Reason #562 why I love me some US Bank

Just got an automated telephone call a minute ago. You know the type. You look at your caller ID, see some generic 800 number and contemplate whether or not you’re up to the task of dealing with whatever salesperson is on the other end. On this particular morning, and this particular 800 call, I decided I would just answer it. So I rolled my eyes, took a deep breath and answered the phone. Turns out it was my bank. FRAUD PREVENTION SERVICES. Hmmm. Someone calling to sell me that credit watching service, I bet. Nope… turns out they wanted to verify a couple of charges on my credit card. So the automated message told me about some big charge at a computer store that was declined (thank goodness). I pressed the corresponding option to verify that I DID NOT authorize this charge and was connected to a Fraud Prevention Specialist. She let me know that she was canceling my card and I’d get a new one in the mail. Wow! Crisis completely averted.

When she asked me if I had any questions, I told her that I was really glad they flagged the charge and everything, but I was just curious how they knew that it was a fraudulent charge? Apparently, it is a known pattern that thieves use I-Tunes to test out random card numbers. Once the $1.00 I-Tunes charge goes through, they know they’ve got a valid account and they make a large purchase. US Bank’s software immediately flagged the purchase and denied it. LOVE. All of this was very reassuring because it means that I don’t have to worry about my other cards. No one hacked my information or anything. They guessed a random account number and it turned out to be mine. Thank you, US Bank!

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2 Responses

  1. Misty Fowler says:

    US Bank once charged me a fee because there was an authorization on my account that would have put me under $0 if they all cleared. Except they couldn’t tell me what it was for, or who made it. And it never came through. So, the fee US Bank did put me under $0, which triggered other charges for items coming through once I was under $0. All told, the fees alone were over $800. I tried to point out to them that the amount of the fees was greater than the amount I was in the hole for, but they refused to budge. I don’t love me some US Bank.

  2. Shauna says:

    I don’t know what to say. I have had a similar issue at US Bank when an authorized transaction has “put me in the negative” but then the transaction never came through. Not only did US Bank reverse all of the overdraft charges, they gave me an extra five bucks (they call it their “Five Star Service Guarantee”).

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