Not using Sallie Mae if they keep this up

[bada_bing]

One thing to remember is with a new account the issuer hasn't had time to learn

your typical spending behavior. After a year or two they have a pretty good database

on where you typically go and what you typically buy. The fraud prevention algorithms

will be less likely to flag something that fits your known behavior and locations. You

can speed up the learning process by doing travel notifications early on. After a year

or so I wouldn't worry about it when travelling inside your known footprint.

I travel about 100k air miles a year and 20k road miles on cross country trips and

haven't had a fraud prevention decline in at least 5 years. I use Sallie Mae as my

Primary gas card for the last year and haven't had a problem. I love Barclay's so far.

[Anonymous]

Yeah,

I can appreciate all the advice given...especially the fraud part.

I'll give Sallie another shot lol...just didn't like hearing "declined" at the point of sale.

and I guess I'll start doing travel notifications since my accounts are new...sigh...

[Turbobuick]

Recently I used my Sallie Mae at a gas station 8 miles from my home. I had used the card at the same station 2 months prior. The transaction went smoothly, however 5 minutes later as I was driving the freeway, I got a text, an email and a phone call all in a span of about 30 seconds to alert for fraud. No reason that should have triggered unless that Mobil station had problems or SM's auto-alert got overly sensitive. Other than that one time, there hasn't been any issues.  

[Anonymous]

With a relatively unused credit card being used at a place away from your listed and reported home address - yeah, I'm not surprised their fraud department required verification.  I'm sure on their end, because the spending was deemed unusual based on how you've used the card since you've had it, it made perfect sense to decline the purchase to protect both you and themselves.

If you used the card regularly for everyday purchases, it may have been different, but you don't so any spending looks somewhat unusual, and being outside of your home location I'm sure it looked even more unusual.

[Anonymous]

Be glad they CC are doing this. In the end, it helps everyone. I know when my info was stolen I felt totally "violated". The idea that you're being set-up and screwed by some scumbag is terrible. I applaud the security and ask, how can you blame these companies from trying to protect their assets and YOU ??? I have all my CC's setup to instantly text me an alert anytime they're used above a certain amount, or transactions. It's so easy to setup online now there's really no excuse not to add this level of protection. You can also go on most CC websites and put a travel alert in. It's simple. Unfortunately, just like the airports today, it's the technology age we live in, and both the criminals and the target's are trying to stay one step ahead of each. For every action, there's a reaction. Gotta stay vigilant. Don't take anything personal.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Be glad they CC are doing this. In the end, it helps everyone. I know when my info was stolen I felt totally "violated". The idea that you're being set-up and screwed by some scumbag is terrible. I applaud the security and ask, how can you blame these companies from trying to protect their assets and YOU ??? I have all my CC's setup to instantly text me an alert anytime they're used above a certain amount, or transactions. It's so easy to setup online now there's really no excuse not to add this level of protection. You can also go on most CC websites and put a travel alert in. It's simple. Unfortunately, just like the airports today, it's the technology age we live in, and both the criminals and the target's are trying to stay one step ahead of each. For every action, there's a reaction. Gotta stay vigilant. Don't take anything personal.

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This really is purely for their benefit, not ours.  It's not identity theft (when cards you DON'T know about would have been opened and are being used), here  they are trying to protect their assets against fraud.   And yes, of course that makes sense, but if it causes too much inconvenience to the user, then it is bad, and being declined can be have larger consequences depending on the situation.  (I assume no-one would want to be able to use the card only  in the presence of a bank staff member and three witnesses validating that you are you, but the same argument of protecting their assets and you applies there)

And the "too much" varies from person to person.  I travel enough, using enough cards, that I am certainly not going to inform every issuer of travel plans when going domesitcally.  ( I do internationally, because I use far fewer cards there because of FTF.)

But there is no reason "to be glad" that they are doing this if it gets in your way.

[Anonymous]

Of course it sucks. Just like going thru at the airport. But you deal with it, or you don't fly. You're not happy with your CC's security policy, go find another one. But it is that companies right to protect their assets. You don't like it, cancel the card and go with another one. That's your choice. I like that kind of protection as I've gone thru identity theft and it's miserable. Unfortunately this is the society we live in. We're losing our freedom's almost on a daily basis via Govt intrusion or by the crooks.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Of course it sucks. Just like going thru at the airport. But you deal with it, or you don't fly. You're not happy with your CC's security policy, go find another one. But it is that companies right to protect their assets. You don't like it, cancel the card and go with another one. That's your choice. I like that kind of protection as I've gone thru identity theft and it's miserable. Unfortunately this is the society we live in. We're losing our freedom's almost on a daily basis via Govt intrusion or by the crooks.

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I agree with THIS!  But that's not quite what your original comment appeared to suggest.   The OP's subject line  suggests that "go find another one" was a strong possibility. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Be glad they CC are doing this. In the end, it helps everyone. I know when my info was stolen I felt totally "violated". The idea that you're being set-up and screwed by some scumbag is terrible. I applaud the security and ask, how can you blame these companies from trying to protect their assets and YOU ??? I have all my CC's setup to instantly text me an alert anytime they're used above a certain amount, or transactions. It's so easy to setup online now there's really no excuse not to add this level of protection. You can also go on most CC websites and put a travel alert in. It's simple. Unfortunately, just like the airports today, it's the technology age we live in, and both the criminals and the target's are trying to stay one step ahead of each. For every action, there's a reaction. Gotta stay vigilant. Don't take anything personal.

---

This really is purely for their benefit, not ours.  It's not identity theft (when cards you DON'T know about would have been opened and are being used), here  they are trying to protect their assets against fraud.   And yes, of course that makes sense, but if it causes too much inconvenience to the user, then it is bad, and being declined can be have larger consequences depending on the situation.  (I assume no-one would want to be able to use the card only  in the presence of a bank staff member and three witnesses validating that you are you, but the same argument of protecting their assets and you applies there)

And the "too much" varies from person to person.  I travel enough, using enough cards, that I am certainly not going to inform every issuer of travel plans when going domesitcally.  ( I do internationally, because I use far fewer cards there because of FTF.)

But there is no reason "to be glad" that they are doing this if it gets in your way.

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The more banks protect themselves against fraud, the more the consumer reaps in rewards. Do you really think the bank will take a loss? No, they'll just nerf rewards cards. I see no problem with what Barclay did in this case. I went on a trip across the country. Informed my 6 cards that I'd be traveling,  ran into 0 issues.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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The more banks protect themselves against fraud, the more the consumer reaps in rewards. Do you really think the bank will take a loss? No, they'll just nerf rewards cards. I see no problem with what Barclay did in this case. I went on a trip across the country. Informed my 6 cards that I'd be traveling,  ran into 0 issues.

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And do you really think that banks pass on savings to the consumer!   And pushing something like chip&pin would more directly impact fraud on card present transactions, than these statistically based guessing algorithms.

Re travel: and I have NEVER informed about domestic travel.   I had only one transaction declined on travel, I've had more (2) declined locally!    I am not certain the info is really used (whereas "I am about to make a large purchase at merchant X" usually is)