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Comment by chrisan | Hacker News Reader

> but I like how card expiration kills subscriptions I don't care about without me having to do anything.

I'm not advocating against choice of automatic updates... but shouldn't you come up with a different way to kill off subscriptions you don't care about? My VISA doesn't expire till 2023

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It's far from ideal, but I like the reset provided by card expiration. Better would be if the issuer provided a web interface to turn off any subscriptions at will. Asking the merchant to do it is usually very annoying and time consuming by design, so sometimes it just doesn't get done.

No guarantee that your card issuer will decline a transaction on an expired card. Plus, that may not actually cancel the subscription and you could continue building a debt. Just cancel the sub.

I think he's talking about services that intentionally make it hard or impossible to cancel.

This is overblown. Worst case, you can send a certified letter for most things.

For gyms, it's pretty well known you either don't agree to said contract to begin with, or suck it up and show up in person if you did.

And gyms have a valid contract and will likely continue accruing debt on your account which they could pursue if they wanted to.

You can tell your credit card company that you lost your credit card if you need to change your credit card number. But usually, my bank tells me at least once a year that I need a new number because my card has been compromised.

This is not ideal which is why whenever I can I setup autopay through my bank's website.

> usually, my bank tells me at least once a year that I need a new number because my card has been compromised

What!?

I have been shopping online all over the place since the time Amazon was only a bookstore (read: decades ago) and this has never happened to me once.

Are you sure nothing is wrong with your bank? Do you use your credit card in shady places?

Unless by shady places you mean places like Target

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/target-settle...

Or Adobe

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/10/adobe-to-announce-source...

Or British Airways

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/07/ba-british-...

Credit card details get leaked or compromised all of the time and are a dime a dozen on the dark web.

The most shady places are probably gas stations/gas pumps and restaurants. They like to install card skimmers on gas pumps around here, maybe that is where it originates from. But most of the time, they cancel my card before any suspicious transactions are recorded.

It's good to give those readers a tug. The skimmers aren't usually affixed well.

I do that often and never found one... some can even be hidden inside the slot: https://www.geek.com/chips/this-card-skimmer-is-so-slim-it-w...

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