For those new to the game, mint.com can be quite handy for keeping an eye on transactions taking place across large numbers of cards/issuers. Mint doesn't currently track your AP & BB balances directly, but does cover just about everything else..

I am not sure I would give all the userid / password info to an online outfit to track my finances.

Once every few days logging into your accounts by yourself would have been suffice to catch any irregularities.
Many cards also allow you to set alert for suspicious transactions defined by amount or some other criteria.

Quick AP question:

What happens when you send a payment to someone who does not have an AP account? Do they need to create an account to access the funds? Sorry if this has been asked and answered several times.

I understand the concern, but between a dozen different issuers and over 100 different accounts, split between different User ID's and passwords even with the same issuer, logging in yourself just isn't that practical on any scale.

And in the couple of instances where I have been the victim of credit card fraud, it was the fact that I check Mint.com on a daily basis and see every single transaction very quickly, means it was caught much earlier than it would by the odd login to separate accounts. Accounts were closed before transaction even went from pending to posted (which for most websites would not even be seen on a cursory glance)

There is for sure some risk that things could go wrong, but I equate it to the risk that iPhones not switched "fully off" will cause a plane to crash. There is a theoretical remote possibility of the feared event occurring, but in practice every day millions of us go day after day without any incident.

That is your issue right there. ;)

I keep my accounts updated using accounting software on my own computer - any balances disagree with my records would raise a flag.


The 2 occasions 2 different Chase cards being fraudulently used, I caught them myself by my routine logging in Chase online and the outstanding balances did not look right - the charges were still in pending stages but they definitely were fraudulent ones.

The 1 occasion a Citi card was cloned and used in Mexico on a weekend, Citi called after 5 usages to inquire if cardholder traveled in Mexico (AU card). Odd thing is the total fraudulent charges was less than $500 - all in restaurants and grocery stores, small time thief.

It is annoying that fraudulent charges happened. To minimize the chances I do not register any card with any merchant. A few extra minutes to input card info when making reservations / buying something from Amazon or whatever, is no big deal to me.

It's not possible to consolidate between certain products for the same issuer (as you know, e.g. Citi Hilton). And also between different people. I manage accounts for myself, my wife and some child accounts. And when you add in bank accounts, I must have at least 20 issuers.

I don't have an issue, I have Mint ;)

As long as it is not being hacked or compromised by inside job... All would be well.

I just prefer not have all the eggs in one single basket so to speak. ;)

BTW, while userid must be unique, password does not. I also prefer KISS and only have 2 groups of such - one group for bank accounts and one group for cards. There are some variations within each group but easy to remember. Works for us with everything x 2.

I dont really care for CC being compromised because other than some annoyance and inconvenience, it is no big deal. Bank accounts would be a bit more complicated. Still no big damage can be done given any external transfer must only be to verified linked banks. Besides, you would have to give someone your online access info otherwise nothing can be done online to your bank accounts by others than you. So it is not much chance they could be compromised.

Take advantage of all kinds of Alerts banks provide - that I have found to be quite useful.

Yes or funds revert back (back to the card, if a cc was used). However, if you send funds to the wrong email address, you need to establish that address as yours before someone else takes it. Sufficient to lockout the wayward transaction from being processed.

Not entirely true. Through a lapse in internal controls The Bank of the Biker once let ADK, Jr. root all my accounts there. ADK, Jr. had his own account for years, but a system security enhancement suddenly gave him access to all my accounts (over 100k) and locked me out from them. This is not the first major lapse in banking security I have seen - I see about one lapse a year.

"Besides, you would have to give someone your online access info otherwise nothing can be done online to your bank accounts by others than you. So it is not much chance they could be compromised."

Indeed. As they say, Eagles soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Mike

Did anyone get this message before? What happened?

be careful.. Amazon has been tightening the noose for the past few days. there is absolutely no reason to kill a good thing by being too greedy. just setup a real *trust* circle with your buddies, relatives, etc and keep playing the same within the confines of their rules..

Well it's little too late to be careful now since it's already pending under further review... I've tried convincing few of my friends to start this game, but none of them are really interested.

Keep it to PM ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You know using a PM doesn't make much sense if you then post what you learned through PM in an open forum.

I edited my post, but I got quoted so can't do much about that. I'm just worried about further review message.