Sooo, embarrassingly my card got declined at the McDonald's drive through...4 dollars (two hamburgers and a small milkshake -- don't judge me)....I stupidly ask, "Strange, I wonder how that happened" Most people might think that was a rhetorical question, but the guy at the drive through window, apparently, thought I really wanted his opinion, so while I was digging through the ashtray/coin holder of my car and the bottom of my purse for loose change (yeah, I really wanted that milkshake) the late-teen-early-twenty-year-old decided to tell me how my card could have been declined. He mentioned that if you go into your overdraft a lot then you're charged fees and that's what could have happened--after all not everyone knows that. He was also kind enough to tell me that if I don't pay the overdraft then they can close the account. After I gave him a handful of quarters and reduced my order to just the milkshake, he also mentioned the importance of paying my bills on time....REALLY?
Thankfully, the bank is just across the street from the McDonald's, so I promptly drove over there....after all, I had just looked at my account and I was not in overdraft, bills all paid and thankfully a decent amount in the account (yes, I know we're lucky and blessed to be able to say that). There was a weird charge for an Indian restaurant for 900+ dollars but then a credit for the same amount. I figured, Jason had lunch, they charged the wrong amount and promptly corrected it....I figured WRONG. The lady at the bank....after a chuckle at my story of the McDonald's clerk....called the visa people and was transferred to the fraud department...apparently, it wasn't on Jason's card that the 900 purchase was on, it was mine (not being an engineer, I rarely eat Indian food for lunch, so how could this be?)....apparently this was an Indian restaurant IN India. Our bank card has an awesome fraud department and they caught the activity right away, shut down my card and credited my account (Go Compass/BBVA bank -- don't mess with Basque bankers). Then the clerk said, "sorry I have to do this," and cut my card, I turned to look at the people in line behind me and said, "It's because someone got my number....not because I'm overdrawn" .... like they cared.
Moral of story, don't use my debit card for online purchases.
Not all calls from the bank are sales calls and maybe I should stop screening so much.
Jason sometimes eats lunch at places other then Indian restaurants.
10 comments:
One of our office credit cards was hijacked and we found out when the verification department called to ask if we were trying to book tickets to Australia.
No, we did NOT want to go to Australia. And the credit card company claimed they'd put a halt on the charge... but it came through anyway.
Then the nightmare started. We had to call the company through whom the reservations were placed, and they kept telling us "to modify the ticket order you MUST have your confirmation number!"
Uhm, we don't have the confirmation number because, get this: we didn't order the tickets.
After about eight calls to various areas, we managed to get someone with two functioning brain cells and got the charges reversed. Lunacy.
I'm glad you got your milkshake!
hahaha omg. I'm so sorry for you embarrassment, but this made for a great story!
Wow! Glad you got the card blocked right away, but to bad it resulted in an after-school-special type of lesson from the drive up guy. I bed he felt really proud of himself after that too, for helping someone understand the importance of financial responsibility!
How cool that it was caught. I'm also impressed that you were able to find enough cash for a milkshake, between my teen and my change loving 4 year old I NEVER have cash. :)
Good job they caught it!
A couple of years ago we found ourselves paying for someone else's phones - took months to get the cash back...
Crap. I use my debit on ebay and everywhere else. I quit using my credit card because then I would be tempted to not pay the whole balance....I figured with my debit, it was deducted immediately so I wouldn't over spend.
You are making me seriously reconsider my ways! Maybe I should charge it then come home and make a credit card payment in that amount...I will have to check with the bank to make sure they won't charge me for that :)
Oh, and wow. 900 bucks for lunch? That must be some amazing food!
I'm so glad they caught it right away and wasn't too much of a headache for you! Although, it could have been really tragic if you hadn't have gotten your milkshake! The really funny part for me is that my software engineer husband also eats Indian food for lunch often and then just comes home to tell me how great it is. (Okay, he has taken me out there a couple of times, too.) :)
Wow, well done to your bank for being onto it so quickly!
I hate it when my card gets declined, because usually it's because there isn't the money in my account which is especially embarrassing in the McDonalds Drivethrough - oops!
and then you drove back over to go through the mcDonalds line to tell the teenager the 1 more reason your credit card might be declined?
I totally would have gone back and told that guy.
This happened to us both ways--a mexican restaurant in town accidentally charged us $1000 and then refunded it; on the other hand, somebody in Hong Kong tried to charge $300 online and was declined. And I learned the same moral: now we have a credit card for online use and pay it each month. It was a hard lesson of a week living on cashmoney though. I missed my atm card.
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