe she understands the importance of having a good credit history and the value of her good name.

I found a link, What happens when your credit is too low? 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-biggest-ways-bad-credit-110012930.html 

[NoelSeven]

---

@Nuttmeg wrote:

---

@NoelSeven wrote:

---

@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

---

@NoelSeven wrote:

---

@MissBonBon wrote:

I've always wondered how the credit card companies know that it is not you making a purchase at a particular store, especially if you shop at various stores. How can they tell?

---

***************************

Mine was from the Midwest, I live on the West coast, and it was for an unusual product ordered online.

My daughter's card had multiple purchases from a country in Europe and one from another state.  They red-flag oddities like that.

---

Mine had a $20 manicure purchase in the Philippeans.

I didn't freak out.

The credit card company called me and asked me if I had made the purchase. 

I told them that I hadn't.

They closed that account, and issued me a new card.

I went on with life.

---

*******************************

Hers is up to $2000 already and her bank keeps adding additional false charges to the list.  They did nothing to stop the new charges and told her she would have to go through paper work and deal with it herself, no new card.

She's young, they also told her that her entire savings could be hacked.  You'd be upset, too.  Especially if you were young and paying off student loans with your savings.

---

I do not believe she understands the importance of having a good credit history and the value of her good name.

I found a link, What happens when your credit is too low? 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-biggest-ways-bad-credit-110012930.html 

---

*********************************

What on earth are you talking about?  She has an excellent credit rating, we are talking about her credit card being hacked and that the hacker has racked up $2000 already without her bank taking care of it even though they were notified and notified her.

This entire thread is about credit cards being hacked.

One of the bank employees told her it was also possible for the hacker to get into her savings.

Seriously, what the heck are you talking about?  The problem has NOTHING to do with credit rating.