Money Concerns

[Heng]

Heng, check your transactions on this card online, often. I had a BofA (Texas) credit card and found a USD 39 charge that sounded like a bank fee. Since my fees are waived, I was curious and did some checking into it via the internet. I found out that the USD 39 debit that sounded like a bank fee was actually related to online gambling. I don't gamble online or offline and nobody else had access to the card or PIN.

An extra shield is not having any accounts with "fairly good balances" exposed to my own ATM/debit card access.

The extra shield is the only way to go for accounts accessible by ATM/debit cards. However, in my case it was a credit card, and the unauthorized (and I believe, fraudulent) charge to the credit card was something I couldn't avoid. I strongly suspect someone from within the bank is making charges on credit cards for small, odd amounts, making it look like one-off bank fees. It is a huge retail bank with a very large amount of credit cards issued. Since the amounts are so small, if the charges are ever noticed, hardly anyone would ever make a big issue over it. I just wanted the card canceled and even this, while living out of the country, was difficult enough.

Scary sounding stuff, if true (as in, if your data or cc info wasn't mined some other way... or accessed anywhere else non-BOA side). Myself, I detest credit cards and only have one, an Amex. No issues with it ever.

[Old Man River]

Heng, check your transactions on this card online, often. I had a BofA (Texas) credit card and found a USD 39 charge that sounded like a bank fee. Since my fees are waived, I was curious and did some checking into it via the internet. I found out that the USD 39 debit that sounded like a bank fee was actually related to online gambling. I don't gamble online or offline and nobody else had access to the card or PIN.

An extra shield is not having any accounts with "fairly good balances" exposed to my own ATM/debit card access.

The extra shield is the only way to go for accounts accessible by ATM/debit cards. However, in my case it was a credit card, and the unauthorized (and I believe, fraudulent) charge to the credit card was something I couldn't avoid. I strongly suspect someone from within the bank is making charges on credit cards for small, odd amounts, making it look like one-off bank fees. It is a huge retail bank with a very large amount of credit cards issued. Since the amounts are so small, if the charges are ever noticed, hardly anyone would ever make a big issue over it. I just wanted the card canceled and even this, while living out of the country, was difficult enough.

Scary sounding stuff, if true (as in, if your data or cc info wasn't mined some other way... or accessed anywhere else non-BOA side). Myself, I detest credit cards and only have one, an Amex. No issues with it ever.

Oh, I am pretty sure it is true. It showed up on the on-line bank statement as a Security Protection fee and when I clicked on this item, it was linked directly to an online gambling site. In addition, my relative in Texas who went to the bank got the distinct impression that this wasn't the first they had heard about it. I would imagine the bank is trying to find the insider and will eventually get them.