CC alerts success story

Personal Finances Credit Cards and Consumer Debt
1

A few weeks ago, I changed the “alerts” levels for my CCs to:

“send an email and SMS each time a charge is made when the card is NOT present”

  • ie phone, or online orders.
  • I could also have set a $ limit, but opted not to. I get alerts for every charge made, for any amount, when the card is not present.

Now, every time I order something from Amazon, I get an email and SMS alert.
I also pay a couple monthly bills with the CC, and get alerts for those, too.

So far, the number of alerts have not been onerous.

This morning, I got this SMS:
Alert: Card ending in **** was not present for a $29.95 transaction at company-whose-name-i-didnt-recognize. View at citi. com.

The email alert included the phone number for the company,
and I called.
It turned out to be a company from whom I’d ordered a product 1 year ago, and in the process had inadvertently signed up for the “subscription to their website and support stuff”… $29.95/month.

I canceled. The company rep was superb in helping me, and reversed the charge. I’ll be watching over the next few months, to verify. I expect also that if my card is again charged, I’ll get another alert from Citi.

Due to the CC alerts, I was able to catch and stop this ASAP.

A WIN for technology! And, at this point, I recommend using these alerts.

Which “security and fraud alert” technologies on your CCs do you use?

:sun_with_face:
ralph

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I’ve had a number of issues regarding Citibank and fraudulent charges. Their customer service was less than stellar. It was a charge for some streaming service that was charged monthly. I told they I had not ordered said service and please close the card and send a replacement. The next month there was a charge on the new card number for the same service. It ended up the CS rep had transferred the service to the new card. So they cancelled the current new card and sent another new card. To say the least I spent hours on the phone with some of the rudest and inept CS reps ever.

AC hasn’t closed the card because I don’t want it to effect my credit but I don’t use the card anymore

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hasn’t closed the card because I don’t want it to effect my credit but I don’t use the card anymore

If you really don’t want the card closed, you need to use it for at least a small charge once a year or so. Citi can and does close cards for non-usage. Ask me how I know…

AJ

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If you really don’t want the card closed, you need to use it for at least a small charge once a year or so.

I know and I do charge a small amount every once in a while.

AC thanks for posting it

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Thanks for the heads up. I have mine set to notify me for $100+ charges but taking that off is a good idea. I have Chase United card.