I think the amount of money someone attempted to charge two months ago at a grocery store in Great Britain was something like 28 cents. It’s a small sum of money, almost paltry, unless you are playing the find-the-loose-change game with a young child.
But, that small amount drew the attention of the fraud detection department of my bank and that attention triggered an alert. And, that alert meant that my debit card had been breached and I’d need a new debit card. A new debit card means account updates and new authorizations aka a day and a half of phone calls, faxes and logins.
Ugh.
To be truthful, that’s not exactly what I said when I learned the account had been breached…again. I think this is the sixth or seventh time it’s happened in as many years.
The disheartening part of this tale is that I don’t do business with fly-by-night enterprises. I don’t just give out this credit card number willy-nilly. Another business didn’t safeguard my business data. I wonder if that unnamed business passed its last PCI compliance audit. Companies that accept credit cards must comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS).
Thanks guys.
That brings me to today’s tip. It isn’t sexy or remotely romantic. While due diligence when selecting business partners to purchase from online and in person is important, you should also have a monthly “date” with your account statements. Use the “date” to review your account balances and transactions for all of your accounts – banks, credit cards, money market, retirement and investment. Wouldn’t you rather find out – before your account balance is gone – that it’s time to request a new card?