Fraud on a new card for the first time.

[crystal626]

Guess there's a first time for everything. New BoA card came in the mail and I went to activate it. Nice big banner saying that it's been restricted due to unusual activity until I call them.

Hopefully they actually declined these charges seeing how they have a card tracker that didn't even tell me to expect my card until today and I just have to order a new card but yay for another week of not being able to use my card. I have another 30-45 minutes before they will call me back as they had a 54m-1hr20m wait when I called. Fun.

[SusanJA]

You shouldn't have to pay for anything. Good luck!

[crystal626]

So not fraud. Identity verification that requires me to go a branch.

How much sense does this make?

- I have a current card

- I had to call and speak to someone to get the approval in the first place because my credit hadn't thawed when I applied, which proves that I had access to thaw my credit

- I have logged in to the website since approval and saw the card

- I have logged in on the app since approval and also saw the card, both of these situations would have pushed anyone who didn't apply for the card to call and question it

- Both the app and website have been logged in using the same IP address as my previous logins

- I called them from my phone number, the one I signed up with

- Their automated system called me back on that same number

- I read the code back to them that they sent to that same number

But no, they can't just verify over the phone, they have to inconvenience me even more beyond the more than an hour it took where I had to sit around and wait for their automated system to call me.

[ElvisCaprice]

Yes, BofA/Merrill have gotten tough on security.  Had some new steps to go thru for a redo on Merrill/BofA new accounts.  Hit em up for juicy SUBs,again.  Had 4 CC's already.  Thankfully I didn't have to go into a branch. 😧

[crystal626]

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@ElvisCaprice wrote:

Yes, BofA/Merrill have gotten tough on security.  Had some new steps to go thru for a redo on Merrill/BofA new accounts.  Hit em up for juicy SUBs,again.  Had 4 CC's already.  Thankfully I didn't have to go into a branch. 😧

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First time I've ever had a bank require me to do it and I'm not very happy about it. If the P2 takes the car to work tomorrow, it's going to cost me $15 just to get to the branch and back plus around an hour of time inbetween getting to and from. 

[TrapLine]

@crystal626 

For what it is worth, I had to go into a major bank for every product of checking, savings, CDs, lines of credit and credit cards. No phone, mobile cell or online. Not once.

They said they could not verify me. Finally, I took a birth certiicate, social security card, residential dwelling deed, electric bill, city utility bill, pass port and drivers license in.

They did accept all of it and I was then allowed to use normal processes after that. Note, a customer since 2010 so they had me active on various products over the years. Help me to understand this?

[Realist]

The security measures that certain lenders are taking are definately scaling up.  I'm not saying good or bad, but it is highly annoying.  It's as if security has magically become a new hot craze within the banking world.

I do business with a number of banks and credit unions.  All of them are easy to deal with, with exception to one.  One in particular when I try to link to my other financial accounts elsewhere, they limit me until I can verify in person.  In one event, the rep called into their verification hub to try and unfreeze the account.  The other person on the end said something to the effect "Are they there right now?  Do they have statements and verification?"  All which was responded back with a yes.   It's as if it was a surprise to these people, and they act as if they're new to this entire world of online security.

I definately understand the wasting my time part.  If I didn't have a need for this specific financial institution, I would drop them.

[FicoMike0]

That is a frustrating issue. I had a similar problem opening a checking with truist. The nearest branch is about a hundred miles away. I was only doing it for the sub. I passed, not worth the trouble.

If you do decide to go through with it, call the branch you intend to visit and ask exactly what I D they will accept. When I called truist, they wanted my social security card. They said they couldn't accept my dl, passport or anything else.

[crystal626]

Well I got my butt in there and got it done. I didn't have access to the car today so it did indeed cost me $15.

Thankfully the place was dead and the guy who helped me was very apologetic and worked to get me out of the door ASAP.

He did say that I'll probably run into this with any card I open as he's seeing it more and more now so if I don't want to deal with it, not to get another BoA card.

At least it wasn't fraud I guess.

[crystal626]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

That is a frustrating issue. I had a similar problem opening a checking with truist. The nearest branch is about a hundred miles away. I was only doing it for the sub. I passed, not worth the trouble.

If you do decide to go through with it, call the branch you intend to visit and ask exactly what I D they will accept. When I called truist, they wanted my social security card. They said they couldn't accept my dl, passport or anything else.

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Thankfully the rep yesterday did give me a list of acceptable things so I went in with my drivers license, a credit card with my name on it from another bank, a utility bill that I printed since we do e-statements, and a piece of regular mail with my name and address in case they wouldn't take the e-statement from the utility bill. I don't take my Social Security card out of the safe unless I have no other choice because I think I'm on my last or second to last lifetime replacement.

I thought I might have problems with the drivers license since I didn't want to renew it when we moved so I just updated it with the DMV and added a sticker with the new one the back as the DMV advised but he took it no problem.