davidavid237

AA Tin is the funniest thing I've read on the web all day. Kind of reminds me of all those anniversary "gifts". The way I see it you should actually be quite proud of your "tin" status. It puts you ahead of all those in:

pottery
bronze
wool
wood
leather

I could go on...

David

TJQuill

Their fraud prevention is a little baffling at times. My history clearly shows that I routinely travel throughout Asia, but they shut me down when I tried to buy a UA ticket at one point.

And when my card actually was compromised, their computers missed the fact that my card was used to buy things in London, Jakarta and Tokyo on the same day.

As for having a notation placed in your account, the impression that I got when I asked how I could keep this from happening in the future was that the computer shuts things down, there is no human review, so I don't think that will keep it from happening. I was told that it will just take time for the system to "learn my patterns."

Good luck and keep a second card with you, TJ

Roger Lococco

One time I was in Harrod's in London and I decided to buy my wife a handbag (she was with me at the time). Ironcially, we had traveled over on UAL paying for the tickets with my MP card and expensing the hotel with the card as well. I couldn't believe it when the charge came back as denied. Turns out...they thought it was suspicious that I had traveled to London! The customer rep was quite polite, but it was pretty lame.

Roger sends

ORD4R

I have had several problems with Chase fraud prevention. It should be noted fraud protection, protects them not you. You do not have liability for bogus charges. Their standard practice is to suspend the card via a computer program with no human intervention when a fraud pattern is suspected by the computer program. They then wait for you to contact them to fix the problem. Absolutely poor customer care. What they should do and several of my other credit cards do, is call me and ask me to verify the charges. They have my cell phone for this purpose. Why does chase not do this when others do, I think it is just a cost issue. It is cheaper to wait for you to call into an automated system and if needed talk to a human, than it is for them to be proactive. I spend about $200,000 a year on my chase MP card, mostly business expenses and I don't even get an apology from them when they decline my card for a transaction. I'll stop ranting now, but they really don't value their customers. By the way this has happened to me at least 3 times domestically and twice internationally. If I wasn't getting 200,000 frequent flyer miles a year from it, I'd switch in a heartbeat.

chuljin

Well, I was wool til the beginning of November this year, when I took my first (credited) AA flight (there was one in Oct 98, before I knew of the unsurpassed wonder of FFPs).

chuljin

Bingo, that's what I principally objected to (though I shouldn't have been quite so nasty in telling them)...that I enjoy the protection, just wish it hadn't been quite such a surprise.

patchan8984

I've had the same problem.

Tried to order 2 seperatre orders of 2 xboxes each at kmart.com where it was actually unbundled.

They wouldnt let me charge and in the end I was able to do it but was too late. THey cancelled a bunch of orders, it woudlve saved me 10 minutes and a ton of moeny had they not done that.

Needless to say I was pissed

ToledoFlyer

Sheesh...I can only wish to have that problem. I had my UA Visa stolen in Spain. I called and reported it as stolen not more than 30 mins after it was stolen. For the next 5 months, I received charges from the "Autopista" in Spain, and Chase seemed damn near oblivious to the fact that someone else was still using this card. To their credit, I wasn't responsible for any of the charges, but at the same time, I would have thought that they would be a little more proactive in preventing the use of a stolen card.

TF

ps. suggestion abot calling before a big trip is a good one.

itsme

I'm surprised by those who think it is a sign that the credit card issuer's security is really on top of things when in a surfeit of caution they deny a <$10 charge in a restaurant.

Back in 2003, they stopped me from charging a car rental with Avis in San Juan, then after I called to tell them it was indeed me vacationing in PR and using the card, they left the door wide open. A week later, when on our way to HNL stopping for the night at an LAX airport hotel, I was denied because my card was supposedly over the reasonably ample credit limit. It seems that in the course of a 3-day window, thieves were able to ring up $22k in purchases at jewelry, furniture, and electronics stores there in PR?! (They said that after I called about the car rental, they had taken the security flagging off.)

Some algorithm that denies the puny charges and let's the big ones through, all based on their discernment of "patterns."

skifrog

I have had my MP cards comprimised several times. Months of (legit) charges in Indonesia and then on same day +6K at Bose (or B&O) shop in Geneva, while still allowed same day charges in CGK. Have had to have new cars issued about 5 times - Once they emailed me and said an airport store I used in KL was 'suspect' and they wanted to reissue me a new card that day. . . I asked them why they did not pull his visa service from him and they sputtered . . 'we can't do that'
I would not think it THAT difficult to implement a decent working, secure ID system for CC use.
It can be a huge bother, they pass all the fraudulent charges on to us . . someone must be making money there somewhere

braslvr

My MP card has been compromised 4 times now. Twice I received a computer generated call, and twice I was declined as I tried to use the card. All 4 times someone had indeed made fraudulent charges to the card. Well over $25,000. total. I don't have a problem with whichever method they use to shut the card off and notify me when someone else is using it. My gripe is that they are not actively pursuing the perpetrators. It is obviously someone I deal with on a regular basis. Heck, I even have it narrowed down to less than 8 suspects. I have tried to offer help to their fraud dept, but they won't accept it.

My card has never been denied for any reason other than actual fraud even though I travel globally and frequently.

itsme

First I was shocked by what I thought was credit card issuer's stupidity allowing such costly and "atypical" charges over so short a time. Then I was shocked by their casualness about the whole matter. I wandered what, if any, effort they made to investigate it. And I thought the profit margins for the banks on these cards must really be fantastic for them to absorb losses like these.

It bothers me that they are not better protected against fraud, or at least it appears to me the casual observer that they are not well-protected. But I am more troubled by the risk to us consumers of identity theft because of the way the credit card companies allow new accounts to be opened without confirming that we indeed requested them.

serrault

While certainly not trying to lesson the frustrations voiced in this thread, I thought I would offer my experience with Chase Fraud Protection. I just received my card, as a new cardmember, 2 weeks ago and have been charging anything and everything to get $10,000 in charges by today, and thereby receive 5,000 EQM. In that period my card has been blocked 3 times. On two of those occasions I received a phone call before I had completed the transaction using another card...admittedly I was not feeling pressured by long lines behind me and could answer their questions and still use the card. The remaining occasion I received a call within 15 minutes.

I certainly agree that it would be better if they called before they cut off the card, but I also realize how many accounts are being monitored and personally feel, based on my experience, that their handling was as good as could realistically be expected. FYI, one agent did give me the following number 800-955-9060 which will bypass the first line of menus and CSR's and get you straight into the Fraud Prevention department for Chase cards.

Again, I am not to lesson everyone's legitmate frustration, as I too have gone thru it all with Capital One cutting off my card, after being a cardmember for 8 years, and travelling 2 weeks each month to Amsterdam, they started denying charges after like 6-8 months of the same travel patterns.

On a side note, in response to the comments about identity theft, I have always thought that the "key" to being able to pull a credit report was the need to have my DOB and SSN. I was shocked to find out that an Intl Calling Card company that I opened an account with, where the charges were made automatically to my CC, ran a credit report on me from all 3 CRA using only my name and address. I have always guarded and questioned anyone asking for my DOB and SSN...it seems for naught!

milepig

I've actually found Chase to be a bit more tolerant than some. Citibank drives me nuts. I do a great deal of online ordering for work, and it is not at all unusual to have charges from a specific type of business from all over the world on a given day. Citibank cuts me off all the time, and repeated phone calls to them have not resulted in any relief. They seem to have no way to note my record to indicate that these are normal transactions and to let them through. Chase has never cut me off yet for this activity, and Citibank has lost a great deal of my business because of this.

I do always take the time to call all my card issuers before I travel overseas, and have never had a problem. Now, if they'd only come up with a way to do this online I'd be a much happier camper.

elCheapoDeluxe

A month after I got my card I was in LA purchasing a DVD at Best Buy. Although I normally think of LA as just Northern Mexico, TECHNICALLY it is part of the state I live in. Chase denied the transaction and called my home number to verify that I might possibly be buying a DVD in Burbank. Well, if I was in Burbank, of course I wasn't going to answer the phone at home... but I digress. I was dumbfounded and had the cashier try it again - and lo and behold it went through. Maybe the exchange rate on Los Angelean pesos improved sufficiently that it was no longer over my limit

Since then, however, I haven't had any problems. I also am sure to call them before I travel overseas - but I never tell them when it's within the US. Charges on the same day in New York, Texas, and California don't even seem to raise an eyebrow.

- cheapo