So funny story. I once went to the beach for the weekend, but my card was declined when I got to the hotel. When I called the bank on Monday, they told me it was because it was used in two different states in the same day. I’m like, “Yeah, I got gas when leaving home and drove to the hotel. You realize the two states are connected, right?!” Six months later, my card number was stolen from somewhere and was manually keyed in three times at Universal Studios for charges of a little over a grand on a Friday evening. When I discovered it and contacted the bank on Monday morning, they wanted to investigate. They said that, if the charges were indeed found to be fraudulent, they would return my money in 5-10 business days. I was irate. I told them, “I tried to use my card to pay for a hotel and you declined it to protect my money from ME. But when the bad guys ready did steal my info and are keying in numbers instead of using the actual card - not at all suspicious - for over $1000, your answer is ‘seems legit, here ya go.’ And when I report it, you look at me suspiciously and tell me that it’s going to be 1-2 weeks before I can even get my money back?!? I can assure you that as soon as you give me my money back, I will be withdrawing it and going to another bank.” And sadly I had been a customer with zero issues for almost 20 years at that point. Needless to say they got off their butt, called home office, and my money was back in my account before I walked out.
I try to spend my money, the bank: “Nope.”
Bad guys want to spend my money, the bank: “Carry on!”
Something like this happened to me and I was beyond pissed, literally I would’ve had to sleep in my car if the hotel didn’t let me pay later. It was in the same state too.
So funny story. I once went to the beach for the weekend, but my card was declined when I got to the hotel. When I called the bank on Monday, they told me it was because it was used in two different states in the same day. I’m like, “Yeah, I got gas when leaving home and drove to the hotel. You realize the two states are connected, right?!” Six months later, my card number was stolen from somewhere and was manually keyed in three times at Universal Studios for charges of a little over a grand on a Friday evening. When I discovered it and contacted the bank on Monday morning, they wanted to investigate. They said that, if the charges were indeed found to be fraudulent, they would return my money in 5-10 business days. I was irate. I told them, “I tried to use my card to pay for a hotel and you declined it to protect my money from ME. But when the bad guys ready did steal my info and are keying in numbers instead of using the actual card - not at all suspicious - for over $1000, your answer is ‘seems legit, here ya go.’ And when I report it, you look at me suspiciously and tell me that it’s going to be 1-2 weeks before I can even get my money back?!? I can assure you that as soon as you give me my money back, I will be withdrawing it and going to another bank.” And sadly I had been a customer with zero issues for almost 20 years at that point. Needless to say they got off their butt, called home office, and my money was back in my account before I walked out.
I try to spend my money, the bank: “Nope.”
Bad guys want to spend my money, the bank: “Carry on!”
The system was never built to benefit us
Something like this happened to me and I was beyond pissed, literally I would’ve had to sleep in my car if the hotel didn’t let me pay later. It was in the same state too.
Luckily my wife banks at a different bank, and we used her debit card.