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Credit card security
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KenK
Jan 14, 2014, 11:43:52 AM1/14/14
to
I'm begining to wonder how to pay for groceries, etc. any more, with all
the security breaches such as Target's and many others. I shop mostly
Walmart for groceries and other stuff they carry. (Price is important to me
on my slender income.) If I use checks I suspect the store keeps a record
of check bank account numbers and other info which could be stolen.
Carrying that much cash or even keeping it at home bothers me. Wish there
was some other alternative that was secure.
Then there's the problem of mail order purchases, on line purchases,
repeating monthly or annual non-local charges best paid by credit card.
Then untilities and mailed bills such as trash, electric, etc.,
conveniently paid by check rather than driving to their office and paying
with cash. Cancelled checks and credit card reports make nice payment
recipts too.
When your credit card number is stolen it is a real PITA, answering many
and often repeated letters from the card company concerning the illicit
charges, getting a new card, notifying everyone who has the number on
record for monthly, annual or whatever charges, etc. BTDT
What best to do.
Comments?
TIA
--
"Where there's smoke there's toast!" Anon
the security breaches such as Target's and many others. I shop mostly
Walmart for groceries and other stuff they carry. (Price is important to me
on my slender income.) If I use checks I suspect the store keeps a record
of check bank account numbers and other info which could be stolen.
Carrying that much cash or even keeping it at home bothers me. Wish there
was some other alternative that was secure.
Then there's the problem of mail order purchases, on line purchases,
repeating monthly or annual non-local charges best paid by credit card.
Then untilities and mailed bills such as trash, electric, etc.,
conveniently paid by check rather than driving to their office and paying
with cash. Cancelled checks and credit card reports make nice payment
recipts too.
When your credit card number is stolen it is a real PITA, answering many
and often repeated letters from the card company concerning the illicit
charges, getting a new card, notifying everyone who has the number on
record for monthly, annual or whatever charges, etc. BTDT
What best to do.
Comments?
TIA
--
"Where there's smoke there's toast!" Anon
wilm...@gmail.com
Jan 14, 2014, 4:36:26 PM1/14/14
to
On Tuesday, January 14, 2014 8:43:52 AM UTC-8, KenK wrote:
>
> When your credit card number is stolen it is a real PITA, answering many
>
> and often repeated letters from the card company concerning the illicit
>
> charges, getting a new card, notifying everyone who has the number on
>
> record for monthly, annual or whatever charges, etc. BTDT
>
>
>
> What best to do.
>
>
If you are worried about CC theft, ala Target, not much to worry about, the bank already knows about it and you would have to just point out the bad charge.
>
> When your credit card number is stolen it is a real PITA, answering many
>
> and often repeated letters from the card company concerning the illicit
>
> charges, getting a new card, notifying everyone who has the number on
>
> record for monthly, annual or whatever charges, etc. BTDT
>
>
>
> What best to do.
>
>
If it is an individual thing, a little perseverance works good enough. Thing is with thieves, once is usually not enough, they tend to make a habit of their criminality, so once again you're not alone in your claim.
The biggest risk comes from dealing with small, new businesses. I recently dealt with the CC people over a shuttle driver that was using my card to buy male potency pills. After a few weeks, the CC people recognized that the shuttle driver had stolen several card numbers and was making the same purchases. So, the charges were reversed in short order- no harm, no foul.
The big advantage to using a credit card (besides the fraud protection built in) is that muggers now know most people don't carry cash. They instead focus their stealing to shoplifting or identity theft, which results in fewer deaths and injuries.
Life- you pays your money and you takes your chances.
The Real Bev
Jan 14, 2014, 8:20:55 PM1/14/14
to
On 01/14/2014 08:43 AM, KenK wrote:
> I'm begining to wonder how to pay for groceries, etc. any more, with all
> the security breaches such as Target's and many others. I shop mostly
> Walmart for groceries and other stuff they carry. (Price is important to me
> on my slender income.) If I use checks I suspect the store keeps a record
> of check bank account numbers and other info which could be stolen.
> Carrying that much cash or even keeping it at home bothers me. Wish there
> was some other alternative that was secure.
Use your credit cards. Watch your statements. If you see something you
> I'm begining to wonder how to pay for groceries, etc. any more, with all
> the security breaches such as Target's and many others. I shop mostly
> Walmart for groceries and other stuff they carry. (Price is important to me
> on my slender income.) If I use checks I suspect the store keeps a record
> of check bank account numbers and other info which could be stolen.
> Carrying that much cash or even keeping it at home bothers me. Wish there
> was some other alternative that was secure.
didn't do, notify the CC company immediately.
Target is giving everybody (or an least everybody they have email
addresses for, maybe real addresses too) a free year of Experian
monitoring, which is what AAA gave me when they were hacked last year.
No problem so far.
> Then there's the problem of mail order purchases, on line purchases,
> repeating monthly or annual non-local charges best paid by credit card.
> Then untilities and mailed bills such as trash, electric, etc.,
> conveniently paid by check rather than driving to their office and paying
> with cash. Cancelled checks and credit card reports make nice payment
> recipts too.
that I use that many checks, I use Bank of America's bill-paying
function. Banks have to be reliable or nobody would use them.
> When your credit card number is stolen it is a real PITA, answering many
> and often repeated letters from the card company concerning the illicit
> charges, getting a new card, notifying everyone who has the number on
> record for monthly, annual or whatever charges, etc. BTDT
>
> What best to do.
Fortunately the CC companies are good about fraudulent charges -- they
have to be or nobody would use their services.
I don't have any automatic payments -- I figure if something goes
belly-up with the payees it WILL be a bitch to straighten out.
A friend's trust account was wiped out and transferred to an account in
Panama or someplace by an employee of the trust company who forged the
friend's signature on an actual piece of paper. He got it all back, but
it was a nuisance too.
--
Cheers, Bev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Screw the end users. If they want good software,
let them write it themselves." -- Anon.
Annie Woughman
Jan 15, 2014, 4:08:47 PM1/15/14
to
"KenK" wrote in message news:XnsA2B562FEEF...@130.133.4.11...
attention to your statements every month and if there is anything on there
you didn't buy, call the CC company and report it and they will send you new
cards immediately. No hassle. It is so much easier to dispute charges made
on a credit card than on your debit card. The debit card sucks the money
out of your checking account immediately and you don't get that money back
until the situation is settled. Credit cards don't use a dime of your money
until you pay the bill. And checks--like you said, you hand them your name,
address, phone number, bank account number and routing number on the
spot--not a good idea.
Another up side to credit cards--get one that pays you for using it.
Bankamericards not only pay you money back, they give you a 10% bonus if you
have them deposit your rewards into one of their checking or saving
accounts.
sms
Jan 15, 2014, 4:55:50 PM1/15/14
to
that provides virtual credit card numbers. BOA offers this service but
it isn't all that common, see
<https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/accounts-cards/shopsafe.go>.
Paypal also shields a company from seeing your actual credit card
number. Actually there is a way to do recurring payments with a virtual
account.
I'd avoid checks at all costs. All of your checking account information
is on your check.
I'm a lot more inclined to pay cash at restaurants and for small
purchases than in the past. Several times I've had to replace a credit
card when it was compromised, and it is indeed a PITA.
Rod Speed
Mar 4, 2014, 6:17:10 AM3/4/14
to
KenK <inv...@invalid.com> wrote
> I'm begining to wonder how to pay for groceries, etc. any more, with all
> the security breaches such as Target's and many others. I shop mostly
> Walmart for groceries and other stuff they carry. (Price is important to
> me
> on my slender income.) If I use checks I suspect the store keeps a record
> of check bank account numbers and other info which could be stolen.
> Carrying that much cash or even keeping it at home bothers me. Wish
> there was some other alternative that was secure.
I just use a card which the bank will cover anything stolen from it like
that
and don’t keep enough in that account so that even if it gets stolen from
me and the bank tells me to drop dead, it will just be a minor nuisance.
Even easier to use one of the prepaid cards
and just add value to it online as required.
> Then there's the problem of mail order purchases,
I pay using paypal whenever possible and use the card
that I use for normal day to day purchases as the only
thing I tell paypal about, not any bank account details.
> on line purchases, repeating monthly or annual
> non-local charges best paid by credit card.
I just use that card I do all transactions on. And have a
couple of spares with other banks so that if there is a
mass looting like with Target and the card gets cancelled
by the bank because of the looting, I just use one of the
backup cards until the cancelled one gets replaced.
> Then untilities and mailed bills such as trash, electric,
> etc., conveniently paid by check rather than driving
> to their office and paying with cash.
I pay using online banking except for the
stuff that gets debited from the card auto.
> Cancelled checks
I almost never write checks anymore. Just for
the very occasional dinosaur operation that
won't take cards. I don't even write checks
to the people I know anymore for stuff that
isnt convenient to pay with cash because
of the value, I pay them using online banking.
> and credit card reports make nice payment recipts too.
Don’t need receipts anymore.
> When your credit card number is stolen it is a real PITA,
> answering many and often repeated letters from the
> card company concerning the illicit charges,
I didn’t find it any real problem myself when the bank
noticed what it decided was a suspicious transaction
for a couple of cents, literally. It was a minor nuisance
when I found it wouldn’t work in the store's self checkout
anymore and that was mainly because the machine didn’t
say explicitly that the card had been blocked so I tried it in
some other machines before I worked out what had happened.
Turned out that the bank had tried to contact me and failed.
> getting a new card,
That was a complete yawn.
> notifying everyone who has the number on record
> for monthly, annual or whatever charges, etc. BTDT
Just a minor nuisance IMO.
> What best to do.
See above.
I still do carry some cash, but that is because I do
the garage/yard sales and they hardly ever accept
anything but cash. Farmer's market too.
> Comments?
> I'm begining to wonder how to pay for groceries, etc. any more, with all
> the security breaches such as Target's and many others. I shop mostly
> Walmart for groceries and other stuff they carry. (Price is important to
> me
> on my slender income.) If I use checks I suspect the store keeps a record
> of check bank account numbers and other info which could be stolen.
> Carrying that much cash or even keeping it at home bothers me. Wish
> there was some other alternative that was secure.
that
and don’t keep enough in that account so that even if it gets stolen from
me and the bank tells me to drop dead, it will just be a minor nuisance.
Even easier to use one of the prepaid cards
and just add value to it online as required.
> Then there's the problem of mail order purchases,
that I use for normal day to day purchases as the only
thing I tell paypal about, not any bank account details.
> on line purchases, repeating monthly or annual
> non-local charges best paid by credit card.
couple of spares with other banks so that if there is a
mass looting like with Target and the card gets cancelled
by the bank because of the looting, I just use one of the
backup cards until the cancelled one gets replaced.
> Then untilities and mailed bills such as trash, electric,
> etc., conveniently paid by check rather than driving
> to their office and paying with cash.
stuff that gets debited from the card auto.
> Cancelled checks
I almost never write checks anymore. Just for
the very occasional dinosaur operation that
won't take cards. I don't even write checks
to the people I know anymore for stuff that
isnt convenient to pay with cash because
of the value, I pay them using online banking.
> and credit card reports make nice payment recipts too.
> When your credit card number is stolen it is a real PITA,
> answering many and often repeated letters from the
> card company concerning the illicit charges,
noticed what it decided was a suspicious transaction
for a couple of cents, literally. It was a minor nuisance
when I found it wouldn’t work in the store's self checkout
anymore and that was mainly because the machine didn’t
say explicitly that the card had been blocked so I tried it in
some other machines before I worked out what had happened.
Turned out that the bank had tried to contact me and failed.
> getting a new card,
That was a complete yawn.
> notifying everyone who has the number on record
> for monthly, annual or whatever charges, etc. BTDT
> What best to do.
See above.
I still do carry some cash, but that is because I do
the garage/yard sales and they hardly ever accept
anything but cash. Farmer's market too.
> Comments?
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