Credit Card Company Stupidity

[GrayMatterWife]

Wow, oh, wow!! A couple of years ago, my purse was stolen and my credit cards with immediately used--for super-weird, out-of-character transactions. With about 15 minutes, AMEX, BoA MasterCard, Chase (my debit card) and USBank (another debit card) were calling me on my cellphone. I was getting so many notifications of suspected fraud, I had to put one bank on hold for another.

I am so sorry they were inexcusably negligent in dealing with you!

[oceanchild]

As for a credit card - if you can not carry a balance, I don't think anything beats Amex. Great rewards, and they stand behind your purchases, including extending the warranty limits on items such as electronics.

My husband (and my in-laws) swear by the American Express card.

I'm so sorry they were such jerks to you. Yuck.

[SoonerTexan]

ST, the thing is that you are better protected with a credit card than with a debit card if something were to happen

I don't know...Chase has a pretty good fraud protection setup--similar to a credit card. They've called me immediately when I make an "out-of-character" purchase. No idea what other banks are like, though.

Now for extra protection on a purchased item like electronics, you're right. You're totally up a creek. For day-to-day stuff, though, I prefer the debit card.

[scrub-jay]

I don't know...Chase has a pretty good fraud protection setup--similar to a credit card. They've called me immediately when I make an "out-of-character" purchase. No idea what other banks are like, though.

Now for extra protection on a purchased item like electronics, you're right. You're totally up a creek. For day-to-day stuff, though, I prefer the debit card.

I think the difference is that the CC protections are required by law, but the debit card protections are at the mercy of the company.

[alison]

AmEx has been great, although my experience has been that far fewer places accept it on the West Coast than when we were living in Chicago.

[oceanchild]

True. Small, local places often don't take AmEx. We have a Visa debit card for those cases.

[Thirteen]

I have a CapitalOne card (low limit) that I love, and I've been happy with them.
I also have a Chase card (larger limit: emergencies only) and I HATE Chase. I don't use that card anymore at all. DH also has a Chase card - he made a late payment ONCE and they raised his APR to 22.99%! What. the. hell.
(Of course, this was all B.A. - before Adrianne) - I handle the finances and payments now. I've tried to get them to decrease the percentage rate, but apparently paying late once over the course of 7 years makes you high risk. Total crap.

[alison]

I'm sorry if this is a hijack, but has anyone else opened a high-interest savings account with AmEx? it's a fairly new program. I've been putting a little away each month there to try it out, but wanted to check if anyone else is using them.

[Deebs]

No, but I'm intrigued. Did you get info off their website (I guess I could google it myself, huh?)? I really like their customer service. Our card through them is a "business" card for some consulting I do on the side, but we now kind of use it for everything b/c i've been so pleased.

[alison]

No, but I'm intrigued. Did you get info off their website (I guess I could google it myself, huh?)? I really like their customer service. Our card through them is a "business" card for some consulting I do on the side, but we now kind of use it for everything b/c i've been so pleased.

We were looking for a high interest account to put some money aside for a specific purpose and not touch (to use in about 3-4 years). I really like AmEx's customer service as well. I believe the rate is 1.3 at the moment. Just google AmEx high-yield savings, and you'll find it.

[SoonerTexan]

I think the difference is that the CC protections are required by law, but the debit card protections are at the mercy of the company.

Well, you learn something new every day!

I also have a Chase card (larger limit: emergencies only) and I HATE Chase. I don't use that card anymore at all. DH also has a Chase card - he made a late payment ONCE and they raised his APR to 22.99%! What. the. hell.

Actually...we had the same issue. Some system glitch (cant remember what it was) caused our payment to be late. They reversed it after I went into a branch and complained (it helps that my name is on my parents checking account, so it shows up too!) but that was a PITA. We don't carry balances (yet), though, so I wasn't too concerned.

In general, credit cards scare the CRAP out of me so we don't use them often.

[Michele]

I didn't read all of the responses. That sucks!

We have a Starwood AmEx and we love it!!!! We get hotel points which has worked out great for us. You can convert them to airline miles, but the hotels are a better deal and usually we can stay at swanky places we'd never shell out money for.

We've had AmEx call us twice for questions about our accounts. They called cell phones and emailed us to get in touch with us the same day they noted a potential problem. One time it was a fraudulent charge (they took it off and handled it), the other time it was really us but we were out of town and spending freely. So awesome that they called us and checked! I never worry about getting a receipt or anything bc their customer service has rocked when we've had questions or concerns about charges on our statement. We do pay a yearly fee for the card, but I think it's well worth it for the piece of mind.

[ides]

Dh has the amazon rewards chase card & I have a chase card too. I hate chase though. Eventhough I've been a long long term holder they have given me a jacked up interest rate. I was going to switch to another card but I thought holding this one for so long was better for my credit report. Oh, and in 10yrs I've had 1 late payment by a day or two & I now have a fantastic almost 30% interest rate. In HATE credit cards but know enough that they are a necessary evil. Blah. Hope you find a card you like.

[Deebs]

I thought I should add - when our rate was "jacked" we hadn't missed a payment or exceeded our limit. I contacted Chase and was told something about them raising all rates and that I should just have been happy that it was low as long as it was.

Thanks! That gives me a lot to chew on. We pay the cc off every month in full, so we aren't as worried about the interest rate. However, 22-30% is really high. . . I want to add, I don't think the moral to the story is to update your phone number. Yes, I should have done that. But, they only called the number once, and even if it had been the right number we could have easily missed the message. A kid could erase the message and never tell the parents, and many other things could have happened to keep that one and sole phone call from the important person - the card holder. IMO, they absolutely should have contacted us other ways, and they shouldn't have waited for me to call before closing the account down after it was compromised. I think we are going to use lifelock, I'd rather someone else check that for me on a regular basis.

Oh the things we gamble to live a convenient life. . .