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Comment by aembleton | Hacker News Reader

Another good reason to use a fintech bank account such as Monzo [1] or a credit card such as Tandem [2] or a virtual card that can forward transactions onto any other card such as Curve [3].

All of these services can give you a push notification every time a transaction is made on your account so that you are immediately made aware and are able to cancel them. You can block the card from within the app immediately.

1. http://join.monzo.com/r/vrlkxvo (Using this link gives us both £5)

2. https://www.tandem.co.uk/credit-card/

3. https://www.imaginecurve.com/ (Sign up with WAI91 and we both get £5)

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I agree. I'd also add that my experience with fintech services, in regards to fraud detection, has been excellent.

I've been using Revolut for the past year. Just 2 weeks ago, they detected a potential fraudulent transaction with - you guess it - Deliveroo, for an amount of £25 (I don't live in the UK). The transaction, as well as my card, was immediately blocked. I then received a push message asking me to confirm whether the transaction was fraudulent - pushing "Confirm" triggered the expedition of a new card to my address. In contrast to legacy banks for which it is still recommended you call on the phone to notify you're going abroad, this is excellent service.

They obviously vary, but my British legacy bank no longer wants to be told when I'm going abroad.

I don't use their app. If they suspect a fraudulent transaction, they block it and call me.

Amex has the same thing and their customer protections are generally better than the Fintech companies. Although Amex is not so common in the U.K.

Do any UK credit card companies offer consumer and fraud protection above the norm? Amex would immediately side with me if I showed them the Deliveroo communication. Another Citi VISA I had offered 18 months warranties on laptops and other electronics if I used the card.

The only one I've needed to claim against was Curve. I lost my wallet and my card was used in a McDonalds. I knew immediately and froze the card. Curve then refunded me a week later, when I contacted them.

Thanks for letting me know about Amex doing this. Might provide better customer service and many places do accept it.

A lot of places in the UK especially low cost places wont accept amex because of the charges.

I saw my mangers amex get declined when they tried to pay for a team meal (15 people) a few years ago

Yes at least the U.K. isn’t as obsessed with cash as Germany is. I had trouble until on of my Europoeran colleagues told me about Amex Vicinity. You can see places around you and it can make it easier to use corporate Amex cards.[1]

[1]https://www430.americanexpress.com/mrec/mersearch/index?intc...

A cashless society does have some risks and of course penalises poor working class people and older ones.

The troubles with Amex, and Germany's increased acceptance of Visa and Mastercard cards, is because of the EU's rules on restricting processing fees.

Those rules mostly don't apply to Amex (they were not considered part of the Visa-MC duopoly).

There's some interesting background here: https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/02/08/american-express-eu...

Do all Amex cards have this? I've never seen this feature offered by them.

Edit: apparently they stopped doing this for average cardholders 15 years ago and it's a corporate-card-only thing now called 'Amex Go'

Amex recently detected a fraudulent charge on my card, and sent me an email with a "click here" button which, after I confirmed my identity, triggered the issuance of a new card in the mail in a couple of days.

I should note I have a "Starwood Preferred Guest" Amex card, but that is not a corporate card. It may be that the SPG card has additional features that a regular card would not.

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