Barclay card activation measures

[Anonymous]

I love Barclay but I wish they had actual card activation measures. Just received my replacement card after not only having my original card compromised, but after having several pieces of mail go missing from the post office (one was the first replacement card. This is the 2nd replacement card. Hope that makes sense and is not confusing.

As you can imagine, that shook me up a bit. I did not expect to have my card compromised and then subsequently have the replacement one go missing in the mail). Pretty unnerving and has made me lose some confidence in the post office (not sure I had much before).

My 2nd replacement one arrived today, no activation sticker or anything. I called Barclay and they said I didn't need to activate it, it's already ready to go and be used!

Now call me crazy, but if I had not been so on top of keeping track of where my 1st replacement card was in the mail, and calling Barclay once it seemed like it was taking too long, that means THAT card was all ready for the person who intercepted it to go out and use. Not good.

I think I will ask them to please change this policy.

I also think I have had all of the card/ identity compromise issues I can handle for a while. Two on top of each other is too much. The 1st replacement card actually made it onto the local mail truck (tracked it via Priority online) and suddenly it's gone missing from the truck in a fairly small local geographic area. Really?

We've also had contract postal carriers rotate like crazy lately (5 different people in one week, one was even from out of state)  and that makes me pretty suspicious. CAlled the postmaster but he didn't seem that concerned. Said they lose mail all the time. Great.

I had Barclay send the 2nd replacement card via Fedex.

[Anonymous]

that's sketchy

[Anonymous]

Not making me feel very comfortable. Why would a lender send a replacement card out already activated? Especially as a replacement on a compromised card! Now did they change your account number, security code and expiration date? If not, other than you did not receive the card some one could use your missing card with the same account number. What the ....!

[Callandra]

Hmm, when I got a replacement card from Barclays after the Target breach (I didn't ask for it, they just re-issued the card with a new number), I had to call to activate it. 

[Anonymous]

Yes, they changed account number and expiration date.

No activation required on the card I just received. That bother me because the card that was lost in the mail was also" ready to use."

Barclay acted quickly when I reported the original card compromise and the mail loss, but I cannot figure out why they are sending out cards that are ready to use.

[Anonymous]

seems like that would go against a privacy or security or bank secrecy act idk. doesn't seem right

[Anonymous]

not calling you a liar btw hope it didn't come off that way.. i meant on their part.

[Anonymous]

Sending out pre activated replacement cards is not exclusive to Barclays

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Sending out pre activated replacement cards is not exclusive to Barclays

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That is just crazy - given all of the identity theft that is rampant today. Card companies tell you 7-10 days to receive the card,and in some cases I've received a card in 2-3 business days (sometimes longer). If a person waits the 7-10 days, someone else could have intercepted the card after 3 days and not only charged things (which oculd be fixed later), but committed identity theft (which would not show immediately and would be difficult to fix later.

I doube Barclay will change policies because of my feedback but I'll give them the feedback anyway. I will also ask them to place a password on my account in addition to verifying my info when I call them. Reason being - part of the mail that was missing was an IRS tax document they sent me contianing the last 4 of my social. That's all someone needs (sometimes) for certain card companies. Some ask more info to validate me, others are looser and after I;ve given last 4 of social, they validate me with just that limited info.

I'm also going to ask ll of my card companies to not send out any replacement cards without calling me on my phone to verify I requested it first. I could see someone with the last 4 of my social and the 1st replacement Barclaycard trying to do what damage they could in the 7-10 day period while a person was awaiting their card.

I don't know what is going on in the post office but the fact that they had 5 differerent cpntractors delivering mail in one week, who don't have regular ongoing ties as a regular postal employee, locally in a very small area, and the package out of 10 I received that amazingly went missing had my replacement Barclaycard in it - and another piece of mail with the IRS document.

Not happy but going to start using a password with all of my card companies when I call in (in addition to verifying info with them) - and checking my credit reports very often. Don't think I want to do a freeze just yet as I have heard of a lot of people having problems with that.

Thanks for listening to my frustration. I hope hearing this helps someone review their own security. It's been stressful thinking that my things are out there. (it was "on the truck for delivery" last Friday and MIA since)

[Anonymous]

by last Friday, I meant it was on the local truck on the 31st, just to clarify - with today being the 8th. Priority envelope with tracking. Have called the local postmaster and other postal employees since. No one can find it.

I guess I should not be so mad but I personally want to find the person that did this. If it were mistakenly delivered, someone would have spoken up sooner. Priority mail gets scanned at its delivery destination and that never happened.