Costco AMEX Replacement Card

[misanman]

I have had no issues registering and using the new Costo Citi Visa but was interested to see that the card has an RFID symbol on the back. This would indicate that it can be used to tap & pay at certain terminals, instead of swiping or inserting the card.

The info that Costco published for the card highlights "EMV chip and tap-and-go payment".

 

[Midpack]

We have had no problems using the new Citi card. However when DW linked her account to mine, she can no longer see any transactions made using my card, only hers. The website will not let her unlink. She wants it to 'appear just like AmEx', as a store rep described to me.

Our Costco AmEx behaved that way - DW was primary, so she saw both our purchases while my login just saw my purchases. The Citi Costco Visa appears be be setup the same way.

Simple solution: I just log into "her" account. NBD.

I suggested that, but she said that's not a solution Having to tread a little lightly, but thanks.

And that's no excuse for waiting on line for hours over several days with no help whatsoever.

 

[Done]

The info that Costco published for the card highlights "EMV chip and tap-and-go payment".

Thanks. Can I ask where you saw this? I'd like to point it out to the second Citi rep who denies the card has this capability.

 

[misanman]

Can I ask where you saw this? I'd like to point it out to the second Citi rep who denies the card has this capability.

Costco sends us a magazine called The Cosco Connection. It's on page 36 of the July edition, under "Additional Benefits". Hope this helps.

 

[audreyh1]

Costco connection online. This hopefully will display page 36.
The Costco Connection - July 2016

 

[Another Reader]

Is there any way to disable this feature, given the chance of theft and misuse? This could be much more lucrative to the thieves than the "card not present" transactions.

 

[Done]

Is there any way to disable this feature, given the chance of theft and misuse? This could be much more lucrative to the thieves than the "card not present" transactions.

The new cards use RFID (NFC) technology with the EMV chip so they are supposedly more secure than the older RFID cards. Even for contactless transactions, the chip generates a unique code for each use.
Alliance Activities : Publications : EMV and NFC: Complementary Technologies Enabling Secure Contactless Payments » Smart Card Alliance

Visa also has a zero liability policy where you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges.

Despite this, you can still choose to use an RF-shielding sleeve or wallet for the card. For the ultimate security, there are online instructions for cutting or hole-punching the card to sever the antenna.

 

[audreyh1]

OK - Got my new Fidelity VISA!!!

Darn - old style card. Raised numbers and ugly green color. Well, the green was expected.

 

[REWahoo]

OK, who had July 1 in the Audrey Costco CC pool?

 

[splitwdw]

Thanks. Can I ask where you saw this? I'd like to point it out to the second Citi rep who denies the card has this capability.

I tried using the "tap and go" feature at Ulta and didn't work. Wonder where you can use it.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I used my new Citi card yesterday to buy gas at Costco. DW could not see all transactions (see above) so I logged in. I saw my gas purchase and a separate $1 gas purchase. This suggested that my account had been hacked:
1) scammers are said to test the waters with a small charge then go wild.
2) It was at a gas pump (albeit Costco's) notorious for skimming cards.
I immediately called Citi to investigate. The agent could not explain the charge and I cancelled both cards. The agent said we could get temp cards (only membership cards, it seems) at Costco--and I did.
However, the manager at Costco told me that the $1 charge was Citi's way of testing the first charge on a new card, while Amex simply put a hold on the purchase until it cleared (if I understood correctly).
SO, it seems my cancellation was pointless. Why the Citi agent did not tell me this angers us.
I called Citi to see if I could reverse the deactivation and was told, no. And Citi now blamed Costco for the charge.
This did not happen when we got our Costco Amex card, so I believe Costco and not Citi.
Boo Citi.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[audreyh1]

OK, who had July 1 in the Audrey Costco CC pool?

Wrong pool. This was the Fidelity VISA which conversation glommed onto this Costco Amex thread.

 

[REWahoo]

No wonder I lost...

 

[audreyh1]

I used my new Citi card yesterday to buy gas at Costco. DW could not see all transactions (see above) so I logged in. I saw my gas purchase and a separate $1 gas purchase. This suggested that my account had been hacked:
1) scammers are said to test the waters with a small charge then go wild.
2) It was at a gas pump (albeit Costco's) notorious for skimming cards.
I immediately called Citi to investigate. The agent could not explain the charge and I cancelled both cards. The agent said we could get temp cards (only membership cards, it seems) at Costco--and I did.
However, the manager at Costco told me that the $1 charge was Citi's way of testing the first charge on a new card, while Amex simply put a hold on the purchase until it cleared (if I understood correctly).
SO, it seems my cancellation was pointless. Why the Citi agent did not tell me this angers us.
I called Citi to see if I could reverse the deactivation and was told, no. And Citi now blamed Costco for the charge.
This did not happen when we got our Costco Amex card, so I believe Costco and not Citi.
Boo Citi.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

Too bad. Unfortunately, CSRs are not always well informed.

I usually don't worry about pending test charges if it's from a vendor I did business with that day. Some other vendor - yes.

With credit card fraud you have time to figure it out. With credit cards you aren't on the hook for anything. Unlike when someone manages to access your debit card or bank account where you are on the hook until shown otherwise.

 

[nwsteve]

OK - Got my new Fidelity VISA!!!

Darn - old style card. Raised numbers and ugly green color. Well, the green was expected.

You got your card and I got my first bill in the mail a couple days ago. Looks like they picked up the AMEX billing cycle
Nwsteve

 

[cathy63]

I used my new Citi card yesterday to buy gas at Costco. DW could not see all transactions (see above) so I logged in. I saw my gas purchase and a separate $1 gas purchase. This suggested that my account had been hacked:
1) scammers are said to test the waters with a small charge then go wild.
2) It was at a gas pump (albeit Costco's) notorious for skimming cards.
I immediately called Citi to investigate. The agent could not explain the charge and I cancelled both cards. The agent said we could get temp cards (only membership cards, it seems) at Costco--and I did.
However, the manager at Costco told me that the $1 charge was Citi's way of testing the first charge on a new card, while Amex simply put a hold on the purchase until it cleared (if I understood correctly).
SO, it seems my cancellation was pointless. Why the Citi agent did not tell me this angers us.
I called Citi to see if I could reverse the deactivation and was told, no. And Citi now blamed Costco for the charge.
This did not happen when we got our Costco Amex card, so I believe Costco and not Citi.
Boo Citi.

[The following got long, but it is based on my experience developing software to process credit card charges. It's been about 10 years since I worked in this area, so it's possible things have changed a bit, but I don't think they've changed significantly.]

You jumped the gun by cancelling your cards. A $1 pending charge that occurs at the same time and from the same vendor as a known charge is not a scammer. That is an authorization transaction to verify the card is valid. It's very common for a business like a gas station, where they don't know how much you'll actually spend, to do a $1 auth and then do a separate auth/capture for the actual amount once it's known. The $1 transaction stays as pending and eventually times out. How long it lasts varies by the card issuer, but it's generally less than a week.

Most businesses know how much you're charging when they run the card, so there's no separate auth transaction. They simply do an auth/capture and don't hand over the merchandise until they've received a verification from the payment processor.

Some vendors, such as hotels, will do an auth for a large amount when you check in (this is often called a hold and your credit limit is reduced by the amount they authorize), then when you check out they do a capture against the previous hold without doing another auth transaction first.

If your card is stolen by a skimmer, thieves won't need to bother with doing a small charge first. They'll go straight to the big item because they already know the card is valid -- after all, you just used it successfully at the gas pump where they skimmed it. The thieves who do the small charge to validate a card are the ones who hacked into some merchant or some bank and stole a huge file of credit card numbers and now they need to see which ones are still valid. These aren't usually the $1 charges though. They'll be about $5-ish and they'll be for some online merchant you don't do business with or for some charitable donation through their website.

The difference between Citi and Amex is that Citi is showing you the pending authorizations online. I also noticed a $1 auth from Costco Gas this week, although that wasn't the first use of my card. I assume they also auth'ed the Amex cards when we had those, but Amex just didn't display those on their website.

While it would be nice if Citi agents were all trained in the difference between auth, capture, and settlement transactions and could explain that clearly, I think you might be expecting too much from the average call center agent. (I also worked on call center software before the credit card processing software, and had the opportunity to interact with many of these agents. While some were very capable, the majority were not.) If you still want a Costco card, you should be able to reapply and get a new one since you have a good credit record on the previous Amex.

 

[audreyh1]

I hope he didn't really mean he had the cards cancelled, but rather reissued - new card number, etc. That's the normal procedure when a credit card has been compromised - replacements with a new number and CVC are sent out.

Deactivation, cancelled - hmm I guess he did close the Citi account?

 

[UpAnchor]

OK - Got my new Fidelity VISA!!!

Darn - old style card. Raised numbers and ugly green color. Well, the green was expected.

Good news to me. I liked the ugly green color. Which could explain why DW prefers going to the paint store unaccompanied...

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Too bad. Unfortunately, CSRs are not always well informed.

I usually don't worry about pending test charges if it's from a vendor I did business with that day. Some other vendor - yes.

With credit card fraud you have time to figure it out. With credit cards you aren't on the hook for anything. Unlike when someone manages to access your debit card or bank account where you are on the hook until shown otherwise.

I try to keep on top of my stuff. How long does it take before the scammers take a big swing?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[audreyh1]

I try to keep on top of my stuff. How long does it take before the scammers take a big swing?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

If any test charge is from some company that I have not done business with on the day of the charge, then I report it.

Otherwise - I wait a few days to see if the small pending test charge goes away. I may not even worry about it as long as it is pending.

If a small test charge is from a company I regularly do business with, I may delay in reporting but wait see what is happening or even check with that company before reporting it. Usually you can see exactly which store the charge was from - so you know if it's the one you use or some other store.

I have some European hotel companies put a hold on my card because of a hotel reservation I made. Those stay pending and eventually disappear after maybe a month. I've occasionally seen $1 test charges from US companies - say when I have set up a credit card for monthly autopay on an account, for example. That's how they verify the card information you gave them is valid. Those test charges usually go away within three days or so - basically the time it takes a pending charge to convert to a posted transaction.

You don't have to worry about the consequences of scammers taking a big swing on your credit card as long as you detect and dispute it. If you detect a charge from some other business than you used any given day, you simply report it. The credit card company will take if off your charges while they investigate. You aren't going to be responsible for it even if it has posted.

If it is clear that someone has compromised your card, then the credit card company will issue you a new replacement card with a new number, and no accept charges using the old number.

I have lots of alerts set up to notify me of card not present transactions, foreign transactions, transactions over $xxx. So I'm going to find out immediately if a large charge is made without my authorization.

BTW - my occasional large $$ fraudulent charge on my credit card was never preceded by a $1 or low $ test. They just outright charged $800 or $1600 or whatever.

 

[mpeirce]

Otherwise - I wait a few days to see if the small pending test charge goes away. I may not even worry about it as long as it is pending.

This is pretty standard. Mint.com shows this in their Transactions area. I currently have 10 "pending" transactions.

Occasionally a pending transaction will stick around, but they normally either go away or are converted to a real charge in a couple of days.

 

[audreyh1]

This article explains a bit more about preauthorization charges on credit cards. I do not agree with the title, as if I saw such a charge from a company or location I did not do business with, I would be concerned and probably call the credit card company about it.

Sounds like the credit card company should be able to tell you if it was a preauthorization. Quality of CSRs vary widely though. I often try to directly access the fraud department - they are usually better trained and can usually tell you a lot more about any questionable charge. In fact - I keep the phone numbers for the fraud departments of each of my credit card issuers in my phone.

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/why-you-can-ignore-those-odd-1-credit-card-charges/?_r=0 Read the comments too - the article alone is quite shallow.

Better - https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/worry-random-1-charges-credit-card/

http://classroom.synonym.com/gas-station-charge-1-credit-card-11845.html

 

[calmloki]

REGARDING NEW FIDELITY:

We had both the Visa and the Amex version. The new Fidelity Elan 2% Visa replaced the Amex, so I saw no reason to keep the old 1.5% version Visa. When I called in to cancel it (we have plenty of card accounts) I asked for the credit limit to be added to the Elan Visa so my total credit available didn't go down, changing the ratio of debt/credit limit. Was told they couldn't do that, as the issuing companies are different. Our old 1.5% Visa has a crazy $40,000 credit limit; losing that much credit could affect our ratio of debt/CL and thus credit score. I kept the old Visa, didn't cancel - another card for sock drawer storage.

 

[audreyh1]

REGARDING NEW FIDELITY:

We had both the Visa and the Amex version. The new Fidelity Elan 2% Visa replaced the Amex, so I saw no reason to keep the old 1.5% version Visa. When I called in to cancel it (we have plenty of card accounts) I asked for the credit limit to be added to the Elan Visa so my total credit available didn't go down, changing the ratio of debt/credit limit. Was told they couldn't do that, as the issuing companies are different. Our old 1.5% Visa has a crazy $40,000 credit limit; losing that much credit could affect our ratio of debt/CL and thus credit score. I kept the old Visa, didn't cancel - another card for sock drawer storage.

You might still get them to change ("update") the 1.5% card it to a 2% VISA. Some folks over at flyertalk have reported success with this approach. See post #163 and some others in that time frame. Fidelity 2% cash back VISA $100/$1k (New card & issuer Jan 4, 2016) - Page 11 - FlyerTalk Forums

And remember - CC CSRs - it may be worth calling multiple times. Someone else may know more and be able to help you.

 

[38Chevy454]

Re: the RFID Costco Visa. At my Costco the card still has to be slid through the reader. The card terminals do not do the chip read. However when picking up a prescription (for my dog, cheaper there than other pharmacy locations) the person told me they will be getting the RFID readers sometime in future. So besides the info they have that capability, this is another data point that Costco itself will use the RFID technology.

BTW, I did the online reg when the cards were received prior to the 20th. All went well then, and once the transition date came around the card has been working fine at numerous locations such as gas station (not Costco gas), grocery store, restaurant, etc.