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Rant: My bank locked my account on a Friday and I spent 4 hours proving I'm not a scammer
Last Friday my debit card got declined at a gas station in Sacramento and then my banking app logged me out, so I called the number on the back and got stuck in a loop for 4 hours. The rep kept asking me to read a code sent to my phone, but I had no signal inside the store, and every time I walked outside the call dropped and I had to start over. Turns out a $2.17 charge from a streaming service I don't use flagged my account, and their fraud system froze everything, including my rent autopay that was due Saturday. The kicker is they asked me for my mother's maiden name, my old address from 8 years ago, and the last 4 of a card I canceled in 2019, which I only knew because I dug through an old email folder. After all that they still made me wait 24 hours before unlocking it, so I had to borrow cash from my roommate to cover groceries. I get why they watch for weird charges, but why does the security step feel harder than the actual fraud? Has anyone figured out a way to warn your bank before you travel or shop somewhere new so this doesn't happen?
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max3881d ago
Setting a travel notice in the app before a trip helps some, but it does nothing for a random charge in your own town. What actually saved me was turning on purchase alerts for every single transaction, so I catch the weird $2 charge the second it hits instead of finding out at the pump. The other move is keeping a second card from a totally different bank, because when one freezes you the other one still works. Waiting 24 hours while your rent autopay bounces is the part that should be illegal, not the fraud check.
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