Virgin CC suspended

I have against today had my Virgin CC suspended because of the type of usage was considered to be possibly fraudulent.

I understand why they do this sometimes when there is odd purchases but as I travel a great deal and make purchases on the internet very often I can never work out what triggers this.

Has anyone else found the Virgin CC does this any more often than other companies of if it is possible to change the status of your card to stop thos happening.

Rant over for the moment

I've had this problem with other cards, but never with Virgin. I use mine for both personal and business purchases, and my spend can yo-yo a fair bit (£1K one month, £14K the next on occasion) and certainly no problems with internet shopping for xmas.

[HighFlyer]

I had this a few times before (apparently, charging almost 1k from Jimmy Choo in a single transaction was considered fraudulent, as was 'unusually high account activity in MCO' LOL)

If i am going away, i call MBNA to tell them the destination and period, so they know in advance that im likely to be racking up the expenditure. I can only recommend doing the same. Its a pain in the bum but now they call me *before* cancelling activity on my card.

I had one of my CC's suspended whilst on holiday in Florida as I had made more than 8 (or may have been 10) purchases in a day. They stated that this was just there rules to protect themselves, so had to use another card and felt pretty damn stupid!

My nice and deliberatly paid off American express card was stopped because I used it in erm AMERICA, for my holidays. Once I got home it worked fine, duh.

Just to put the other side, I had my VS CC cloned when in southafrica last week. Like Highflyer, I had told them in advance that I was going there. MBNA spotted the unusual activity and raised me on my mobile instantly. The card was stopped, and they contacted Sentinal (Who I am a member of) and stopped my other cards as well. Even with this prompt action the thieves had got away with £2k or so. Nevertheless, I put the way they dealt with the problem down to really good service.

I know it is a right royal pain in the bum. But the sad truth is that card fraud is a huge problem, and 9 time out of 10 it will be done in another country to that which the card holder is resident in. Ringing and telling them you are going away is very much worth it, pain that it is. But when push comes to shove, and you get your credit card or credit identity stolen, you will be glad that the credit card companies are watching.

I spent 13 grand on a car using the CC (I knew the salesman and he waived the fee) to get the miles and that threw a wobbler. One call to explain what I was up to and voila...26k miles!

Regards

John

I bought a car for my mum a couple of years back £8.5k and the salesman managed to charge the card twice so £17k on the VSCC bill. That amount exceeded the cards credit limit by £500, the delightful people at MBNA then charged me for the card being over maxed.I did point out the second transaction should have been declined as it exceeded the cards limit.I did get everything back on the third call when I got through to someone who was not a total T***:D

Originally posted by HighFlyer
I had this a few times before (apparently, charging almost 1k from Jimmy Choo in a single transaction was considered fraudulent, as was 'unusually high account activity in MCO' LOL)

If i am going away, i call MBNA to tell them the destination and period, so they know in advance that im likely to be racking up the expenditure. I can only recommend doing the same. Its a pain in the bum but now they call me *before* cancelling activity on my card.

So YOU are at fault for my wife going into that damned shop in the Mall at Millennia are you!

[HighFlyer]

So YOU are at fault for my wife going into that damned shop in the Mall at Millennia are you!

Me?? Lil old innocent me?? Not at all [:I] I LOVE Mall at Milenia, managed to spend an entire day in there once ... well, until the damn CC got suspended, which i think was a blessing in disguise!

I actually charged my entire Great Escapade to my CC, netted a nice healthy amount of miles during those few months - although when the five figure bills started dropping through the door i had to pick myself up from the floor [:0]

Originally posted by Nevil30
I had one of my CC's suspended whilst on holiday in Florida as I had made more than 8 (or may have been 10) purchases in a day. They stated that this was just there rules to protect themselves, so had to use another card and felt pretty damn stupid!

I know this is off the wall - but why don't they just try and contact you in these circumstances to verify it's bona fide??? This time last year, 3 spurious amounts appeared on hubby's card - totalling around 6k, the transactions had taken place all in one day and to one trader.... there was no problem with Virgin placing the items into suspense, for which we were very glad - but couldn't see why the purchases hadn't been questioned at the time.

I can only speak personally, but I'd be more than happy to receive a call to verify a transaction that looked out of pattern - and surely it'd save them one heck of a lot of money anyway????

Originally posted by catsilversword
I know this is off the wall - but why don't they just try and contact you in these circumstances to verify it's bona fide??? This time last year, 3 spurious amounts appeared on hubby's card - totalling around 6k, the transactions had taken place all in one day and to one trader.... there was no problem with Virgin placing the items into suspense, for which we were very glad - but couldn't see why the purchases hadn't been questioned at the time.

I can only speak personally, but I'd be more than happy to receive a call to verify a transaction that looked out of pattern - and surely it'd save them one heck of a lot of money anyway????

Because 9 times out of 10, these transactions take place when
you're on holiday or otherwise out of the country. That's often
why they appear suspicious in the first place. In these cases,
they have no way of contacting you unless you happen to have a
mobile number which works in the country where you are and
the credit card people happen to know it. Anyway, who carries
a mobile with them every day on holiday?

Chris

[HighFlyer]

Anyway, who carries
a mobile with them every day on holiday?

Errr ... [:I] Me?

can only speak personally, but I'd be more than happy to receive a call to verify a transaction that looked out of pattern - and surely it'd save them one heck of a lot of money anyway????

Cat - As i mention in my other post, MBNA kind of do this with me now. Ive had about 5 calls in the past 18 months or so where they have queried my purchases BEFORE taking any action. THe calls dont come whilst im in the store (that would be almost too difficult to coordinate for the large customer base they have), but the calls have always been on the day of the spending activity.

They know my account history and how my spending can be erratic. Like mdvipond, ive had some months with bills £10k. As far as i know, they do try and contact me before taking any action, but if you happen to be unreachable at the time the query is pulled, for both parties sake i guess the easiest thing for them to do is put a stop on the card activity.

If they are not doing this, call MBNA and speak to someone senior. Give them your mobile number and ask them to put a note on your account specifying to call you in the event of any spurious activity.

Originally posted by HighFlyer

Anyway, who carries
a mobile with them every day on holiday?

Errr ... [:I] Me?

Fair enough, I concede - but I bet you don't have one when you're
by the pool.

can only speak personally, but I'd be more than happy to receive a call to verify a transaction that looked out of pattern - and surely it'd save them one heck of a lot of money anyway????

Cat - As i mention in my other post, MBNA kind of do this with me now. Ive had about 5 calls in the past 18 months or so where they have queried my purchases BEFORE taking any action. THe calls dont come whilst im in the store (that would be almost too difficult to coordinate for the large customer base they have), but the calls have always been on the day of the spending activity.

They know my account history and how my spending can be erratic. Like mdvipond, ive had some months with bills £10k. As far as i know, they do try and contact me before taking any action, but if you happen to be unreachable at the time the query is pulled, for both parties sake i guess the easiest thing for them to do is put a stop on the card activity.

If they are not doing this, call MBNA and speak to someone senior. Give them your mobile number and ask them to put a note on your account specifying to call you in the event of any spurious activity.
[/quote]

I travel a lot, to lots of different places (at least 12
countries in the last 2-3 years) and haven't had
anything queried in over 5 years. My card was bounced in a
supermarket in US once but that's the only one I can recall.
A call to MBNA sorted it out but they couldn't explain why
they'd rejected the transaction.

Maybe they know I travel a lot? Don't know.

Does make me wonder what they would class as a dodgy transaction
on my account though. Perhaps I should have a word with them...

Chris

I've had the HSBC phone me up to ask if the last 5 transactions on my card were bona fide due to the fact some were in Las Vegas etc......never had any other problems, but then again only used credit cards 3-4 times a day max.
Still nice to know when they do pay attention to random purchases being made, if not always in your best interests.