Had my credit card number stolen!

[Blueberry]

That's cool - although the computer down thing sucks. Chase did that to us - we only had one card at the time, and they locked both of us out *while traveling*. We gave them a heads up - they locked it anyway. Caused a giant problem as we were both traveling for work. I stopped using Chase and haven't gone back.

[KnottedYet]

I keep my credit card maxed out (good red-blooded American!) so anyone who steals my number isn't gonna get very far.

yeah, that's why it's maxed out... really...

[Irulan]

Years ago, someone at the bank suggested we call the CC security department when traveling. This has saved us numerous hours of grief. We just tell them, we are going to XX for this time frame, and it saves the hassle of the phone calls and blocks for the activity. Esp since we never use ours except for travel. I also get a new card/account number when we return: too many of the places we go hand write the numbers down for transactions.

You are pretty well protected against theft with most bank credit cards as long as you report the activity right away or as soon as you see it on your statement. It's debit cards that have issues.

[roadie gal]

That happened to me a while back, too. The Mac store called to verify my iPod order. Well, I hadn't ordered any iPods. I quickly called Citicards. Someone had racked up about $1000 in electronics that I hadn't bought. They were really good about cancelling those charges.

Another nice thing about the Citicard is that they have a "virtual" card. If you order online it generates a new number for each purchase, so the card number can't be stolen. I like using my card online more than in a store now.

[NoNo]

This year my friend had 3 credit cards compromised during the Hannaford's mess in northern New England (they're the local supermarket up there). Charges were made, but he was able to dispute those easily. The worst part was the hassel of waiting for the new cards and arranging payments (since the cards had balances on them) between the old account and the new one. I've been very fortunate with all of my online purchases, keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way.

[MtnBikerChk]

I've had it happen too - Amex caught it immediately though and called me. Now I'm so cautious, when they called I said "how do I know this is amex?" They said, "no problem. Take your card and call us back with the number on the back."

I did and it turned out some numbnuts had made 2 separate $300 purchases at autozone. Guess that was a red flag! LOL

Amex called me on a Sunday night. I had a new card overnighted and received by monday afternoon. I can't say enough good things about their customer service!

[Becky]

Several years ago, we opened a second credit card account so that we could keep internet purchases and any linked accounts (heating oil, EZ Pass, etc.) separate from our other credit card. It's paid off- we've had fraud intercepted by Bank of America (and previously by MBNA) on a couple of occasions. At least, when it happens, we're not totally "cardless" while they investigate and open new accounts for us.

Now that credit card skimming is becoming so prevalent around here, we're considering a third credit card to use in place of our debit card as a means of further isolating our finances. I know....we could always use cash and not worry about it....

[maillotpois]

I had Amazon call me several years ago because they had discovered some suspicious activity on my card (whose information they had stored w/ my approval). I thought that was pretty nice that they were on the lookout on my behalf.

Chase did that to us - we only had one card at the time, and they locked both of us out *while traveling*. We gave them a heads up - they locked it anyway. Caused a giant problem as we were both traveling for work. I stopped using Chase and haven't gone back.

This JUST happened to my FIL this week! He drove from SF to AZ to buy a trailer, brought one card (which he was going to use to buy said trailer and cover ALL expenses during the trip) and while in the middle of the desert, Wells fargo called and said they were closing down the account! He was SO mad - took a full day and a half to get a new card after several go rounds with people in India as well as the local AZ WF branches. They were ultimately able to get him one, though, and all in all, I think they did a decent job.