Citigroup Has ‘Technical Issue’ as Customers Say Accounts Frozen
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
I've heard Amex blamed for losing the Costco deal, but given Amex's superlative customer service and Citi's less-than-optimal reputation, maybe Costco will turn out to be the bigger loser.
* Fraud protection learning seems to be reset from the old Amex history so I've had a regular purchase (sushi joint) get flagged.
* Haven't found the ability to add spouse to web based account management.
* New card issued has smart chip in it, which is a pain at most retailers since their readers require "eating" the card and take longer payment processing time before the card is ejected. So basically my older Amex was more convenient while using "inferior" tech.
* Costco gas pumps seem to be updated with new Visa prompts for cards. I wonder what kind of hassle it was to update that system.
* Apple Pay has a hard time recognizing my card with camera input. I had to manually enter information.
User can just swipe and sign a stolen card same as always. Most retailers stll either incapable of using them or very forgiving as to signatures.
Card can be duplicated with the strip and without the chip, then used as a regular legacy card (until those become uncommon).
Finally, they can just steal the chip + signature cared, use the chip and they can still sign the slip and use it sama as ever.
Hell, it's 2016 and I'm still encountering retailers who end up having to key in the card, or in a couple of cases still do offline processing with manual carbon-slip imprints.
Our shitty American cards affect the rest of the world too. Traveling to Europe over the past decade+ until 2015 I apologize for my unexpectedly chipless card everywhere I went (never had much trouble using it though); same with Canada up to present. They all have chip+PIN, but our cards go through without and spit out a receipt with a signature line.
I don't think so. The card reader would demand that the chip be used. If there's no chip, the cashier should then call the police, as that's evidence of fraud.
The guy who steals my mag stripe has to find a store without chip readers to make use of the stripe.
Like 90% of stores in USA today? Oh the pain. And what is likely to happen after the clerk apologizes for the reader being broken is that he keys in the card number manually. What, manual entry is going to be blocked too? Good luck with that. As long as lost sales to nonworking transactions >>> fraud, it's happening.
Edit, source, Krebs: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/02/the-great-emv-fake-out-no...
In February, Visa claims all of 17% of retailers have chip-capable terminals. My experience is that only a small fraction of chip-capable terminals are actually integrated with a POS system that enables them. Leading to the ridiculous situation of consumers facing 83% of retail locations with no chip reader, having to swipe, most of the rest having a useless chip slot and icon, and some small percentage <10% of locations actually having a working, functional chip slot (visually indistinguable from nonfunctional ones). Even where they do work, usability is poor. Beeps, lights, multitudinous prompts or even spoken instructions, and processing times in excess of five seconds or more where the stripes are just swipe and sign a second or two later.
I've had chip cards since 2004, and their use here is universal. To swipe without raising suspicion requires an American accent. It's no problem in McDonald's, but any expensive purchase will either be denied by the clerk, require the manager's approval, or a phone call to the card processor. Criminals simply don't do it any more -- it's far easier to send stolen numbers to the USA, or make purchases online.
https://www.fbi.gov/sandiego/press-releases/2015/fbi-warns-t...
There's a fiction that the retailer should compare the signature on the card to the slip, reinforced by a few large retailers with policies of checking that the card is in fact signed, but this obviously doesn't happen.
Oh, and as a former Citi customer, if it weren't for that 4% back on gas purchases, I would be using someone else's card at Costco (you can use a membership card + any Visa-branded card there now).
Example: I was recently told by Citi to create a new account after getting locked out of my old one. This isn't the first time this has happened: I am now on username.4 on their website, and my wife and I have made a point of not putting any critical charges on Citi cards.
Costco may have saved a few bucks by ditching Amex, but they'll pay a price in customer satisfaction in the long run. Given their usual customer focused orientation, I'm surprised they thought this would be a good tradeoff.
May I ask why didn't you drop by their office and tell them they are idiots and cancel your account after the second or third time?
Life is a series of tradeoffs, sadly.
A really bad time to be updating any software. I feel bad for the people who are trying to buy prescription drugs or groceries. Not everyone has backup credit cards.
Bizarre that such a protection elsewhere is limited to just credit cards.
I understand why you want the rewards, and when I'm forced to use a credit card, I also want the reward. But we need to call out the bullshittedness of the system.
Everything in the world is 2-3% more expensive just so that credit cards can "give" you 1% back as a "reward". (Similar situation: People who are thrilled with a tax refund. The government takes money away from their paycheck, then later gives part of it back. If they don't think about it, they think they're getting free money.)
People get caught up in it as if credit card rewards are a good idea. It's not. It's a drag on the economy for the credit card companies to bake their costs into every transaction.
I wish there was an economic expression to describe the situation with credit cards and their rewards. Tragedy of the commons[1] and the unscrupulous diner's dilemma[2] both come close, but aren't exactly right.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unscrupulous_diner%27s_dilemma
Well, at least if Mary Poppins is to be believed.