I’ve finally had enough of Wells Fargo “Fraud Protection”. I’ve had my accounts since 1981 and never planned on changing until this year. Recently, they started scrubbing my cards (debit & credit) so hard, I could barely make a purchase without tripping “fraud protection”. Needless to say, I make dozens of online purchases per month and also use my cards at local retailers. And I NEED my cards to function 100% of the time!
I’ve never had problems with fraud on my accounts. And I made repeated requests to be moved to a different tier of fraud protection but to no avail. After being declined again today at a local convenience store, I called in screamed my ass off for the last time. I closed all of my accounts and drove down a block and opened an account at Washington Mutual.
I’m not so sure that WaMu will be any better about fraud protection but I wasn’t going to deal with Wells Fargo for one more day. Now I have to set up my bill pay and change all of my auto-payments like hosting, adwords, etc. What a pain.
Soooo… how do you think this new aggressive “fraud protection” by credit card companies is severely damaging our industry? I think we are getting fucked out of a lot of revenue.
.
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
[QUOTE=xstr8guy;12751]
Soooo… how do you think this new aggressive “fraud protection” by credit card companies is severely damaging our industry? I think we are getting fucked out of a lot of revenue.
.[/QUOTE]
just catching on that the credit card banking industry totally rules the world? well so is congress and it wasn’t until this year that our elected officials in Washington decided to have lunch with these guys to talk things over… of course, after some on-camera bull shit hearings
I wonder which credit card they pulled out or THEIR pockets !
kind of reminds me of congress and the oil companies -
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
Oh, I think it’s way worse than you might imagine. My direct traffic has suddenlly started to convert at 6 times the rate of my affiliate traffic. I have no idea why…
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
Are you using the same billing processor(s) for your direct traffic and your affiliate traffic? A different processor or cascade can cause that difference. If they are the same, that is very strange indeed.
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
No we’re not… we have moved our direct traffic to our new MPA3 cascade. Even so, a difference on this scale is crazy!
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
It is scary in a way. Though with Netbilling we can control our own scrub. I have ALWAYS felt that there are perfectly good consumers on the Epoch and CCbill negative db.
If I had $1 for every time I heard a webmaster say, “I put XYZ on the blacklist because he was a prick.” I would retire.
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
Ive got very similiar problem as you, my UK bank keeps stopping my card and i have to call them up (if they dont call me) to get it enabled again. Every time they say “its for your own protection”, but it hasnt stopped anything except putting me in embarrasing situation in shops and restaurants when the card suddenly stops working.
So much so that i dont use credit cards anymore, i just use my American Express instead, they dont seem to mind how much i spend lol
[quote=xstr8guy;12751]I’ve finally had enough of Wells Fargo “Fraud Protection”. I’ve had my accounts since 1981 and never planned on changing until this year. Recently, they started scrubbing my cards (debit & credit) so hard, I could barely make a purchase without tripping “fraud protection”. Needless to say, I make dozens of online purchases per month and also use my cards at local retailers. And I NEED my cards to function 100% of the time!
I’ve never had problems with fraud on my accounts. And I made repeated requests to be moved to a different tier of fraud protection but to no avail. After being declined again today at a local convenience store, I called in screamed my ass off for the last time. I closed all of my accounts and drove down a block and opened an account at Washington Mutual.
I’m not so sure that WaMu will be any better about fraud protection but I wasn’t going to deal with Wells Fargo for one more day. Now I have to set up my bill pay and change all of my auto-payments like hosting, adwords, etc. What a pain.
Soooo… how do you think this new aggressive “fraud protection” by credit card companies is severely damaging our industry? I think we are getting fucked out of a lot of revenue.
.[/quote]
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
Well I just had two charges appear on my card for a dating site I had never heard of until yesterday. Two identical amounts two days apart.
In the past I have had a similar problem as GayDemon when I’ve come to pay for things and this particular card wouldn’t work. I can’t imagine how these two charges have happened.
The hilarious thing is the company recently changed the log in so now I only need my username and one password to get in. So much for security!
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
I have been saved by this automated fraud protection a few times, I really don’t mind it at all. But I reckon it really depends on your bank - have you had a chat with your bank manager? Do you even know your bank manager or account manager?
By the way, its really good to have bank contacts like this, they can be extremely helpful if you ever find yourself in a dire situation (like having to get the hell out of a dangerous situation or country fast).
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
[QUOTE=HunkMoneyLuke;12790]I have been saved by this automated fraud protection a few times, I really don’t mind it at all. But I reckon it really depends on your bank - have you had a chat with your bank manager? Do you even know your bank manager or account manager?
By the way, its really good to have bank contacts like this, they can be extremely helpful if you ever find yourself in a dire situation (like having to get the hell out of a dangerous situation or country fast).[/QUOTE]
My (now former) bank, Wells Fargo was no help at all in resolving my problem. I spoke to numerous people on the phone about their over-zealous fraud protection but got no positive results. The only thing I succeeded in doing was raising my blood pressure. After the months of frustration, closing the account and opening a new one with WaMu was cathartic. Who knows if WaMu will be any better. But at the point I was at, the only thing for me to do was vote with my feet (and dollar).
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
These days, in the US, banking center managers (at least at BofA and Wells) are rarely in a position to do much of anything anymore. AJ has had lengthy conversations with several branch managers he’s worked with, and I have had several with one I’ve worked with for almost 10 years… and with BofA, at least, they are purposely and systematically removing nearly all of the authority to do anything outside of the most basic customer service issues from ALL branch staff, including managers.
Two different BofA managers told AJ they were completely disgusted with where things had gone with BofA in the last 3 years… apparently it’s shady, greedy executives from the credit card division moving into the banking division and starting the same shady practices that credit card companies have used for years… basically, nothing is done for the convenience of customers, everything either protects the bank or makes money for the bank, and the imposition of junk fees for everything you can think of is becoming the common practice.
I think Wells is still a bit better than BofA, but I’ve heard some horror stories there as well.
Re: Banks/Credit Card Rant
Wells used be very different from BoA. But sadly, it looks like they are heading down the same path. I’d rather stuff my money in a mattress than use BoA.