Here I am, paying bills and thinking about what to blog about, when I log into my credit card statement to make a payment.  I see some recent activity, and figure I’ll click on it to remind myself how much my last payment was.  I never use the darn thing, especially now that I’m in a position to not have to live off it, so it sits there and collects dust.  I did receive the new card in the mail when I told them about my name change, so I’m not missing anything.  The old card is still sitting on my desk ready to be cut up.

So when I checked my recent activity, I see 2 charges for the same merchant – AIC*HYDRODERM SKINCARE.  This sort of crap has happened before – remember how that turned out?  I ran downstairs to get my phone so I could call the credit card company.  They were very nice, again, and I filed a complaint with the fraud department, again.  Account closed, new card coming, fraud paperwork coming, yada yada yada.   I made my payment, since it’s due this week, and they even waived the usual $15 telephone payment charge for me.  Once I was all done using up my minutes with the credit card company, I turned to the search engine.

Apparently what happens is this – thieves see enticing offers for free stuff online that they really really want, like game consoles.  They just need to buy a bunch of worthless crap to earn points towards their free stuff.  Well, they sign up for all these “free” offers from their sponsors with “their own” credit cards and earn points that way.  That’s where they use auto-dialer techniques to find credit card numbers, and that’s how I ended up with fraudulent charges.

Everyone should reconcile their statements every month.  If you use your credit cards, then save your receipts to compare them against your statement.  That’s how I stopped one place from charging me more than I authorized.  Make sure everything matches, and that you have a receipt for everything.  It’s not fun being one of those people who are total dorks about their receipts, but it’s the only proof you have if you want to dispute a charge.  And if you see a charge you don’t recognize at all, call your credit card company.  They’ll tell you what it looks like the charge is for, and you can either remember that you made the purchase after all, in which case you thank them for helping you with your memory, or you kindly ask to be transferred to their fraud department to dispute the charges.  But take action!  Be vigilant about your accounts!

Yesterday I went to open a new checking account. I already have one, but I wanted to have an account at the bank that Mister has his accounts at so it makes things a little easier. Now that my name change is complete and I have the ID to show it, I was ready to go to the bank.

We went to the branch closest to our house and waited a bit. The waiting didn’t bother us so much, because that’s what usually happens when you go to the bank. When it was our turn, we sat down and I told the customer service guy what I wanted. He asked me for my ID, which is standard procedure, and then asked me for further proof of ID because, as he put it, my driver’s license was too new. (In Nevada they put the issue date on your ID, and mine was issued about 3 weeks before.) I told him that I didn’t have anything else with me because the website didn’t indicate that I’d need anything beyond that. He told me he could not open my account without further ID, and I told him that I didn’t need to open an account with his bank.

Mister asked if I wanted to try the other branch, close to the old apartment, and I said sure, I think we have time before they close. We went in and waited, then when it was our turn asked if we had time to open a checking account. It was 6 minutes before closing, so we would have understood if we got turned away at that point. But the customer service lady was happy to help us. We opened my account, and I wasn’t even a new customer since Mister added me to one of his checking accounts a couple months before that. She changed my name on that account, opened my new checking account, and even ordered Mister a new debit card on a different rewards program, all very happily. When we were done, about 20 minutes past closing, we apologized for keeping her there so late and she said it was nothing, she was happy to help us. That’s what we call customer service.

Here’s what I know about retail banking from the friends and relatives who have worked in banking: they have quotas. It’s a sales job – they need to open so many accounts every month. Think about it – how many times have you gone in to make a deposit or withdrawal and had the teller ask you if you wanted to put the money in a CD or open a different kind of account? That’s the sales part of it coming out. So we were very perplexed, and a bit upset, that we would be turned away by this guy for an ID that hasn’t aged enough. I don’t get it – my ID is considered by the state to be valid the second they hand it to me, but 3 weeks later it’s not valid enough as determined by some dude at the bank. I don’t get it – can someone please explain this to me?

Last night I went on the bank’s website to put in a comment, and this morning I had an email saying that they had passed my comment on to management for further review. Looks like the banking dude didn’t have the last word on this one!

We are in the midst of packing right now, so posts will be few and far between until we get set up in the new home.  I’m doing my best to keep up with all of you in the meantime!