Just need to vent...

1. Most utilities and bank cards will allow a third person notification if a bill payment is missed - that needs to be setup so you know something is wrong.
2. I still get my paper bills, been denying the move to paperless for years. EFT the bill payments to minimize the check washing fraud and go over your monthly statements or have a trusted relative do it. Your not responsible for fraud, if you notify the bank within 30 to 90 days - depending on the banks policies.
3. Paper bills are near impossible to refute; whereas electronic ones can be tweaked and mistakes can be made. I had a very short battle with a utility when my data somehow got mixed up with another customers. The computer said one thing and my hard copies and pattern of usage said another. The utility actually came out to swap out my meter, I'm amusing to take it apart to see if I tampered with it.

Hope this helps...

 

I agree that a single card can not cover every situation I come across when it comes to electronic payment(s). In fact, even multiple credit cards are sometimes not good enough. We came across something called Sertifi credit card rating recently. They grade each card transaction (mostly for Hotel reservations) using some sort of AI based criteria to grade the card to avoid fraudulent use. This is not the credit rating of the person, it is a credit card grade for the use of that particular transaction. We had hotel turning down using several of credit cards since the rooms were being reserved on the card for the family member visiting us from abroad who did not have a card to use, also could not speak English. In this instance, we had to use a bank debt card instead of credit card.

According to what my search turned up, "Sertifi's Advanced Fraud Tools assess data as a user fills out an authorization form. The tools look for potential signs of fraud, such as vague or incorrect addresses, or if the cardholder and guest names are different."
Hotel Credit Card Authorization Forms - Sertifi

 

We used those back in the old century, but I can't remember when I last purchased any, as other means became much more convenient. American Express ceased selling its Travelers Cheques four years ago, though they are still redeemable 'forever'.

Wash-resistant gel pens have been advertised for checkwriting purposes for ages. We started using them quite a long time ago. Does anyone know if the thieves have made in-roads against these pens?

 

My CFO uses wash resistant pens.
I'm not sure if we still use checks - and I haven't carried one in years.
I carry a little cash including a couple of 20's tucked away for emergency use.

 

Wished I'd had at least 48 hours warning about Starship test #5. I would have driven down to witness.

Bob Wilson

 

We have been notified by our bank when the wife tried to use an ATM and put in the wrong PIN.

Also had our bank card inactivated temporarily because on a vacation we bought gas in different states and hadn't let them know we were on vacation.

I imagine their fraudulent use alarms would go absolutely nuclear if someone washed one of our checks for any significant money.

Years ago a National Credit Card Company called us up over an insignificant credit charge because it wasn't typically of our spending patterns.

Typically these places we deal with do an outstanding job of detecting fraud - they had better because ultimately, they are responsible for bad charges if they process fraudulent purchases made through no fault of the customer!

Fraud - certainly a distraction, inconvenience and pain in the a_ _ , but rarely if ever a financial liability for the card holder. I would agree that eventually everyone probably pays for this through higher prices on merchandise.

Who Pays When Merchants Are Victims of Credit Card Fraud? - NerdWallet

Who Pays For Fraudulent Credit Card Transactions? (forbes.com)
"If you own a credit card, you can usually rest easy, knowing that you are protected from paying for fraud. Congress enacted the Fair Credit Billing Act, or FCBA, which says if your credit card is stolen or has an unauthorized use, the most that you can be liable for is $50. If you report the theft of your credit card before any loss occurs, however, your liability drops down to $0."

 

I guess I am okay with their vigilance.

We do use a bank card instead of cash for most purchases these days. It is convenient for us and in my opinion safer than carrying cash - though I still carry cash for emergencies.

It is their bank and their card, and they did issue it to me. Actually, the more I think about it the better I feel about them monitoring the purchases made with the card - so I would say I am fine with their oversight- they are protecting my money.

I can understand others who might not be so comfortable with the arrangement.

Credit Cards are a tool for me I have one for emergencies and I use it to my advantage. They have never contacted me in 20 years for any upsell, promotions, deals etc.
I will admit their online website has a cover page of promotions you go through before you get to the actual account site but this is just a mouse click to get through it to the main accounts page.

 

Wow, some of you are REALLY old....what's a "Traveler's Check?" And I imagine you used to only have one phone, located on the wall, in your house, too, huh? I saw a post by a PhD on Twitter (X) who's 9-year old daughter had a great idea, "Why not invent a phone that stays in the house and that everyone can answer and use?" Sometimes our progress isn't so progressive, is it? We were eating a meal at a local restaurant and a large family set next to us, and their elderly grandmother was with them. I was watching them and VERY little conversation as everyone, except Grandma, was intently fixed on their stupid phones. I felt sorry for her. (We have a "no electronics" rule whenever we are eating.)

I remember those traveler's checks and also unfolding a big, paper map when driving across the country. Then, AAA came up with something called a "TripTic" where they would map out your route, print it our for you, and all you had to do was flip to the next page as you drove along....anybody else use those things? (They still have them but it's all electronic, now, on your mobile.)

I don't trust the government so the digitization of our banking system is alarming. How better to control people if you control their finances? There's no better way and that's scary. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" --Lord Acton (19th century historian) Interesting that our founding fathers, in America, started our US Constitution with, "We the People..." Such wisdom!

 

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" --Lord Acton (19th century historian) Interesting that our founding fathers, in America, started our US Constitution with, "We the People..." Such wisdom!“

Good to remember in these particular times. A scotus decision for the ages about presidential immunity. For me, being older, scary as h… combined with a certain personality type. Have the yes people in the right places, all that wisdom of we the people down the tubes.

 

I don't trust Big Business either.

Those who prevail get to write the history books and declare which was the "right" side.

 

I've never used traveler's checks, but I've seen my parents use them.

Another thing about credit- and ATM- cards is foreign transactions. Some banks and institutions will allow fee free foreign transactions at whatever current market value is, at the time. No more getting ripped off at the airport currency exchange desk. Of course you'll need to notify them when and region your going to travel. In most countries I'm in - I just hit the ATM (bank ATM, NOT the independent ones in a store or hotel lobby for local cash. I set up a segregated savings account w/o overdraft protection on my travel ATM card. I can push money into that account, but it has no access to the rest of my financial world. If it gets lost, stolen, or cracked - my liability is limited to whatever was in that account - assuming the institution denies that my account was hacked or stolen. Rules and regulations gets very muddy once you cross international lines. Make sure the ATM system in the destination country is tied into the same international banking network system. Most are now, but 15-20 years ago; I had to match cards with network systems. I just looked at my latest cards, those network systems logos are gone. It doesn't really need to be this complicated - you'll just end up paying higher "vacationer taxes" as an old friend of mine coined. I kept correcting a taxi drivers' course, because he was running up the meter and literally driving us in circles and taking us for a ride; when he said to me, "relax - it's just vacationer taxes....

 

Remember Trip-Tics well. I remember a time As a kid my parents were driving back from Mammoth Cave to Chicago and we had Trip Tics. We stopped at a AAA to get a new set to reroute to see some "back-country". Stupid AAA didn't tell us the road they routed us on was still under construction. We're waiting in a long line of cars at around lunch time, and a construction guy is walking along explaining to all the drivers it might be 2 hours or more because they were about to blast. So my Dad opened the trunk and grabbed the big cooler for lunch. We're of Italian descent and my Dad looked like it by the way... So the construction guy sees my Dad, the cooler, and the Illinois license plate and asks if we're from Chicago. Dad says yes. Construction guy looks my Dad over again, and actually runs to the front of the line. Wouldn't you know it the line started moving immediately and we drove through in 10 minutes instead of 2 hours. The guy must have thought we were the Mafia or something...

Oh, and the AAA office had a party line phone. Anyone else remember those?

 

Yes, when I was a kid in the late 60's, early 70's, my Uncle in Northern Maine had a cabin on the lake along with 6 or 8 others. They had a party line and were #2. So when it, first, rang you never answer...just count. If it rang two times then stopped, you answered it when it rang again. But they always cautioned us to watch what we talk about, most of them snooped on the other!
Fun memories....caught some HUGE Northern Maine Pike trolling in the boat on that lake!!

 

I grew up with an 8-party line, determined by limited rural phone capacity, not personal budgets. Some device inside the phone made it to ring for only us and one other house, the other 6 were silenced by some form of coding. Our house got the long rings, the nearest neighbor got the short rings. Phone etiquette was to limit calls to 3 minutes, so that other parties could use the phone too.

As rural phone capacity increased, got a 4 party line by high school, then 2 party while I was in college. Mom and dad probably could have had a private line then too, but didn't opt to pay for it until after I was out of college and on my own.

 

I've used trip tics and traveler's checks. Now I use Waze and credit cards. One has to adapt with the times. My parents had a house phone that required depositing a nickel to make a call when I was in grammar school

JeffD

 

our 7 year old grandson just got a watch he can text, email and call from when in range of his parents phones.
there's so much pressure on parents these days