Got locked out of my bank card today over a false alarm "suspicious activity".

First time in my life something like that's happened.

Took a few hours to sort out, it supposedly is, I won't truly find out till tomorrow.

But it got me thinking - from now on I'm going to stockpile WAY more cash than in the past - to the point where I think I'll be buying a small bolt down safe (been meaning to do something like that for fireproofing certain documents anyway).

And add this to the reasons why I will NEVER support the concept of a cashless society!!!

I know the feeling Zamzow my Social Security debit card got locked because someone bought$300 worth of stuff from Paris France I got a new card but had only $10 cash on hand I had to hit the savings account to buy some groceries

I don't support the concept either.

Credit cards are a true necessity in this day and age, sadly.

The trick is don't abuse them, took me decades and one bankruptcy to figure that out.

I would advise anyone to look at Capital One, or any bank credit card that offers "virtual credit cards".

Good stuff for the internet for sure.

rWatson I bet if you look hard some gaming site where you purchased something? Hopefully not them, but some hacker bot/piggybacker. Lot's of bad humans out there.

U buy anything from Battlefront recently? I got hacked from there, but it was my internet only card. Not much to get there and they busted my limit.

Get a credit card that has virtual cards, Cap One's is really cool, pops up and asks if you need a virtual number.

Only ever had to have one CC replaced due to potential fraud but I have always kept a significant amount of cash on hand. Usually at least 500 and more often in the range of several thousand.

Same story. Not easy theses days.

I've had a debit card with Bank of America since late 1999 and I was a victim of fraud only one time when several hundred dollars was withdrawn by an unknown party. I called BOA and they resolved it within a couple of hours.

Since the lockdown most of the shops here will only do contactless payment and won't accept cash.

I think I may have about 5cents in my pocket at the moment...

Nixer only place I buy games is Steam and some stuff from Amazon..I'm going to the bank later and getting something better than the Direct Express card for my S.S.At least if something goes amiss they can fix it quicker than Direct Express,Spent 3 hours listening to elevator music the other night only to talk to someone who barely spoke English

Got locked out of my credit card a few years ago while riding my motorcycle up north of Toronto, apparently my gas purchases fit the profile of credit card theft as it was just $10-$15 in one city then a similar amount in another city hundreds of kilometers away. Ironically they called me while I was riding but I didn't notice the call so the suspended the card, it was resolved once I got home though and they left notes indicating the pattern was due to motorcycle rides. Also learned to notify them when I went to Florida back in 2018, told my wife to notify her credit card company as well. She didn't, which resulted in a situation on the plane home when her card was rejected because she had used it in Florida.

Yeah, found first petrol station that didn't want my non contactless card yesterday, on my first ride out since the easing of restrictions in England- so they had to take cash :neaner
Kind of random who accepts what round here :

Eventually physical legal tender will go away but I think the effects from the pandemic will accelerate the process a bit.

Same thing happened to me in 2000, my CC got blocked as I was driving north out of Toronto to Bracebridge and I had just filled the car with petrol too, took about an hour of phone calls back to the UK and to Visa to get it un-blocked.

Now I always inform the bank as to which card I'm going to use while abroad and where I'm going to use it.

I just deal with multiple banks.

Main bank (25+ years, rocky at times, threatened to sue at least twice) I have a debit card and my big limit cc (more than I net annually... the greedy bastards), current balance $300, with them.

3 other banks with lines of credit which together are almost double my annual income. Current balance of all 3 is ZERO.

I plan to die wallowing in debt after having a great time. (yeah, I know... the best laid plans of mice and men.)

Don't put all your eggs in one basket folks, seriously. My only income is not so hot social security per month and a tiny VA benefit also (combined I am at the second lowest poverty level IAW the US government), but I have a 720 credit score this month.

I used Capital One as an example because they are digitally the hippest of them all I have dealt with. I have ZERO association with them besides an account I applied for...and the lowest credit line of the bunch BTW. (which tells me they are smarter than the rest)

That's a sort of "financial bugout plan" I've had in the back of my brain for years.

Time to get up and do it.

But I'm still going to keep more cash around than I used to...

NIxer must be like a friend of mine: 14 bank accounts at dozen different banks. I joke once that he has $1 in all of them.