Credit Card Scam

This is a post of random assorted topics related to the credit card industry that I think most people would find interesting.

There seems to be a new scheme to defraud credit card users detailed in this article. The scheme follows the scenario:

  • Fraudster calls you up asking you if a charge of ‘X’ amount has been purchased by you recently
  • You answer “No”
  • The caller asks you to look for seven numbers on the back of your card. He reads you the first four, which are part of your card number, and asks for the last three – the security numbers that verify you are the possessor of the card.
  • He assures you that this is for security purposes and to verify that you still have the legitimate card
  • They than purchase an amount of ‘X’ dollars which you see on your bill and assume they will reverse

The sucker punch is the fact that your credit card issuer will reverse this charge, and by not doing so, let the grace period for filing a dispute lapse. Pretty underhanded in my opinion. So beware of this scam.

Card for Illegal Immigrants

According to this article Bank of America has already begun issuing credit cards to illegal immigrants. The only requirement is to have an available checking acount (I was unaware that you could get one without a valid social insurance number) for three months, and a deposit. Sure they get suckered on higher interest rates, but it does help them build a credit rating.

I wonder how this will be received by the American public. According to prior research, nearly half of the Hispanic houses hold a Bank of America account.

They’re take on it:

“If we don’t disproportionately grow in the Hispanic [market]…we aren’t going to grow”

Couple Living Beyond Their Means (Is this Unusual?)

New York Times has a good piece showcasing a family struggling to get by and living off of their credit cards. Everyone knows about the declining savings rate, our affinity for credit, balance transfers, sub-prime mortgages and the sort, but this article gives a good view of how this affects everyday people, and what we’re going through.

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