Buying an M, suspicous activity ... who would have thought!

CC companies seem to be getting more vigilant about suspicious transactions. I had the opposite experience recently - got a letter from the CC company to say to call them regarding a possible suspicious transaction. It turned out to be a debit of one pound sterling (!) which was simply a booking fee for a hotel. But at least they didn't block my card before checking with me.
 
I've had the same thing happen multiple times, and not with anything as large as an M. My card will just stop working and I'll have to call the bank and take 15 minutes telling them I bought all the stuff I bought. Very annoying that they don't call or email or text me when they think my info has been stolen.
 
Any time I am going to make a large unusual purchase By CC or if I am going overseas and will be using my CC I always call before hand and let cust svc know at the bank they will put a note in your acct and you will not have a problem. I also would prefer that they pay attention to what is being purchased on my CC. I have been saved twice by them calling me and asking why I was buying stereo equipment and having it drop shipped to a different address and also a lot of expensive clothing. It's always a issue of too much attention or not enough, it's never just right. So you need to work with them a little.
wbill
 
Its happened to me ...twice.
On both occasions I was told that it was because of a nominal transaction being taken, usually of a pound, eg when you take out a hire car.
 
newsgrunt said:
While it was a PITA, consider yourself very lucky that the bank killed the card. They should have informed you however, no doubt. I've gotten a few calls from the bank where they inquired as to some purchases I'd made.

As well, it never hurts to let the bank know if you'll be travelling out of country, esp if you don't do this often or make very few, large cc transactions.
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I used to get this kind of thing a lot and it usually happened late at night when picking up hire cars!
Twice it left me up s@@@ creek. Once in Portugal and the other in Italy.
Both times because apparantly I should have told my card issuer that I was travelling out of country. The time in Portugal was when I had my wife and 3 small children with me and a very snotty Hertz prison gaurd behind the desk. Barclaycard even reminded me that I should have let them know I was travelling abroad. I politely reminded the telephonist that I flew aeroplanes for a living and was 'out of country' 5-6 days in every 11 so please stop cancelling my cards as it's getting irritating now!
No one listened and it kept happening. Unfortunately the thieves in our society have caused an irritation that is unavoidable from time to time.
How about an ABN 'worldpass' that wouldn't let me have any cash at Delhi airport? Apparently I needed to inform ABN that I was travelling outside Europe! My response was that it wasn't a Europass I was in possesion of! More phone calls and irritation!
I don't even want to think about hassles with ebay and paypal security with my accounts and cards not working!
good luck all. j
 
I inform the bank before using credit cards on trips. Else, the bank may block the card for security purposes. Usually, we get a phone call from the bank on the day we make large charges.
 
So they green-lighted the $10.000 purchase without any questions and blocked the $14 one?

Great save!
 
My VISA card has replaced this hassle with an SMS that is sent each time a transaction is made. Very convenient.
 
Michael Markey said:
Its happened to me ...twice.
On both occasions I was told that it was because of a nominal transaction being taken, usually of a pound, eg when you take out a hire car.
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Oh I hope not! Our local pub does that when I open a tab (comes off the final bill) - I can't imagine that happening every Friday night!
 
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