Comments on: Card Issuers May Know You Better Than You Think

By: Ole

Ole — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:34:25 +0000

I travel frequently for work to unpredictable places, and as a result, I stared running into these “fraud prevention alerts” a few times. There never was any notice from any of my card companies that I should “alert” the credit card hotline about my upcoming plans – I just found out because my wife – panicking – called me overseas that the “security department” of some company had called about a suspected “stolen” card etc etc. While I applaud the good intentions of the card companies, the implementation is just BAD customer service. How as I supposed to know that my next trip to Brazil would cause my card to be deactivated, leaving me scrambling to call 800 numbers internationally to be able to pay the hotel. Yes, “severely inconvenienced” – and that’s probably an understatement. Card companies should be held liable for the (sometimes enormous) damage (yes, actual damage) they cause their customers through such actions – UNDISCLOSED is the operating word here. It would be one thing if customers were informed of the need to call ahead – but for this to happen behind one’s back at the worst possible moment seriously smacks of willful negligence. (Card companies, and the author above, KNOW that it may cause “severe inconvenience” and, unspoken but implied, actual damages.)

I was called by the anti-fraud guys even for charging $6500 of moving costs once. The trucking company called me frantically that my credit card (with a $35000 limit!!) was “declined” and that tomorrow’s scheduled move could not go forward if this was not worked out within the next hour! Thanks, Mastercard. (I did sort it out.) But hey, I had no prior “pattern” of regularly charging moving costs. (How would anyone?)

In any case, what such “fraud prevention” policies boil down to is that one now MUST call ahead in case of any form of unusual plans. It is essentially like asking “permission” to use the card for anything grown up. Lesson learned.

By: Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #5 | Our Fourpence Worth

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:01:42 +0000

[...] Kristy from Master Your Card warns that Card Issuers May Know You Better than You Think [...]

By: Kristy

Kristy — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:50:56 +0000

It really comes down to being an ethical issue on the part of credit card employees and even bank employees. I worked at a bank where a certain A-list star banked and I can tell you, there were many employees who “accidentally” typed in that account number to see where the individual shopped and their money habits. Personally, I think that kind of behavior is unhealthy and even more important, a danger to the customer because the account number was memorized. Eventually, the bank had to restrict access to everyone but managers. So, yeah, privacy is harder and harder to come by – even in banking.

By: Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet

Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:25:01 +0000

yeah, it’s very weird. But when I used to work in credit card I would always look at people’s transactions. I mean, they are right there, kinda hard not to look… but sometimes I would think things about the person because of the charges I saw. Not necessarily bad, but I might think “wow this lady really likes shoes.” It’s weird how much you can know about a person based on where they spend their money. I mean, if someone looked at my charges they would know a TON about me.

I think it’s just life nowadays. Privacy is getting harder and harder to come by. If you don’t want anyone knowing where you spend your money then you are going to have to use cash. And even then… if someone really wanted to know they still could. The cameras are everywhere.