Re: Egg keep blocking my card 'for my protection'

Lobster wrote:
> I have an Egg credit card which I use exclusively for online
> purchases, including ebay; the idea being that I scrutinise my Egg
> statements extra-carefully due to the perceived(?) increased
> likelihood of fraudulent use (not that that's ever happened to me).
>
> However, I'm finding inreasingly that Egg are blocking my card because
> their software systems are flagging up potentially fraudulent activity
> on my card; I have to ring up and personally authorise the queried
> transaction before they'll unblock the card again. Happened twice
> this month alone.
>
> It was particularly irritating last time as they queried three or four
> transactions of a few quid each; two IIRC were variable direct debits
> and because, being away from home, I was unable to remember or look up
> specific details of possible payees, I couldn't confirm 100% that they
> were kosher transactions - the rub being that I was told that if I
> took the chance and said they were OK, then I would be liable for any
> subsequently arising fraudulent use on the card. Naturally I couldn't
> risk that, so was without the card for a week until I got home.
>
> Anyway - whinge over - I am interested in knowing whether other credit
> card companies behave similarly with these types of 'risky'
> transactions, or whether Egg are more anal than others? I certainly
> feel like closing the Egg account, but won't bother doing so if any
> other replacememt card will give me the same problems.

Just before Xmas last year my wife used our Goldfish card to top up her
mobile phone. As a result of this "suspicious" activity, the card was then
referred three times while she was doing her Christmas shopping. That's
effecively the same as declining the transaction, as till operators aren't
going to sit there on the end of a phone for ages trying to get through to
the authorisation centre. When I complained by phone, I was told that they
had been trying to contact me, but couldn't get through - apparently because
we had anonymous call barring enabled at the time. Of course it didn't occur
to them to email me to ask me to get in touch with them.

I understand that some issuers only allow a certain number of transactions a
day (Nationwide?), and decline any extra ones.

So no, it's not rare to have these problems. Given the amount of fraud, you
can't really blame them for putting in "fraud detection" software.
Unfortunately like most software of this type (anti spam software springs to
mind) it doesn't always get it right. I recall the case of somebody who
tried to buy a wedding ring with his Amex card. It was declined as it
constituted an "unusual spending pattern".
--

Brian


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