Rachel Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 (edited) Today was payday so I had been planning to finish up my Christmas shopping. I happened to wake up early and filled my cart on 3 websites, one I had never shopped on before. I was pleased to realize everything should arrive on time. Well, my bank decided some unusual activity was occurring and cancelled my card! Very frustrating since I shop online all the time. I found out when I started getting emails from Amazon. Grrr! The girl at the bank was not terribly helpful, she said she could send a new card and I could reorder my presents. The card would be here in only 7-10 business days. Then she suggested using my husband's card, until I asked what happens if his card gets cancelled too. Then she figured out a branch 30 minutes away can print cards onsite. I called that branch to verify and they said the machine was unreliable but I was welcome to stop by. My PayPal still works so I was able to reorder a couple things. Hopefully I can get this resolved today and still get my presents here on time. Update: just got a call from the fraud department at the bank, this girl said my card isn't cancelled and I should be able to use it now. I'm going to go get some cash to verify and also to have on hand for gas and groceries just in case. Edited December 15, 2015 by Rach 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Ugh! How frustrating! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Blergh! That's horrible. 7 - 10 days for a new card? It will be Xmas by then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Did she give a reason why your card was canceled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Similar thing happened to me over the weekend, also with Amazon. They don't make the charge for the whole order at once, so all the little charges put a fraud-check freeze on my card, which I discovered Sunday morning on my way to Boston (3+ hours away). Good thing I had taken out a real actual credit card this fall for school purposes - I had to use it until I could call the bank on Monday morning. They verified three purchases and then released my card. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 That's so frustrating. I've had my card frozen (though not cancelled) when travelling. They told me at the bank that we need to call and let them know when we'll be using it in a location we don't usually use it, so that won't happen again. I don't like having to let my bank know every time I go away but it's the only thing I can do if I don't want to be stranded. At home shopping online? I'd be beyond ticked off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted December 15, 2015 Author Share Posted December 15, 2015 Did she give a reason why your card was canceled?Suspected fraudulent activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateReignRemix Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Suspected fraudulent activity. They did a full cancellation instead of a freeze? Terrible. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 I hit that with Book Depository. Thank heavens for Horrible Ray-because my credit card company just can't seem to recognize that, yeah, I might occasionally want to order books from the UK. I even had a charge cancelled after I contacted them to warn them that I was going to be doing international charges. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted December 15, 2015 Author Share Posted December 15, 2015 Similar thing happened to me over the weekend, also with Amazon. They don't make the charge for the whole order at once, so all the little charges put a fraud-check freeze on my card, which I discovered Sunday morning on my way to Boston (3+ hours away). Good thing I had taken out a real actual credit card this fall for school purposes - I had to use it until I could call the bank on Monday morning. They verified three purchases and then released my card. I think that's what happened to me, jet.com and Amazon both processed multiple payments. I shop at Amazon frequently but this was my first order at Jet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted December 15, 2015 Author Share Posted December 15, 2015 (edited) They did a full cancellation instead of a freeze? Terrible. According to the girl I talked to at customer service this morning, yes. However, I just got a call from the fraud department a couple minutes ago saying it was just a freeze. I'm about to I get some cash and find out of my card will work or not. Edited December 15, 2015 by Rach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Suspected fraudulent activity. Wow, I'm surprised it was canceled completely. Was it because it was a debit card and not a credit card? My bank calls when our Visa is suspected. They called us last month but I didn't check our phone messages so I didn't know they had called until 3 days later. I wondered if they let the charge go through even without checking with us, but DH didn't ask. He just called to verify our purchases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2samlibby Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 (edited) If you normally don't use your card a lot, you should contact your provider before doing a lot of shopping. They watch for changes in behavior/patterns. ETA: I learned that the hard way when I went shopping the first year on Black Friday. They put a freeze on my card when I was in Toys R Us with my cart piled high. I had already been to Wal-Mart, Shopko, and a few other stores. I was so embarrassed. Thank goodness I had another one with me, but I had no idea why it wouldn't work for me. They thought someone had stolen it and had gone on a spree. I was glad they were looking out for me, BUT! UGH! Edited December 15, 2015 by mom2samlibby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 At work everyone's HSA's card were suspended for a week for "unusual activity". People couldn't get their prescriptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 We had our bank info stolen this year, so I was surprised when I was online shopping it all went through. But dh tried to buy a computer monitor.....it denied it over and over. It wasn't until he tried a different bank credit card that I figured out why the transaction wasn't going through! Sure enough a week later he got a letter asking them call them about some purchases. He then went in person to a local store to buy a monitor and the card was accepted. I appreciate the cautious approach, but it's never consistent, just annoying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 If you normally don't use your card a lot, you should contact your provider before doing a lot of shopping. They watch for changes in behavior/patterns. ETA: I learned that the hard way when I went shopping the first year on Black Friday. They put a freeze on my card when I was in Toys R Us with my cart piled high. I had already been to Wal-Mart, Shopko, and a few other stores. I was so embarrassed. Thank goodness I had another one with me, but I had no idea why it wouldn't work for me. They thought someone had stolen it and had gone on a spree. I was glad they were looking out for me, BUT! UGH! That happened to us when we got our first debit card in the early 2000s. We got it in November and were out Christmas shopping on a weekend in December. Suddenly it got rejected at one of the stores. Fortunately checks were still popular and I had the checkbook with me. We found out the following Monday when I called that the amount of activity is what caused it to be frozen. You would think card companies are aware that people use them more and for larger amounts at this time of year. OTOH, if they ignore it, it's the perfect time for a thief to run wild with it. At work everyone's HSA's card were suspended for a week for "unusual activity". People couldn't get their prescriptions. That could have been a life threatening issue for someone if they couldn't afford the full cost of certain medications. :eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 (edited) I only shop with one debit card. They will periodically freeze my account. I'll come home with a message on my answering machine asking me to please verify the days purchases, but they don't cancel or block those transactions, they just prevent additional purchases until I call. Over time they have noted where I'm apt to spend large amounts, so Sam's Club store #902 (as a made up example) is noted to have regular purchases over $500, where another Sam's Club with a large purchase would flag the account for a phone call. A letter in the mail a week later would certainly have gotten me riled up! OP, I'm glad they were able to resolve the issue. Edited December 15, 2015 by melmichigan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Our card numbers get stolen about once every two years or so. I appreciate the bank watching out for it because they've always caught it long before I would have. A couple of times the bank has frozen an account for unusual activity that has been legitimate, but most of the time when they call, it's because someone has gotten our card numbers and there has been actual fraud. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula in MS Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 They can "uncancel" the card. I have had this happen before except it was for someone else's card. They were one number off. I talked to enough people until I had the cancellation reversed and access to my card in 24 hours. I'm not sure how they did it, but they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 If they cancelled it I would be super mad ours freezes it and calls us immediately than unfreezes it. I did get annoyed that they froze it when I went on a trip to California this year because it was halfway into and of course I had no cell reception where we were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.