HI,
Just wanted to share a pleasant experience, different, with our credit card company.
My wife and I have had a joint credit card (just one card) for many years with the same company. Never charging more than we can pay off in 2 months.
The other morning, around 2 am, my wife used our card online, at a reputable online site, for making a donation to a particular type of disease research.
That same morning, around 11 am, I got a call from the "fraud" department of the credit card company. They were calling to see if the charge was ligit, and if we actually made the charge.
I was very pleasantly surprised at this. It was the first time we have ever received a call verifying a charge. It's very nice to know that the credit card company is "on the ball".

American Express has been doing this for years. So has CitiCorp and several other card companies that I know of. The card companies build up patterns of purchases; type of items, average amounts, etc. With credit card fraud being so rampant and the card issuer being responsible for the fraud, its just sound business to do this. If a charge goes out of the ordinary, they want to catch it quickly.

I am kind of surprised though, that they would check such a charge. If the charity was reputable then the problem would be someone using your card. But if so, why would a thief use the card to make a donation? The usual actions on the part of a thief would be to purchase merchandise they can turn into cash.

I hope the caller didn't ask for any personal info from you and hope you didn't give them any. Did you do anything to verify it was actually your card issuer calling?

I've had a few calls like that over the years. I was told that they do so when the charges are "unusual".

The last time I got a call was when I was on vacation and made a charge from the other end of the country. They let the charge go through - but called me on my cell phone within the hour to verify that it was truly me.

Hi,
It's as rickj put it; just checking on a charge that was "unusual".
No, I did not give any info over the phone. But, I did call my credit card company later, number of the back of my card, just to confirm the first call.
The call from the "fraud" department was legit.
This particular charge was not what we ordinarily charge on the credit card, and it through up a flag. I am glad they called.

Its as I put it also, checking on a charge that doesn't fit your pattern. I'm glad it was legit, but I still think it odd that this type of transaction would raise a flag.

Hi,
This doesn't seem odd to me at all.
The statement; "American Express has been doing this for years. So has CitiCorp and several other card companies that I know of. The card companies build up patterns of purchases; type of items, average amounts, etc.", would seem to cover this also, under the "type of items". Making donations over the net is not something we do normally. This type of charge is not normal for us.

But when you look at it logically, while it may not fit the pattern of usage, it also doesn't seem to fit a pattern of fraud. Again, if the charity was reputable, then the card issuer wouldn't have cause to question the charge on their end. Fraud transactions are usually for items that can be turned into cash. From a logical standpoint, why would someone using your card make a charitable donation with it? That doesn't fit the pattern of fraudulent transactions.

For those reasons, I found it odd that they would verify that transaction.

The "fraudulent transaction" could be in terms of a "fraudulent website"; whereby using a stolen credit card number to make deposits to yourself.

But, you said, "my wife used our card online, at a reputable online site, for making a donation to a particular type of disease research." As you can see from my responses I was basing what I said on your statement that the site and the charity was reputable. Take away that statement and the situation changes.

That's indeed very nice of the credit card company

Quote:

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Originally Posted by manutdman

thats indeed very nice of the credit card company

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I actually disagree. I don't think its "nice". I think its simply good business. Nipping fraud in the bud while making a customer feel better about the company is just smart business.