I officially hate Barclay already!

[longtimelurker]

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@barbaralee wrote:

Well, I work in the back office for the fraud dept (not Barclays) and I also sit next to the people who take the front office calls. When it gets very busy I will jump on the phones and take some as well. Most people are pretty good about things, but some will freak out, especially if they are on the phone for a long time and get transferred around. Then you get the inevitable: "OMG, you closed my card and it wasn't even fraud!" BS... here is the thing: it was flagged as potentially suspicious, so it was shut down. Certain stores sometimes have such high fraud rates that for some places we are not even allowed to call, we just shut it down. And yes, running the card is enough to trigger that.  I am sorry you got the runaround but I am a firm believer in you have to pick your battles. Is the inconvenience of getting declined and getting transferred a bit THAT big of a deal? Is it enough to inspire HATE? I mean, to me it is whatevs, but I understand others can be more temperamental. 

While I will just use another card, I can certainly understand people getting annoyed (OK, hate may be too strong!).  The point is that the security stuff is really for the issuer's benefit (because of the 0 liability consumers have) so we are being inconvenienced for no benefit to ourselves.   And in the example you cite, the consumer may have no idea that this place has super-high fraud rates, or is even in a class of suspicious transactions, so "I've done nothing wrong" etc.

EDIT: I see your addition, that not everything is about the convenience of the cardholder.  Right, but that is what causes the annoyance, especially when, correctly or incorrectly, I decide it is just your institution that is being difficult!

[barbaralee]

Well, I think what a lot of people forget is that technically it is not your card. Even debit cards are not your card. So the bank could really do whatever it wants to do in the sake of protecting themselves. If there is fraud there is an expectation that the bank will find some way to refund the money... Heck, people feel that way about disputes, where they make a purchase, change their mind and want to cancel it. The banks will try to minimize their costs as much as possible. 

And you are correct, most people do not know which stores or transactions will trigger, but think of it this way: anytime you use a card you open yourself to fraud occuring, so there is always going to be that potential that the one time you run the card it will get declined. But in the end it is for the bank's protection as well as the consumer's protection (but mostly the bank ) . 

I do agree, it is an annoyance, and always embarrassing. Is it enough to inspire hate filled rant? Ehhhh....

[Creditaddict]

The thing that irritates me is not having my account frozen rather it's valid or not... but even Navy (who I usually feel is a bit behind on computer technology) I receive a text instantly if they are unsure about a charge or an automated system that calls and asks you to either validate yourself and then charges through automated or gives a phone number to call them.... this day in age with email, text, phone, etc.... I find it VERY irritating if they make no attempt to contact me... if it's about reaching out to numbers or what not that you feel could be compromised too (not sure how!) at least send a secure message online... many of us have alerts to our phones or emails for messages online... I mean really it just seems the bank has 100 ways of contacting us to at least tell us to contact them but most don't and follow that up with a company that is closed... yeah, now im going to be pissed.

[barbaralee]

Most people think email, texts, even letters From the bank are fraudsters. I have had people wait on hold for me for 20 minutes just to say: "my bank told me YOU are the fraudster, and not to give you any information!!" Then they like to ask me for my full name and social, because they are trying to make a point. Yeah, they could send a text or whatever, but we can't expect the same level of service across the board. I use to work in USAA card services. I heard the same thing: "omg, why didn't you text me?!" 

Btw, there is a very common fraud scam that IS through text, that will cite your bank's name and everything. And people fall for it, a lot. Just saying.

[Creditaddict]

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@barbaralee wrote:

Most people think email, texts, even letters From the bank are fraudsters. I have had people wait on hold for me for 20 minutes just to say: "my bank told me YOU are the fraudster, and not to give you any information!!" Then they like to ask me for my full name and social, because they are trying to make a point. Yeah, they could send a text or whatever, but we can't expect the same level of service across the board. I use to work in USAA card services. I heard the same thing: "omg, why didn't you text me?!" 

Btw, there is a very common fraud scam that IS through text, that will cite your bank's name and everything. And people fall for it, a lot. Just saying.

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I guess I am on the extreme side... my phone is loaded with bank phone numbers, text alert numbers, underwriting, etc. when I get a text for fraud from say Navy since I used them in my first example it has the contact "Navy Text" because when I get new accounts and set them up online and sign up for online banking and mobile alerts and everything I save those numbers when they first send out messages to me... those numbers stay the same for all future contact from the bank in that way.... now when the bank calls you the number might or might not chage but the prefix and such are always the same... I know by state which bank is calling

[VirtualCuriosity]

It's Eli Manning's fault.....  Seriously though, sorry you went through that.

[barbaralee]

Lol, God bless you, Creditaddict... I get as far as making my safety preferences and making sure that my email and numbers wiith the bank are updated. I also only have my two main cards customer service number in my phone... But I was quick to save Happy House Chinese Restaurant to my favorites list because they deliver. You can see where my priorities lie.  

[12njoy]

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@Vegas247 wrote:

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@heygirlhey wrote:

I've barely had the card in my hand 24hrs and I already hate them. I've paid one bill and tried to make a store purchase today. I was hit with the "your card has been declined." I logged into my account and it said this:

During a recent review of your NY Giants Extra Points MasterCard account ending in 0317 we identified transactions that may be fraudulent. 

Please contact our Customer Security department as
soon as possible at 1-888-232-0776. Please have your
account number available when you call. Representatives
are available Monday through Friday - 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET
and Saturday through Sunday - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. 

For your protection, transaction activity on your
account and online access will be limited until we are
able to speak with you.

However when I called in they were closed and the  regular rep  told me "they are having problems in the security department." Are you kidding me?

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Sorry that happend to you, but  sometimes when you get a new card, Banks just want to be sure that it's you using the card,  and didn't get stolen.....Discover did that for my first large purchase......I love my Barclay Card...website and android app are smooooth....

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+1

I went to make a $3,000 purchase with my Discover and it was declined.  It took 10 minutes on the phone with Discover, but I'm sure glad that they were on it.  Now I just call Discover ahead of time and tell them that I will be making a large purchase so that we don't have this issue again.  So far so good.  Sorry about your experience OP.  I love Barclays myself.

[Rhaeny]

In the end, all of this is done to protect both sides, the bank and the consumer.  

I've had Barclays, Chase, Discover, Navy and DCU do this to me before.  I welcome the fact that they do this because my credit is important to me.  I find it an inconvienience as well when you're at the counter and ready to pay, but I've learned to keep the CC phone numbers in my phone so I can easily call them in case this happens.

Just recently I was in the Apple store making a large purchase and I was zapped instantly.  I knew the drill and called.  Boom!  Done.  Purchase made.

I've read horror stories about people whose cards have actually HAD fraud, and geez, the hoops they've had to go through to get it fixed is not something I want to deal with.

So I just take this as a part of doing business with CC's in the climate that we live in.  I also carry other CC's with me in case there's a chance I can't get in touch with them.

IMO, I'd rather have them err on the side that the activity is than not fraudulent.

[09Lexie]

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@Grabiela wrote:

You are welcome heygirlhey!!!

I am a underwriting Manager at Barclay. And yes please add that number to the list of backdoor numbers please!!

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Done