Especially if you are going to certain places. I have been going down to the FL Keys for 12 years and EVERY year I get my card stopped at least once. This is over 4 different cards during the year. If I call in and let them know, they say I don't need it w/in continental US and then I run afoul of the computer. Never have understood why the computer doesn't note that I go to the same place at the same time every year, but it doesn't.
On 05/05/2017 4:16 AM, Micky wrote: ...
...
The ones that tick me off are the ones where the limit is so low can only half-fill the truck before it cuts off the pump... :)
At least for that $$ amount can get there with current (US) prices...what's petrol in UK these days; still roughly same face number except in liters instead of gallons (iwo, roughly 4X US price)?
That, actually, now that think of it, pretty-much explains the high limit -- it's a station that must cater to larger vehicles as well as the tiny little toys most drive over there...with their high prices, 20 gallon or so would add up to quite a tidy sum. (Not what filling up one of the tractors does, but...)
Right? I see advice to carry just one card and I think You've never had your card not readable by some store? It's happened to me a couple of times, luckily I carry more than one type of card.
nancy
I will. Writing it about it here helps me organize my thoughts, prior to my assault on the great lump of clay, when I get back to the States. Lump of clay meaning nothing will change. I did find a banking forum by bankers for bankers, and one short thread rougly on this subject, about what was required by law.. Only two answers and the second was that there is no point to doing more than the law requires. Of course pleasing the customer might be a reason, but iiuc he didn't think so.
Make sure they are different. Like a Master Card and Visa card. I have been in a place that would only take one kind.
I usually have several cards with me. Seems that each one gives different ammounts of cash back at different places. One will give 3 % at a drug store, another will give 3 % at a gas station, and one gives back 5 % at the choice stores of the month. Then there is the cards for each store that give cash back only at that store.
I do carry three kinds. Overkill maybe but I'm covered.
After Costco switched to Visa and I also had to replace my Costco American Express, I took to carrying a cheat sheet (okay, tiny scrap of paper) to remind me what rewards were better in what type of store. It's gotten complicated. Nice problem to have.
nancy
In case you missed it, dpb mention how much he thinks of BOA. I think he is wrong calling them terrible. They are not that good to be called terrible.
I go on line and give the travel information but did have a problem one time.
I did have an episode last week though. I carry two Shell cards. One is a company card, the other personal. Stopped for gas and swiped the card and entered the zip code. Said it was incorrect. OK, maybe a typo, put it in again. Nope, third try refused it. Use a Visa instead. A hundred miles later, it clicked. I swiped the company card instead of my personal card, duh!
On 05/05/2017 4:03 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote: ...
Chuckles...
When they closed the branch here the college Foundation had a couple of large CDs on file (BOA had bought out the preceding which had bought the one prior to that and in turn, but initially was a locally-owned bank so we had kept the CDs there in respect to the "local" presence) that they held the certificates.
Instead of letting us know/offer the opportunity to choose to hold them ourselves or redeem them or whatever, they packed them up with the office furniture and everything else and moved it to storage some 200 mi away.
When they were coming up for renewal, we started making inquiries at least two months in advance...it took every bit of that and more before they were able to find them and then we ended up having to drive almost
100 mi to the last remaining branch left open west of Wichita to cash them out...
Well, the point is not to remind me of what I spent, but to know if someone is using my card-number. Not very likely, but that's why I do it. It also makes it easier to note what each charge is for because it almost always comes the day I spend the money, even when I'm in Europe. If I wait until the end of the month, I won't know what any of the charges are.
But now that I see there is little relationship between what they email me and what they charge me, to a great extent is worse than nothing. I guess the grocery stores get it right. And if anyone else were using the number, I'd know about it.
I asked BoAmerica "How do I dispute a transaction on my ATM or debit card?
We recommend that you contact the merchant prior to calling us about a dispute as it's generally faster and simpler for you to attempt to resolve the question with the merchant directly before going through the dispute process. [I'm sure that's usually true.]
To dispute a debit card transaction, please call us at 877.366.1121."
Of course, this doesn't actually say you can get your money back. I wouldn't put it past them to have a dispute process where you can't win, or if you win you don't get your money back. I don't trust boa at all. Did you hear how they would reorder checks so that if a customer was going to be overdrawn, they'd put the big checks first, regardless of what order they came in on, so he'd run out of money on the first check or two and the maximum number would bounce.
Wells Fargo did the same thing. I consider it outright stealing. I think they paid a big fine but they should have gone to jail for a couple years.
I have two credit cards with me. I thought I decided to carry one of them, but it's still in my suitcase in my room. And today, a closed gas station woudln't take my card. Don't know why. I can't understand the language on the pump's screen, and the girl I got to help me didn't know enough English to translate. (She had had trouble too, at first and had asked me for help.)
I do usually pay cash, certainly almost always in the states. But here the maximum I can get from a cash machine is afaict about 75 dollars a day. At least that's the biggest number they offer you. At some machines you can type in your own number if you want, ... I did get 125 once, but I know when I tried for 200 or was it 250, it woudln't do it. And it didn't bother to say it might work if I put in a smaller number. It just "This service is not available to you."
And though the machine is only 4 blocks away, there's no place to park. I've become like the locals, parking illegally for something short like this, but I don't like it.
Incredible.
Ugh. Someone told me they were a bad bank. Is that what you think?
On 05/06/2017 5:11 PM, Micky wrote: ...
Need you ask?
On 05/06/2017 4:57 PM, Micky wrote: ...
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The big difference is that CC liability is limited by the FCBA (Fair Credit Billing Act) while debit card transactions are under EFTA (Electronic Funds Transfer Act) because it is a direct funds transfer, not a credit transaction.
The limitations of you liability under the two is quite different--
FCBA
Maximum liability for fraudulent transactions: $50. Report before fraudulent transaction occurs; $0
Many credit cards promise zero liability for all fraudulent transactions, but that's not required by law so they can renege or change the rules at their whim.
EFTA
Maximum liability for fraudulent transactions: UNLIMITED Reported before unauthorized transactions: $0 Reported within two days: $50 Reported within 60 days: $500 After 60 days: no protection. (IOW, they can get it all)
Most debit card issuers have signed agreement with VISA/MC who underwrite virtually all issued in the US to extend similar consumer protection to customers as with CCs. But, again, this is the issuer voluntarily agreeing to this; it is not required by law.
The biggest difference is what you're already experiencing except in spades--when a debit card transaction occurs, real _OR_ fraudulent, the money is gone from your account at that instant and it's up to somebody else to get it back or you're out.
OTOH, if you dispute a CC transaction before you've paid it, then you're not out anything out of pocket until the process is resolved.
In the former, you could be totally destitute overnight if somebody got access to the debit card and even if your ultimate liability is $0, you've got to go through a recovery process before the money is back in the account. Meanwhile, the account may have been drained and you've got other bills to pay and no money to pay with...the snowball effect can be disastrous.
I will not have a debit card...just too much risk that don't need to take when CCs are all around without the same issues.
On 05/06/2017 7:55 PM, dpb wrote: ...
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I don't know just how fast these "holds" actually get cleared; I would presume within minutes if not seconds after the transaction is actually completed the final billing transaction occurs.
Thus, even though your bank balance really does take such a "ding", it lasts only a very short time and so unless you're trying to do two transactions simultaneously, you never really notice.
OTOH, if somebody actually makes a fraudulent transaction, now they've either got the actual hard cash if it were an ATM withdrawal or the merchandise or whatever it was and the $$ are gone from your account not to return _UNTIL_ you make the complaint and go through the process.
If it is really fraud, the chances of them cooperating as BOA suggests you should do first is, of course, zero. Only in the case of you're dissatisfied with a purchase or the like does that ever come into play; probably the least likely occurrence in the real world with gas pump skimmers and all the other nefarious ways to compromise your security.
Glad to have cheered your day... :)
You bank may have a limit but puerhaps the machine does too. I can get $800 a day on mine. Of course is is less in euros ur to the exchange rate.
On Fri, 05 May 2017 09:06:30 -0500, dpb wrote:
I'm going to go to another of their stations to see if it's the same.
But tomorrow I'm going to call them.
They're like a bunch of children.
I don't speak the language. I'm lucky to have learned how to say "fill 'er up".
I still don't speak the language!
Actually, the other chains all cause emails to be sent to me that are always between 50 and 57 dollars, and I think the level of gas left in my tank when I fill up has varied more than that. So since this started I've been suspicious that they're putting that amount on hold also, so I need to compare those emails with the actual charges.
But my reaction when I saw $110 for gas was that gas would be a major expense like the airplane ticket and renting the room. (The phone has only been iirc $40 a month, but I bought the wrong phone. It only has one of the 2 frequencies used for 3G, so I only get 2G I think. Phone calls work fine, and I figured I wouldn't really need much data, since I preloaded maps while still in the US, but I forgot or didn't know about 3 things. They have an app when you park on the street or in some lots in a busy area. You have to register (and my landlady put me on her account) and when you park, you start the app and say you're parking. It knows where you are and what the rate is for that location at that time. Then when you leave you tell it you're leaving. Meter maids go by and somehow they can quickly check if the car parked in the spot has signed in to the parking app, and if not they give a ticket. I got one once because Icouldnt' get the app to work and I think it is about $25. The app didn't work, I think, because I only have 2G. When it does work, it takes minutes to go from one screen to the next. When I sign out and leave the parking place, I can be two blocks away before it comes back with how much I owe. Google translate has an app that you can point at a sign, or piece of paper I suppose, and it will copy it, sent it back to Google Central, and come back with a translation, but that's only worked for me one time out of about 7. It usually says it can't do it, and I think that's because it's 2G. And once in the car, one of the map program, which I thought I had dl'd the data for, said "Downloading map, 0%" and zero never got bigger. Again, I think I was 2G.
So next trip I'll get a phone that corresponds to the cell phone company's requirements, wherever I'm going. My phone was cheap. LIsted at 120, on sale for 100, and I found it online for 50, but I've checked and the 3 features it's lacking aren't necessarily on a 300 dollar phone.
1) a magnetometer, so that compass apps will work, though the roads wind so much that I haven't used the one compass app I have that works. Also when the sun is shining and it's not too close to noon, I go by the sun. Plus the phone maps will tell me where I am, and I've definitely used that. And they will tell me where someplace I enter into the phone is and I've used that, but i"m not going to let it tell me when to turn. I hate that. (For one thing with the radio on it's hard to hear.) Plus my goal is to learn the roads so I know where I am without external help. 2) FM radio, though when I'm not in the car, I haven't wanted radio. Beause I'm not home, there are no programss I know in advance I want to listen to. 3) I guess the third is the right frequencies, but I fear when I get all 3 of these, there will be something I have now that I won't get.Wells Fargo was a possibility until I learned they'd been stealing from customers, literally stealling and a couple people should have gone to jail, IMO, by reordering checks to pay the largest ones first to make the greatest number of checks bounce, so they could collecting bounced check fees. Just like BOA did and was caught a year ealier, but did WFargo stop then. Noooo. Not until it was caught.
Every bank did that. It was common practice so they could nab you on a $5 check after a big one wiped out the balance.
...
...
I think you're worrying about the wrong thing entirely.
The vendor is going to make the transaction by whatever rule they have for covering driveoffs/lack of funds/whatever; arguing with them will get you nowhere.
As noted elsewhere, the large charge, while real on a debit card, will clear in seconds/minutes resulting in the final net charge on the monthly bill.
When you get the text and you know you just made a transaction, you can pretty-much ignore it as you are in possession of the card and using it at the time. What the service does is alert you if something else happens on that account and you've _not_ made that transaction; then "Houston, we have a problem!"
That it would be nice if BOA would reprogram their 'bot to be a little smarter and cut down on the noise would be _a_good_thing_(tm), but again, while there's just a tiny bit larger probability than zero that might happen, making the customer satisfaction complaint/suggestion can't hurt. Perhaps enough others will as well will get some attention but BOA is, if anything, not into retail customer services much so wouldn't hold out much hope in that regards.
There are some other monitoring services that purport to be more intelligent in their notifications; not sure if they suffer the same issues regarding debit card charges such as this or not; as said elsewhere, I don't have any DCs owing to what I see as high(er) risk not needed to be taken vis a vis CCs so have no data.
Today I started high and worked down but and the most I could get was about $125, at least at the bank 4 blocks away. And that doesn't last long with restaurants, museums, and other admissions.
The commission is not high, about 3% on v. small amounts but 1% above... I have to check again.
Back to the gasoline thing, why do they check if your debit or credit card has enough to pay even for more than will go in your tank, but if you plan to pay cash, they don't check in advance** to see if you really have the cash?
Why would their remedy be different? They can hold your card until they get a Yes, which seems to only take a minute because now they give the card back to me only a minute, 2 at most, after I give it to them. So if, after charging the gas, the electronic charge bounces, they're in the same position they woudl be in if you were going to pay cash and then didn't have any. **(I'm almost certain they don't ask for the cash in advance, but I'll check. )
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