We Missed A Step

Very nice of the bank to send me my new card before they deactivated my old one…oh wait…

Jeremy is once again a victim of credit card fraud, perpetrated by his bank.  

That's certainly one way of putting it.  I prefer to say it much more simply.  My bank is a jerk.  

So, unbeknownst to me, my bank had yet another potential security breach  involving a major home improvement chain, which shall remain nameless, but it is not the store we've named "High's Home Improvements," rather a competitor of theirs.  Upon finding out that my account information was possibly compromised, the bank went into preemptive action.  This is commendable, and it shows that my bank cares about me as their customer, and my account as their money.  They just went about these actions in a stupid way.  

They sent me a new debit card, linked to my account which needs to be activated over the phone...one of those deals where you spend 10 minutes out of your life typing 83 different numbers into your phone, praying the whole time that you don't fat-finger your keypad and have to start all over.  They also sent me a new PIN that I have to remember, so it's a lot like Password Day at work...and I'll now spend the next two months typing in the wrong PIN during transactions.  Finally, they deactivated my old card, so that nobody could use the number to access my money and buy a very mild amount of stuff with it.  All pretty standard fare, and, for better or worse, something that has happened to me three times in the last year.  I'm pretty familiar with the drill. 

The problem this time is that they didn't exactly tell me any of this was happening.  I learn all of this yesterday when I go to the ATM at work to attempt to be able to afford more than $1 worth of lunch.  The transaction was summarily rejected, telling me my card is invalid and to call the bank.  A remarkably creative string of four-letter words later, I'm on the phone with the bank, and they proceed to tell me all about the potential security breach and how my new card and PIN have been sent to me.  I ask why they didn't wait until I actually activated and/or received my new card before cancelling my old one, and the explanation is that all of the deactivations are done en masse, there's nothing they can do about it, and they're sorry for the inconvenience.  Fortunately, my new card showed up in the mail later that day, so I once again have access to my money.  

You want to know the funny part of this story?  As a matter of personal protection, I did quickly go to the bank's website to check my account for unauthorized activity.  There was none, which is good.  I then looked up my transactions with the aforementioned home improvement store...since it's one I rarely patronize in favor of "High's."  The net sum of my interactions with this store...$8.51.

Eight friggin dollars, and fifty one friggin cents.  

I hate you, major home improvement chain.  Bank....you're on my list, too.