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Friday, October 24, 2008

Warning: Political contributions to Democrats may put a security hold on your credit card
Posted by Jill | 8:45 PM
No, I am not joking. Tonight I got a message from Bigass Bank asking me to call to verify charges that had put a security hold on my credit card account. I called Bigass Bank back, and got an overly-friendly young man who was clearly in Bangalore congratulating me on my vigilance in ensuring the integrity of my account. When I told him to cut the crap and just tell me what the flagged charges were, he cited four charges: One was to Skype for a three-month subscription to the service's unlimited calls to 36 countries that I need for those 2:30 AM teleconferences with my team China, Australia and Korea. One was for Maggie's echocardiogram at the vet (her ticker is fine, thanks for asking -- what appeared to be a heart murmur is a high-pitched sound that is not uncommon when cats are stressed, LIKE WHEN YOU HAVE TO RUSH THEM TO THE EMERGENCY VET BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN GNAWING ON FRIGGIN' MOUSE BAIT, as we had to last summer). And then there were two charges for donations to "Obama for America" and "Franken for Senate."

Look, I'm all for vigilance on the part of the credit card companies to keep both their losses and my hassles to a minimum if my card number is stolen. Capital One does an especially job of striking a balance OK, I can buy that the Skype purchase might flag something. But a charge to "The Vet at the Barn"? I frankly think that Bigass Bank is flagging cards containing political contributions to Democrats for "security holds".

So there's only one thing I can do. Make donations this weekend to Darcy Burner, a progressive Democrat running for Congress in Washington state who really needs the money in these last days before the election and Scott Kleeb, who's running a close Senate race in Nebraska. And Dennis Shulman right here in my own Congressional district. And maybe I'll kick in another few bucks for Franken.

Let's see if they flag my card again.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: OK, now I want to know how many of you have experienced holds after making political donations to Democrats. Commenter Kiterea and Minstrel Boy have both had holds put on their accounts after making political donations. If this has happened to you, please describe your experience in the comments.

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6 Comments:
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...
i also have a big ass bank. i have been hitting the "liberal" give list.

guess what? same fucking stupid hold, same fucking stupid call.

although i think my guy was from calcutta.
10/24/08, 10:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Ive had awful problems at Chase, as I told you on the phone, Mrs Brill....and I think that some of it is due to the credit crunch, as if tightening up possible fraud or missing of a payment could fix the crisis.
For them to adjust 4 different rates and charge me suddenly all sorts of overage fees on lowered rates, only made me realize that Chase has been busy buying up all the smaller card companies, so Amazon card is really Chase etc...
And made me realize that I need to transfer round, pay off and cancel alot of these smaller cards so I cant be attacked when Im unaware.
the customer service woman during the week (the weekend one was unable to do anything) took all fees off, and apologized up and down. She said that I am an excellent customer and that Ive been paying alot and ontime for years...the thing is that I had an unexpected and big vet bill which I put on the card. I didnt know that Chase has stopped denying cards when youre at limit (on this card the limit was $500, because its some minor store card that they bought...I had no idea) so that they can charge a $39 overlimit fee....the thign was that even though I paid it down enough right away, they put the fee on and it pushed me over the limit and then again and again...so I had all of these fees and they were all due to their own fees putting me over.
Meantime, I tried a few other cards at a place that I know, just to see if they deny at the limit, and they DO!
So this is a bamboozle by Chase. Be happy to know that they are buying up all the rest of the little banks so they probably own all of your debt by now. And the influx of money...our money...from the government will allow them to stay afloat to lend another day.
This credit society has to be regulated on both sides because its become such a part of life to carry a balance. Im someone who pays as much as I can and trie hard to get out from under, but its usually the vet that gets me...today Spikes surgery to snip his little nippers off, and Sandy has renal failure...Lola's teeth last few weeks....I cant think of anything Id prefer to spend all my money on, but I feel like the lenders are now acting like the borrowers are criminals who need to be put down right away, and they suck you into fees that keep coming.

I think that the credit card industry needs to be regulated in that you shouldn't be given a credit card and a percentage off every time you check out at a store...and the cards should be denied when the limit is reached.

Oh, and yes Ive given political donations on these cards.
I suppose that they want to get as much as they can as fast as they can...but its predatory all around and it adds to the bankruptcy of many Americans.
How bout they relax the fees for a few months in return for us giving us all that fucking cash?!

Tired of this shit!
10/25/08, 12:08 AM  
Blogger Batocchio said...
!!!!!

Don't worry, they'll also make extra cash selling that information.
10/25/08, 12:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Ok, it's nice to know it's not just me! I have only the one "credit" card that my child support goes on. It is issued by a large bank and I can only use what's on it.Last month my son requested that the money from it that I normally spend on his personal needs be sent to the Obama campaign. So we made a donation in his name as he can't vote yet. Then when I tried to use the card to make my house payment (like I do every month) I was told there was a hold on it. I called and they said they just needed to confirm the charges? This is a Debit only,no fees or interest, can not use more than amount that is on it, card. At the time I thought it was a glitch, silly me!
10/25/08, 4:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Yes I didn't really pay much mind to it but a few months back when I donated to Obama, I got an alert and had to call the bank for verification before they would release my card.
10/25/08, 8:48 AM  
Blogger Porlock Junior said...
This is odd, because I too have a Big Ass Bank, a couple of them including Chase, and I've had holds and challenges, but *never* one associated with a political contribution, even the three large ones I've made in the past month. Maybe they cut slack for ActBlue? Doesn't seem very likely.

My experience with these holds, btw, is that they like to read off the last 4 or so transactions to see if you like them all, and it hasn't seemed to imply that all 4 are questionable. Seems to me they're being cagey sometimes about divulging where the problem is. So I'd hesitate to draw any conclusions without a careful look at all the things happening on the card at the time.

Like f'rinstance, the Skype thing for international calling might be just the sort of thing that a criminal in Russia wants to get and charge to somebody else; so the bank's computer gets upset, and the stupid and clumsy handling of this *possibility* will cause trouble for other actions.

Or maybe not. We don't know what's going on. We have a right to know, but we don't.

I am not defending these bastards, who have caused me lots and lots of problems. Like rejecting a trivial charge (e.g., 25 Australian dollars) because it's coming over the Internet from some obscure third-world country that knoweth not the Rule of Law -- like Australia, say, or England.
10/27/08, 11:38 PM  
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