Perceived extra activity on account?

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Perceived extra activity on account?
8
Sun, 05-14-2006 - 1:56pm
Hi, all. Well, I have never had this happen before. I went to the grocery, and my debit card doesnt work. Cant withdraw, transfer, debit, charge, get cash, anything. "error" message. DH said the bank left a message on Friday, but he erased it-something about "extra activity". Checked online--all $$ there, no foreign account stuff, weird charges, etc. Noticed that some of my checks and online payments havent cleared. Granted, most banks have a $500 withdrawal limit per day, but this is ridiculous that "they" can decide to freeze an account if they "perceive" you have lots of activity? Maybe they're hypervigilant. God forbid, what if there was a natural disaster, or you had a big emergency and had to use it a lot for whatever reason? Makes me want to just stuff wads of bills in the garden. I did get items for mother's day and some medicine, but that cleared. Naturally, I am in a line full of people and had to charge my purchases on my cc. Cant get this sorted out until Tuesday. Sigh. Whiz.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-14-2006 - 4:18pm

I work at a bank and I know that our Fraud department does block cards when there has been "unusual" activity. For example when our customers go out of the country we ask them to notify us. A message is then placed on the account that they will be travelling outside the US. If the Fraud department sees a lot of activity from foreign merchants and there hasn't been a notification they will block the card and contact the customer. This is for their protection. A lot of thieves are working from foreign countries. We just block the card not the checking account. I'm not saying that this is what's happened in your case. Hope this helps.

KRG

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Sun, 05-14-2006 - 5:35pm
Hi, KRG--Thanks for the info. When you say "foreign" merchants, are you talking about those outside US territory (i.e., questionable Nigerian banks) or online merchants? WHiz.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-14-2006 - 8:27pm

Glad to help. Foreign merchants are those who are outside the US. We've had several cases where unauthorized charges came from Asia, Europe, etc. One big scam is where you recieve a letter saying that you have won a foreign lottery. All these crooks need to send you your money is "your credit card or banking information." Rip it up and throw it away! It's also a good idea to look closely at your monthly bank statement. If there are unauthorized charges notify your bank immediately. Time is of the essence.

KRG

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Fri, 05-26-2006 - 12:32pm

That does sound strange, Whiz. I would contact your bank as soon as possible if you haven't already. We've had trouble with our normal credit cards going through, but not debit.

About five years ago, we purchased a bed and dresser from a furniture store, and the total was about $5000. At the time, we hadn't had much debt at all on our card, and we just never used it (ahh...to have those days back! :-D). Anyway, we went to the counter to pay, and there were plenty of other people whipping out their credit cards and walking out with their paperwork and delivery information in less than 10 minutes. Not us. Ours was denied. How embarrassing!! Everyone was looking at us. They had to call the bank, and admittedly, we did feel a little better when the store employee said, "I don't know why they denied it. You've got plenty of credit available". But still we had to wait to talk to THREE different security people over the phone...asking for social security numbers, mother's maiden names, etc etc....in order to get an approval number. It took us about 40 minutes compared to other people's short 10 minute transactions. The next business day, I called the bank to complain, and they said it was because we didn't use the card much, and it was seen as an odd transaction.

But since you had used yours for Mothers Day and such, it should have gone through.

Pat

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Sat, 05-27-2006 - 12:15am
Hi, Pat. Well, am digging out of the mess. DH is fuming mad, because his cell bill wasnt paid (debit), and the other cc---denied because I wrote the check on the "wrong" account. I did get the debit thing straightened out---they said it was because it was used a lot over one weekend (mother's day, etc.), so they put a "hold" on it, so I couldnt withdrawal money, transfer, etc., even tho there was $$$ there. So now, I have to go back and rewrite checks and write letters. SIgh. Whiz.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2005
Sat, 05-27-2006 - 10:55am
Hi Whiz,
I have been paying almost all of my bills online through my bank's website. They do not charge for the bill paying and they can pay any bill -- really, any bill as long as you give them the account number and address. That mean's they get to pay the postage and write the check for any merchant etc that is not listed on their standard list of merchants they pay. The good thing about this is that you get a confirmation that the bill is paid. I have never had any trouble with this -- I think almost all banks offer this service -- usually free. If you used the online bill pay feature you would never have to worry about what account the dollars were coming from because you would initially designate the account the bills were to be paid from. Also, it tells you how much is available to pay the bill. It's really easy to use.
Megan
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Sat, 05-27-2006 - 2:47pm
Hi, Megan--Question for you---I have my online bill pays set up with all of the merchants individually--i.e., cable bill online at their website, gas/electric bill on their website, debited from my checking account. Have not set up the bank online thing for the bills. I keep seeing these ads for setting up to debit your cc, but I dont want to do that, I just want it debited from the checking account. How do you move all of those bills from the different websites to the checking account? It sounds SOOO much easier than what I have been doing. I like your idea better than what I've been doing. Thanks.Whiz.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2005
Sat, 05-27-2006 - 3:27pm

Hi Whiz --
First I would go to your bank's website to see if you have online bill pay. Usually it is free if you have direct deposit. If you don't have direct deposit they might charge you a flat fee of usually less than 5.00 (total) to pay your bills on line. Then I would set up the names and addresses of the merchants you want to pay. You can usually set up either "recurring payments" which are the same amount each month on the same day of the month (you designate the day and date) or you can just set up the name and address of merchants or dentists or whatever which don't necessarily have the same amount of payment due each month (or maybe, they have no payment due at all on a given month). That's what I would do first.
Then, I would cancel the bill pay you have set up at the individual places you have them.

What I like about the online bank bill pay is that they don't charge a fee for paying the payments. Sometimes the individual websites or by phone bill pay people DO charge for the joy of being able to pay them.

You choose the account you want your bills to be paid from. I chose my checking account.

I think you would like having everything in one place.

Good luck with this. Check out what your bank has to offer.
Megan