How easy is it for your credit card to be frozen for suspected fraud?

I'm about 300 miles away from where I live and I purchased $60 in gas with my direct debit Visa card. The next day I get a call from the Visa fraud department saying they put a hold on my card until they verified the gas purchase was from me. I know fraud is a big problem, but I think this is going too far. I was able to unblock mine with a phone call, but I think such a stringent policy is going to cause travelers to have problems paying for necessary things like lodging, food, and gas.

Anyone else here have an experience where their credit card was frozen for something only slightly out of the norm?

This is the norm I believe now. I took a road trip from Pennsylvania to Georgia last summer and by the time I got there my card that I had used for gas the whole way down was frozen. I called them and got it all cleared, but they asked that next time I let them know my travel plans! :lolsign: I thought that was pretty funny, like being a kid and having to ask your mom to go out to play with friends.

Anyway, lessons learned from that trip
1) Call credit card company and get prior approval before taking trip
2) Don't run over a rope bridge with your video/digital camera unsecured in your childs stroller.
3) State parks with alligators underneath said rope bridge do not allow you to venture into the swamp below to retrieve your lost camera equipment, but they do "promise" to call you if they find it!

I had that happen once when I left my ATM card at the ATM. But the bank shut it off before I even knew it was lost (after $800 of unusual purchases were noticed.) But as far a using an ATM card, I've used my Well Fargo card all over the world without issue and they've never blocked it, but it was always at an bank ATM to withdraw local currency. Perhaps there was something in the usage pattern that raised a red flag when you used it in Socal? The credit card company did want to talk to me once (I think it was Amex, though I'm not sure) when I purchased a plane ticket for a colleague at YVR while I was at an East Coast airport, but they called the airline counter and everything was cleared right there.

If you normally use your ATM PIN code for your purchases and you used that card as a VISA charge purchase at the gas pump, that could have been enough to catch their attention and draw suspicion. A lot of "found" ATM cards are used that way by opportunists, since it doesn't require a PIN.

LowBat said:

I'm about 300 miles away from where I live and I purchased $60 in gas with my direct debit Visa card. The next day I get a call from the Visa fraud department saying they put a hold on my card until they verified the gas purchase was from me. I know fraud is a big problem, but I think this is going too far. I was able to unblock mine with a phone call, but I think such a stringent policy is going to cause travelers to have problems paying for necessary things like lodging, food, and gas.

Anyone else here have an experience where their credit card was frozen for something only slightly out of the norm?

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At he finanical instituation I work at, they do it on anything out of the ordinary, but a simple phone call will fix that. Plus it helps to let them know if you are traveling in advance.

Does it work? Beats me, Sounds like a good idea.

Brighteyez said:

If you normally use your ATM PIN code for your purchases and you used that card as a VISA charge purchase at the gas pump, that could have been enough to catch their attention and draw suspicion. A lot of "found" ATM cards are used that way by opportunists, since it doesn't require a PIN.

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In my case the Costco gas pump required my PIN which is a good anti-fraud measure. Some gas pumps only require you enter a zip code (Chevron is one), and yet others require nothing at all.

I guess from now on I'll have to call Visa before I travel.

I only have 1 credit card. The company decided that a fraud transaction took place and cancelled the account. It turns out one of their people mixed up the numbers. It took 2 weeks to get a replacement card. That in it's self wouldn't have been a real problem, but at the same time some idiot employee of Wells Fargo Bank that worked in the card processing center sold my ATM card information (along with a whole lot of other numbers). This caused all kinds of problems. I was able to track down the crook that got my number and had the police in Georgia where she was nail her. That caused me to be without the ATM card I use and the backup credit card I have for a couple of weeks.

The way things are with credit card fraud I can't fault the companies for being extra careful. I do fault Wells Fargo for having such lax internal security that an employee does that kind of thing.

I call my credit cards companies in advance and let them know the dates that I'm going to be out of town and where I am going. Never had any problems with a transaction or a frozen card. I was a little worried they might do something like that when I was in another country.

A mall near me was having a promotion where you earned a $20 gift card for every $200 spent (up to $1000) and as it was Christmas season anyway.... my wife went there and shot the max.
By the time she drove home there was a voice mail waiting from the CC company wanting to confirm all the purchases.
No freeze that I know of but I asume one would have been initiated had she not called back to confirm.

I was going to start a similar thread. I once attempted to purchase an item online. The first time, I entered the wrong expiration date. The next attempt it wouldn't go thru. I blamed in on the site until I tried to use the card again in a few days and it still didn't work. I called the cc company and found out they had frozen the card after the first incorrect attempt. They never let me know until I called. Several times they have called me immediately after making a purchase to verify it was me. Some even from very reputable sites like www.newegg.com. What would have they done if I was not home, perhaps canceled the transaction? I know a thread was started earlier in which the poster was appreciative of this actions but I think it's going overboard. Two sites in which I attempted to make a purchase from were totally banned by the credit card comapny, one of them a pretty well known site in the vitamin world. This is all with a credit card from my local credit union although I think all of that business was handled thru some sort of third party security center. I have had a credit card thru them for more then 20 years now but I am close to looking around for a less restrictive credit card issuer.

geepondy,
I've recently had similar issues with my main credit card provider, also a credit union in MA that I've been with for almost a decade.
They claimed Visa had neglectfully lost a database of card accounts in Canada, and another time, a vendor was illegally collecting card account info from buyers.
All fine and good, but the outcome was that I could no longer use my Visa Gold outside the USA. I asked the rep that what they are essentially saying is I should take my business elsewhere? She thought it was ironic, but the solution was to get a credit card from another lending institution, and chuckled at the advice.
I didn't find it very funny. Since I travel internationally a lot and relied on this card.

Needless to say, the customer service is sub standard imo. I was forced to take my business elsewhere. Making it inconvenient for customers to use your credit card is not a smart way to convince them to use them. But canceled transactions, suspended cards w/o notification, and prior notice of travel plans are unacceptable.
These issuers deserve to feel it from our end towards their bottom line as well....not just from the thieves. They need to get their act together (cough cough, Visa).

LowBat said:

In my case the Costco gas pump required my PIN which is a good anti-fraud measure. Some gas pumps only require you enter a zip code (Chevron is one), and yet others require nothing at all.

I guess from now on I'll have to call Visa before I travel.

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Thats not anti-fraud, thats because an PIN based transaction is an ATM withdraw so it bypasses the visa/mastercard system saving the merchant the 2% fee.

I learned last year to not pull out that brand new credit card you were given back when you first accepted the job working for a large bank to make the first purchase on it a $1200 flat screen TV from Best Buy unless you plan on being there a while

Eugene said:

I learned last year to not pull out that brand new credit card you were given back when you first accepted the job working for a large bank to make the first purchase on it a $1200 flat screen TV from Best Buy unless you plan on being there a while

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Don't forget to breathe!