CIBC Aerogold Visa card compromised - again
Oct 20, 2010, 10:59 am
#47
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Earth
Programs: AC S100K (formerly AC*SE), AC 2MM, AMEX Plat, Marriott Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,469
I am new to this forum and a lurker, until now I guess.
I have just accepted the upgrade to the CIBC Aeroplan card and now I am gettign quite nervous from the information in this thread. I am a reasonably frequent traveller (and AE Elite - soon to be SE) and I have a variety of cards for busienss travel. But my CIBC AE card is personal and will have the variety of transactions that you all have identitifed as triggers - biggish, small, multi country in short time frame etc. I have the card free of first annual fee so maybe I keep for a short period of time. Is there a holding time period to retain gift miles? Or can I bail at my own wishes? It was my hope to set up more regular bill paying activity to maximize miles accumulation, but the stories I see here make me feel like I will spend too much time keeping the regular bill payign activity safe and intact.
So is it really so bad or is it only that the problems mentioned appear to be the reality?
C
I have just accepted the upgrade to the CIBC Aeroplan card and now I am gettign quite nervous from the information in this thread. I am a reasonably frequent traveller (and AE Elite - soon to be SE) and I have a variety of cards for busienss travel. But my CIBC AE card is personal and will have the variety of transactions that you all have identitifed as triggers - biggish, small, multi country in short time frame etc. I have the card free of first annual fee so maybe I keep for a short period of time. Is there a holding time period to retain gift miles? Or can I bail at my own wishes? It was my hope to set up more regular bill paying activity to maximize miles accumulation, but the stories I see here make me feel like I will spend too much time keeping the regular bill payign activity safe and intact.
So is it really so bad or is it only that the problems mentioned appear to be the reality?
C
Others may have other strategies.
I just like to keep travel related expenses separate from "home" related expenses. I find it easier to reconcile, manage, track - expecially when travel expenses may also have billable expenses to clients.
Oct 21, 2010, 2:08 am
#49
Join Date: Oct 2010
Programs: AC-SE
Posts: 7
My method seems to work for me (see above)
Others may have other strategies.
I just like to keep travel related expenses separate from "home" related expenses. I find it easier to reconcile, manage, track - expecially when travel expenses may also have billable expenses to clients.
Others may have other strategies.
I just like to keep travel related expenses separate from "home" related expenses. I find it easier to reconcile, manage, track - expecially when travel expenses may also have billable expenses to clients.
From your post above you say you have local use and non-local use cards. Does this mean you also have business and personal variants of each as well? That's a bunch of cards - I'm gonna need a bigger wallet :-)
Joking aside, I also have separate business and personal cards but having a local use and non-local use set of personal cards was not something I considered. But it also seems to me that if I have a non-local use card the same trigger risks exists.
For example. I use my local use personal card in YYZ. Then I get to FRA and use my non-local use personal card for a small purchase. The I fly to DUB and use my personal non-local use card for a large-ish . Soon, given the responses of others, the non-local use personal card will get locked and then I will try to use the local use personal card, which will now see a spurious trigger and then also get locked. So then I am yet again stuffed.
Seems to me the best option is to do what a posted above did and say to CIBC VISA, I am traveiing for 300 days - leave me alone :-) Then there is s risk of compromise but not for irrational trigger locking and the risk, as mentioend above, sits with the CIBC VISA people. Does this make sense?
Oct 21, 2010, 4:56 pm
#50
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Earth
Programs: AC S100K (formerly AC*SE), AC 2MM, AMEX Plat, Marriott Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,469
Thanks 2MM_Guy.
From your post above you say you have local use and non-local use cards. Does this mean you also have business and personal variants of each as well? That's a bunch of cards - I'm gonna need a bigger wallet :-)
Joking aside, I also have separate business and personal cards but having a local use and non-local use set of personal cards was not something I considered. But it also seems to me that if I have a non-local use card the same trigger risks exists.
For example. I use my local use personal card in YYZ. Then I get to FRA and use my non-local use personal card for a small purchase. The I fly to DUB and use my personal non-local use card for a large-ish . Soon, given the responses of others, the non-local use personal card will get locked and then I will try to use the local use personal card, which will now see a spurious trigger and then also get locked. So then I am yet again stuffed.
Seems to me the best option is to do what a posted above did and say to CIBC VISA, I am traveiing for 300 days - leave me alone :-) Then there is s risk of compromise but not for irrational trigger locking and the risk, as mentioend above, sits with the CIBC VISA people. Does this make sense?
From your post above you say you have local use and non-local use cards. Does this mean you also have business and personal variants of each as well? That's a bunch of cards - I'm gonna need a bigger wallet :-)
Joking aside, I also have separate business and personal cards but having a local use and non-local use set of personal cards was not something I considered. But it also seems to me that if I have a non-local use card the same trigger risks exists.
For example. I use my local use personal card in YYZ. Then I get to FRA and use my non-local use personal card for a small purchase. The I fly to DUB and use my personal non-local use card for a large-ish . Soon, given the responses of others, the non-local use personal card will get locked and then I will try to use the local use personal card, which will now see a spurious trigger and then also get locked. So then I am yet again stuffed.
Seems to me the best option is to do what a posted above did and say to CIBC VISA, I am traveiing for 300 days - leave me alone :-) Then there is s risk of compromise but not for irrational trigger locking and the risk, as mentioend above, sits with the CIBC VISA people. Does this make sense?
In my case most of travel is business so my non-local card is business. My local card is personal. Since I have minimal business expenses when I am local, I may use my non-local card for those only. My local card has all of the recurring charges (utilities, phone etc.)
I also keep a USD business card in case of emergency.
That's it!
Oct 22, 2010, 12:06 am
#51
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: YYC
Programs: AC*G Elite, SPG-G, Mariot-G
Posts: 285
I had my card canceled last week, and it was only 2 months old after having it replaced when I was in New York (lost it there).
They did not explain what the fraud activity was, however they listed off all my most recent transactions which were all legit.
They were going to send the card to me regular post but asked that it be expedited next day, phone guy checked with a supervisor and it was allowed.
Not sure if my dollar amount that I spend per month influenced it, but I do use my card daily.
I have the amex SPG card as my backup along with a master card and my corporate visa.
They did not explain what the fraud activity was, however they listed off all my most recent transactions which were all legit.
They were going to send the card to me regular post but asked that it be expedited next day, phone guy checked with a supervisor and it was allowed.
Not sure if my dollar amount that I spend per month influenced it, but I do use my card daily.
I have the amex SPG card as my backup along with a master card and my corporate visa.
Oct 22, 2010, 6:56 am
#52
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: AC MM E50 , Former SPG, now Marriott LT Plat
Posts: 6,251
Just had an interesting one - I use HSBC M/C for personal expenses.
I had been using a small internet provider for my DSL which charged my card on
an annual basis. In each of the past 3 years I had told them NOT to renew automatically,
that I would review my options each year. This year i decided to switch, and told
them not to renew. Of course, the charge went through on my card.
When I called HSBC to dispute the charge ( as not authorized); they would not
permit me to dispute it - the only choice I was allowed was to call it a fraudulent
charge, which resulted in cancellation of my card.
I had been using a small internet provider for my DSL which charged my card on
an annual basis. In each of the past 3 years I had told them NOT to renew automatically,
that I would review my options each year. This year i decided to switch, and told
them not to renew. Of course, the charge went through on my card.
When I called HSBC to dispute the charge ( as not authorized); they would not
permit me to dispute it - the only choice I was allowed was to call it a fraudulent
charge, which resulted in cancellation of my card.
Nov 13, 2010, 4:15 pm
#53
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: YVR
Programs: Erstwhile Accidental AC E35K
Posts: 2,912
You've hit one of my hot buttons. I have had my RBC Visa card summarily cancelled at least four times. No explanation except that someone, somewhere decided it was "compromised" and refused to provide details. Outrageous! Last month my wife's Amex card was blocked without notice while she was out of town. Why? She used it to buy gas in another city, when she had never before used it outside of our home city. Again, outrageous!
As one who travels all over the world, I have completely lost confidence in Visa. I live in fear that they will sooner or later leave me stranded in a foreign country. It's just a matter of time. I do carry a second card as backup, which I have already had to use at least once (Jakarta, of all places).
The credit card companies need to realize they are facing a cricis of confidence among their customers. The customers need to keep the heat on, or we risk getting summarily stranded in some far-off land without recourse.
End of rant.
As one who travels all over the world, I have completely lost confidence in Visa. I live in fear that they will sooner or later leave me stranded in a foreign country. It's just a matter of time. I do carry a second card as backup, which I have already had to use at least once (Jakarta, of all places).
The credit card companies need to realize they are facing a cricis of confidence among their customers. The customers need to keep the heat on, or we risk getting summarily stranded in some far-off land without recourse.
End of rant.
They have offered to courier a new card to me, which does a lot of good when I'm not home. 
Anyway, that's it for RBC. I looked through the thread and didn't see anything about the TD Advantage card. Has anyone had problems with TD summarily cancelling cards when they have been "compromised"? If so, what's the deal?
Nov 13, 2010, 4:43 pm
#54
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canada
Programs: *G
Posts: 2,304
I have come to realize that they are probably all the same, although your RBC experiences do sound particularly bad.
Having switched to AMEX as my primary card after my many CIBC Aerogold "compromise" experiences, I did have an amusing call from AMEX this morning (8.30 on a Sat - I assumed it was the compromise thing all over again). After a very convoluted conversation about "how to best use my card", I finally realized that they wanted me to make a payment as they thought I was spending too much. It turns out that there is in fact a spending limit, they just don't tell you what it is.
Having switched to AMEX as my primary card after my many CIBC Aerogold "compromise" experiences, I did have an amusing call from AMEX this morning (8.30 on a Sat - I assumed it was the compromise thing all over again). After a very convoluted conversation about "how to best use my card", I finally realized that they wanted me to make a payment as they thought I was spending too much. It turns out that there is in fact a spending limit, they just don't tell you what it is.
Nov 13, 2010, 4:46 pm
#55
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: YYC
Programs: BA bronze, Aeroplan peon
Posts: 4,742
As long as you pay it off each month, I thought they would want you to spend as much as possible on the card?
Nov 14, 2010, 6:36 am
#56
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: AC*SE MM, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat Amb
Posts: 3,439
I've just started using the new Amex Gold card that gives double points on gas, groceries, drugstores, and travel. It's free for a year and there's a 15k sign-up bonus. I will probably keep this one since I do spend a lot on travel!
Nov 14, 2010, 12:18 pm
#57
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: YYC
Programs: AC Basic, UA MP Gold, Marriott Gold Elite, SPG Gold, Amex Platinum
Posts: 3,008
I wrote a letter to CIBC Visa about all my crazy experiences, and had a call from them tonight. First, they offered more miles, but the rationale was interesting. They made up the difference between what they are currently offering as an incentive bonus and the miles I originally received when I got the card. Second, I learned that CIBC and CIBC Visa are very much two separate entities. Hence my difficulties with a CIBC Branch picking up the replacement card was the CIBC branch protecting itself against CIBC Visa and I was just a pawn between those two silos.
Sound anything like AC and AE?
Sound anything like AC and AE?
The problem lies with difficulties are the branch level. Smaller branches don't have the in house expertise and clout that larger branches possess. The largest branches (sometimes called Super Branches by staff) have two floors and dedicated specialists for lending, corporate, investing, and all other types of customer needs. Smaller branches however tend to have the same 3-7 people deal with all types of non counter services (such as lending, investing, mortgages, corporate and personal). These individuals are 1 mile wide but inch deep in knowledge. When an individual at a smaller branch gets customer issue they cannot solve or understand, the response is to sometimes bring up the separate entity issue.
The solution to all this is to operate from the main downtown branch for all your banking needs. This is the solution I have employed for over 10 years. I transferred from a small suburban branch to main branch in YEG when I got into an arguement with the local branch investment person ( the same branch had nearly flubbed a car loan six months prior), as a solution I walked to the main branch next day and transferred all my banking to main branch. So now-a-days I deal with separate individuals for mortgage, loan, investment, and credit card needs).
Dec 15, 2011, 4:27 pm
#58
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Closer to YTZ
Programs: Fairmont Platinum | AC Gate Lice Status | VIPorter
Posts: 2,554
I was hit! Luckily I noticed the small charge from two days ago and called in. Someone requested a US credit report online using my #. Bill was converted into CAD on statement.
No idea how, as I use only chip terminals - but even those may be hacked or skimmed by employees, organized crime etc. I am guessing.
Plus all the online databases (hotels, rental cars, etc.) that may be hacked over the years.
No idea how, as I use only chip terminals - but even those may be hacked or skimmed by employees, organized crime etc. I am guessing.
Plus all the online databases (hotels, rental cars, etc.) that may be hacked over the years.
Dec 15, 2011, 4:53 pm
#59
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Ontario, CAN
Posts: 5,813
I was hit! Luckily I noticed the small charge from two days ago and called in. Someone requested a US credit report online using my #. Bill was converted into CAD on statement.
No idea how, as I use only chip terminals - but even those may be hacked or skimmed by employees, organized crime etc. I am guessing.
Plus all the online databases (hotels, rental cars, etc.) that may be hacked over the years.
No idea how, as I use only chip terminals - but even those may be hacked or skimmed by employees, organized crime etc. I am guessing.
Plus all the online databases (hotels, rental cars, etc.) that may be hacked over the years.
A couple $2 or $3 charges from a merchant I don't know.
Just paid it and said thought whatever.
I will check into it now
Dec 15, 2011, 6:28 pm
#60
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canada
Programs: *G
Posts: 2,304
Ironic to see this thread (I was the OP) again, right after my CIBC VISA was yet again compromised - it's kind of an annual event. They were every bit as useless in replacing the card as before - it was 4 days before I left on my mini RTW, but as a weekend intervened, even express replacement was no good. So a replacement card was in my mail when I returned. I am currently evaluating which cards to use, and likely going to join the churning crowd.