Can You Refuse to Show ID with Visa Credit Card?

I received an interesting complaint from one of my readers. He currently has Chase Freedom Visa Card, Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express, Citi Diamond Rewards Card and Citi PremierPass Card. I think we can learn a lesson from his story. Here is the story:

I went to XXXXX (deleted by me) Buffet with some of my friends on May 3rd to eat. After our meal I went to the counter to pay and used my Chase Freedom Visa Card as payment. The cashier asked me to show ID to her and I kindly declined this request. I was then told that they were not going to be able to finish this transaction without my official government issued ID. I insisted that they should not see my ID because I have already signed on the back of the card and they can just check my signature. However, the owner of that restaurant was getting angry when I argued with him. Then he called the police and asked the police to arrest me for not paying for the dinner! I was fully embarrassed! I has 2 credit cards in my wallet at that time. After a while, one of my friends paid the money with his credit card along with his ID.

After reading his story, I looked up some visa card agreements and found out that it’s a violation of their credit card merchant agreements to ask for ID in order to complete a transaction. As it’s cleared stated in an official VISA statement: Stores can’t deny a transaction unless the credit card itself is unsigned.

Merchants may not refuse to honor a Visa card simply because the cardholder refuses a request for supplementary information. The only exception is when a Visa card is unsigned when presented. However, “See ID” is not considered a valid signature. In these situations, a merchant must obtain authorization, review additional identification, and require the cardholder to sign the card before completing a transaction.

To report any merchant practices that you feel are inappropriate, please notify the disputes area at the financial institution that issued your card account. Your card issuing bank has access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations as well as to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms which should be used by your bank to document and file merchant complaints.

As an alternative, you may contact the Global Customer Care Services to report merchant practices that you feel are inappropriate. Please contact the Global Customer Care Services at 1-800-VISA-911 (1-800-847-2911). Please advise them that you were referred to file a complaint. The staff will be able to initiate a complaint form over the phone.

Next time, when you was requested to present your photo ID with your visa card purchases, you can just deny it. You’re officially protected by the visa!

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Get Overdraft Fees Back from Bank of America by Writing to Their CEO

Bank of America used to be the largest bank by assets and second largest commercial bank by deposits before the acquisition of WaMu by JP Morgan chase & Co. Bank of America’s most popular banking products may be the MyAccess Checking Account and the Keep the Change program. However, there are a lot of complaints about the terrible overdraft fees. Here I will tell you the most useful method to get the overdraft fees back from Bank of America.

Why the overdraft fees are so terrible?

First, what’s “an overdraft fee”? An overdraft item fee occurs whenever funds must be provided to cover a transaction that overdraws the account. Believe it or not, overdraft fees have increasingly become a source of profits. Banks and credit unions collect about $17.5 billion in overdraft fees per year. As reported by USA Today:

In 2007, Wachovia put in place a tool that tells employees how much they can refund to customers hit by overdraft fees. The bank, in memos, also tells employees to “sell” a debit card with every account because it makes money when consumers use it.

Bank of America raised the fee charged on the first day a customer overdraws to $25 from $20. BOA also raised the number of times a customer can be hit with this fee per day to seven from five. It’s really terrible. Furthermore, the next following days after the first day, the fee is $35.00 for each item. A customer can easily get up to $500 fees just for the overdraft. And it’s vry common to pay $100 over draft fees for just 2 or 3 cups of coffee!

It’s common to go to your local BOA branches to complain the over draft fees if it really happens to you. Or you may call BOA up to appeal. However, most of the employees are trained to give you a samll portion or even nothing to you. So there must be other ways to get the money back.

After a little search on the web, I realized that the most effective way to get the over draft fees back is to write to their CEO!

This has been confirmed to be successful for many victims of BOA’s over draft fees. The CEO of Bank of America’s address is:

Mr. Kenneth D. Lewis
100 N. Tryon Street.
Mail Code NC-1-007-18-01
Charlotte, NC 28255

In the letter to the CEO, all you have to do is to state the reason why you have so many over draft fees and tell him that as a loyal BOA’s customer, you hope he can help you!

And there are other methods to reach BOA’s executive customer relations.

Executive Customer Relations general line: 704-386-5687

Nancy M. Condos
VP/ Customer Advocate
Executive Customer Relations
Office of the Chairman
nancy.m.condos@bankofamerica.com

Martha Dominguez, Executive Customer Relations Specialist: 714-792-4264

Corporate Headquarters (Bank of America):
Bank of America Corporate Center
100 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, North Carolina 28255

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Cancel Citi Credit Protector

Most of Citi credit card members enrolled in the Citi Credit Protector Program. But it seems there are few people forget to cancel the Citi Credit Protector after receiving the promotion bonus. (Free Digital Picture Frame and $50 Visa Gift Card) Of course, the “few people” include myself. This post is to remind you to cancel the Citi Credit Protector because whenever there is a balance on your monthly statement, you can to pay $85 cents per $100 balance.

I enrolled in the Citi Credit Protector program early last November (for my Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard for College Students). And then I didn’t use that card for a while until recently I used that card to buy a round trip flight ticket. After the statement came out, I realized that there is a fee charged by the Citi Credit Protector. Thus I called them up and requested to cancel the service. After about several minutes, I was able to convince the customer service to cancel my Citi Credit Protector program.

The hot line for the Citi Credit Protector is 1-888-592-7344. This is a special line for Citi Credit Protector, if you call them through this number it will get you faster connection. Of course, you can use general Citi customer service number 800-347-4934 and them will transfer you to the Citi Credit Protector Program.

Just as any service cancellation process, the customer service representative will try to persuade you to stay in the program. The first time will just be a reiteration of program benefits, and make sure you aware of your benefits. Later on she/he will offer some small money of maybe lower your rate to try to keep you in the program. The cancellation process will be very simple if you insist to cancel your Citi Credit Protector Program (No, thank you!). And you have good reason to do so because in the agreement it clearly indicates that you can cancel Citi Credit Protector at any time for any reason.

You can cancel at any time simply by calling 1-888-592-7344 or in writing to Credit Protector Processing Center, at P.O. Box 901016, Fort Worth, TX 76101-2016. We may cancel your enrollment for any reason, but we will provide you with at least 30 days written notice of cancellation (except for cancellations based on account status).

Remember, whenever there is a balance shows up on your month statement you will be charged a fee of 85 cents for every $100 balance.

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4 Things to Look for in a Prepaid Card

This is a guest post from Tom.

Tom Tessin runs a getting out of debt blog, as well as a prepaid credit cards list based site. Feel free to subscribe to his RSS feed at http://www.findsecuredcards.com/blog/rss.
If you’re like me, and you like to control your budget, I wanted to show you why you should consider a prepaid credit card for your wallet. If you’re into rewards, and capitalizing on credit cards, then this might not be the type of card for you. Honestly, it’s built for those that want to either get out of debt, or know how much they are spending each, and every month.


What is a prepaid credit card?

A prepaid credit card will remind you a lot like a gift card. You’ll tie your bank account up with your card, and every time you want to load your card, you will log into your account, and send money to your card. The cool thing about most cards is that you’re able to set up daily, weekly, or monthly instant transactions, so that it automatically loads your card.


4 things you should look for in a prepaid card

The fees: A lot of these prepaid cards have fees. NEVER get one in a grocery store, or place like CVS. They rip you off in fees alone. Instead, look for a card online that allows you to bypass the fees. Most will make you link your bank account, in order to bypass the fees.

Major logo: Every card should have a major logo that you apply for. Since you want it to be credible, you’ll want to make sure it comes from an issuer such as Visa, MasterCard, etc. It never hurts to do a little research on the bank as well.

Get rewards: Yes, you can get rewards with your prepaid card! Some banks will give you interest on your deposit, while others will give you points for every dollar spent. It you can capitalize on the rewards, and then you’ll really make out.

Review it: The last thing that you’ll want to do is review the card online. How do you do this? Just Google the name, and see what other people think. By doing this, you’ll get a fairly good vibe on how the card is. If you get a bad vibe, find another, since there are so many on the market.

This is really all there’s to it in finding a card. Get a card with no fees, rewards, and from a legitimate bank, and you’ll be all set.

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Citi mtvU and Citi Forward Card Special Holiday Promotion

Citi has two great student cards: the Citi mtvU Platinum Select Card and Citi Forward Card. If you are a college student, I strongly recommend you to apply for one of them. You will find out how much you can save for using the Citi mtvU Platinum Select Card and Citi Forward Card for your everyday uses. Now Citi is running a special holiday promotion for both of the Citi mtvU card and the Citi Forward Card. You can earn more bonus thankyou points during this promotion period.


The promotion link is here.

For the Citi mtvU Platinum Select Card you can earn bonus thankyou points for $25 gift card:

* Earn 1200 bonus points each of the first 3 billing periods your account is open when you pay on time and stay under your credit line
* Earn up to 2,000 reward points twice a year for having a good GPA
* Earn 25 points each billing period when you pay on time and stay under your credit line
* Earn 5 reward points for every dollar you spend on dining, books, music and movies, plus 1 point for any other spend
* Enjoy a 10% discount on music and entertainment products at shop.mtv.com

For the Citi Forward Card you can earn bonus thankyou points for $75 gift card:

* Earn 1200 bonus points each of the first 3 billing periods your account is open when you pay on time and stay under your credit line
* Earn up to 8,500 bonus points after you make $250 in purchases and sign up for Paperless Statements within 3 months of opening your account
* Get a .25% Purchase APR reduction when you make a purchase, stay under your credit line and pay on time 3 billing periods in a row
* Earn 100 points each billing period when you pay on time and stay under your credit line
* Earn 5 reward points for every dollar you spend on dining, books, music and movies, and 1 point for any other spend

You can also get 0% APR on purchases for 6 months, if you qualify, based on your application and credit history. Both of them have $0 annual fees. Enjoy it!

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UP to $350 Bonus from Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express

This is a hot offer from American Express. If you have a good credit history and credit score, I would suggest you give it a try. The Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express is offering up to 35,000 bonus miles for new customers. Plus you can earn 1 miles for every $1 spent with this credit card. This credit card offers 35,000 skymiles for a long time. But you can only redeem them for airline ticket before. Now Delta starts to provide some gift cards for redemption at SkyMiles rewards program. So instead of getting free airline tickets, now you are able to get up to $350 free gift cards!!!

The application page of this credit card is at: https://www201.americanexpress.com/cards/Applyfservlet?csi=24/34268/b/293


The offer details are:

* 25,000 bonus miles with your first purchase.
* 10,000 additional bonus miles after you make $1,000 in purchases within your first 3 months of becoming a Cardmember.
* No annual fee for the first year, a savings of $95.
* One mile for every eligible dollar spent.
* Earn two miles for every eligible dollar you spend on qualifying Delta Air Lines and Delta Vacations purchases.

So after spending $1000 in 3 months, you are eligible to get 35,000 bonus miles.

Now you can go to Delta website to redeem those miles for gift cards (link):

Some featured merchants are:

Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Old Navy, Lands’ End, Gap, Bloomingdale’s, Banana Republic, Barnes & Noble ……etc

Good Deal!!!

BTW: the platinum version of this Delta SkyMiles Credit Card is offeirng 15,000 bonus miles.

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Insurance Claims

When you are involved in an accident insurance claims may not be the first thoughts on your mind. However, there are some procedures you should follow in order to preserve your right to file an insurance claim. This may be anything from hail damage to a stolen vehicle and does not refer solely to car accidents.


The first thing you want to do is prevention. Most insurance claims can be prevented even before the incident occurs. For instance, to prevent auto accident’s be cautious and think about taking a defensive driving course. To prevent stolen vehicle insurance claims, keep you vehicle locked up and parked in a secure place. To prevent damage from the forces of nature do not travel in bad weather and keep your car in a covered parkway. There are many ways to prevent yourself from incurring loss. Most ideas are just common sense. However, for more information contact your insurance agent for ideas on prevention. Next, you will want to remain calm. When disaster strikes people react. That is our nature. However, sometimes people’s reactions can make things worse on their insurance claims.

If you’re in a car accident this might mean taking the blame, leaving the scene of an accident, or putting your self in danger. If you’re car is stolen you may act on your reaction by accusing innocent persons. There are a number of problems that can arise when people over react that is why it is essential to your insurance claim for you to remain calm.

Now, the next thing you need to be aware of is time. You see, time is not on your side when filing an insurance claim. The longer you wait the less your chances are of recovering your loss. Most insurance companies will not even consider a claim if it was turned in a certain amount of time after the incident. It is also harder to prove the longer you go before submitting an insurance claim.

Finally, you will want to follow procedures and document everything. Insurance companies are hit with frauds all the time. In order to weed out the actual claims from the fraudulent ones, they have to have clear cut procedures. Unfortunately, this can sometimes be confusing to actual victims. Yet, they are in place out of the need to protect the company. This means that you will have to educate yourself to what the policies are. Find out what documentation you need and what forms you will have to file. If you need help, contact your insurance agent. That is what they are there for. If you follow this advice, you should be able to file a claim relatively easy and with the least amount of lag time before payment


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