April Fool!

[DCM_UK]

Here's one for interest: I love Apple Pay and use it exclusively with my debit card, recently my bank sent me a new card and the expiry dates overlap as they always do, I immediately destroyed my old physical debit card and stuffed the new one into my wallet, what I had forgotten to do was to update the card stored on my phone, guess what? today is April 1 and in two retail outlets the card failed, first time ever, I called the bank, they blamed Apple for updating LOL, then I noticed the old card on the phone was a Visa and the new one is a Mastercard, then I realised the old phone card must have expired March 2021 hence it failing today, anyway I have updated my phone with the new card and can't wait until tomorrow to go prove my theory.

 

[Rod]

We recently (my wife and I have a joint account) had our MasterCard defrauded by some ........ to the tune of AU$8,000.00
We now have new cards and I had to change it everywhere. Living as we do in another country to our home country this entailed visiting some 20 websites to change our payment method not to mention a number of online services.
I would not wish that on anyone.

 

[chscag]

I highly recommend for anyone who does business on line such as ordering stuff, etc, if possible use PayPal.

I know that not all on line sellers accept PayPal but for those that do, it's a very safe way to do business. And as far as paying utility bills, internet, phone carrier, gas, electric, water, and so forth, use autopay if possible.

The less you give out your credit card numbers on line, the better off you are.

 

[Rod]

What is autopay?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I highly recommend for anyone who does business on line such as ordering stuff, etc, if possible use PayPal.

I know that not all on line sellers accept PayPal but for those that do, it's a very safe way to do business. And as far as paying utility bills, internet, phone carrier, gas, electric, water, and so forth, use autopay if possible.

The less you give out your credit card numbers on line, the better off you are.

How is using auto pay safer? I would think that means your credit card details are permanently stored and potentially "accessible" if the utility's site got compromised.

 

[MacInWin]

How is using auto pay safer? I would think that means your credit card details are permanently stored and potentially "accessible" if the utility's site got compromised.

I believe you can set up autopay from your bank. Give them your account information for what you want to autopay and they monitor the accounts for when payment is due and transfer the funds. The receiving company doesn't have your credit card or account information, just what the bank sends.

 

[chscag]

How is using auto pay safer? I would think that means your credit card details are permanently stored and potentially "accessible" if the utility's site got compromised.

As Jake stated, autopay can be setup directly to your bank. Sure, any site can be compromised, even the US government. So who then do you trust?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I believe you can set up autopay from your bank. Give them your account information for what you want to autopay and they monitor the accounts for when payment is due and transfer the funds. The receiving company doesn't have your credit card or account information, just what the bank sends.

I never thought about doing it that way. I use Bill Pay via my bank quite a bit rather than writing real checks and I knew electronic transfers would be done for payees in their system. I just tried it with my electric utility and sure enough, they are in the system and I get an option to receive my bill through the bank. I'm going to have to go through and re-do some of my accounts this way.

A little tidbit I went through a few years ago using Bill Pay via my bank to pay a bill. Since this payee (a medical office) wasn't in the system, the bank sends a real check themselves. It's a nice service because I don't have to go through the trouble of writing and mailing it myself. I do it all the time, but this time that check went through a processing center in Atlanta, where someone copied my bank information off that check; had new checks printed up in their name; and proceeded to go shopping on my checking account. It's as old school of a check fraud as it gets and would have happened just as easily if I had written the check myself. Got my money back and yeah, I internet stalked the thief. She printed her actual name and actual address on the checks and did things like pay to have cable TV hooked up and such. It's like she wanted to get caught.

 

[Rod]

Now I understand what AutoPay is. Sad to say that service is not available from the Australian banks we bank with. Most utility providers, Councils, ISP's and State run services Like VicRoads (drivers licences, car registration) all have auto debit systems. Because we are not in Australia and because we have chosen to go "paperless" where possible we simply register our credit card with these debtors. This saves us from the exorbitant bank fees charged for accidentally overdrawing our savings account and ensures bills are paid on time thus avoiding late payment fees. In some cases we even get a discount for paying before the due date. As for cheques, I dont know anyone who uses personal or bank cheques any more in Australia except the Taxation Department when they send us a refund.