Useful Links

cute fuzzy bunny · 11-02-2007, 07:17 PM

I dont think everyone has it, but my credit card and bank accounts do. Theres a 'notifications' section that lets you put in email alerts for large charges, when your bill is due, if your bill is overdue, if the minimum payment hasnt posted, etc.

One of my banks offers a pretty flexible setup. You can lay out all sorts of rules if a balance is over a certain amount and/or some other condition then email me. Nice. I had it set up to alert me if future bill payments exceeded the current account balance so I'd know when I needed to shoot more money into the account.

There was no charge for me for any of this on any account, but that may have been self fulfilling. I dont open accounts anywhere that has any sort of fees whatsoever. My experience has been that if there are plausible fees, that you'll be charged them. Even when the fees dont apply. Wells Fargo seems to find a way to tag my dads free checking with fees for stuff he didnt do every few months, just to make sure he's reading his statements.

Sandy · 11-02-2007, 07:41 PM

Last spring I had my debit card stolen when I used it at a restaurant. While identify theft was unlikely, I contacted the credit agency's and asked to restrict all promotional mailings and to notify me of any credit requests. Most mailings have gone away

. and since I didn't go anywhere asking for credit, no hassles on my end.

As for the stolen card, bank immediately caught and refunded mispent funds (they were the ones who notified me within 1-2 hours). Turns out it was an interstate ring, so the FBI got involved. The first defendent has gone down in federal court..facing 15 years

. I expect the rest of the co-sonspirators will plea....but that is another story.