Bloggingmyproclivities

Bloggingmyproclivities

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Credit card rage

I have been trying to contact my credit card provider to check on a purchase I made but I got some basic information wrong: my full name, date of birth, and my mother's maiden name. Apparently. Or one of these, they won't tell me which one and they won't let me guess again. 

The upshot is they won't help me as some of my details are incorrect. What? How can I possibly have got any of those wrong? On occasion I can be a bit dimwitted but this really takes the cake. 

I ranted. This did not help. (The chocolate I'm munching on and the wine I'm drinking is helping though.) 

The problem is I recently received a new credit card, with a slightly new a number, and a new PIN which I paid no attention to whatsoever as I never, ever use the PIN. Let's face it, if I can't remember such basic details as my name and D.O.B. how can I possibly remember another PIN?

My brain is already overloaded with these PINs or passwords:
  • One for my bank account
  • One for my mortgage loan
  • One for my other bank account
  • One for myproclivities.blogspot.com
  • One for my google account
  • One for my teacher registration
  • One for mobile phone account
  • One for ebay
  • One for a site where I get to use their photos for my blog (but only if I log on 1st)
  • One for logging onto the system at work
  • One for the photocopier at work
  • One for Facebook (even though I'm fairly anti-facebook & rarely use it)
  • One for each of the three email accounts I have (I know, three: excessive)
  • One for an online food ordering company (rhyming with Kite n' Breezy)
  • One for the library service (Probably the most important one as far as I'm concerned)
  • One for NaBloPoMo (I can't even get their web address correct unless I say it really slowly)
  • One for BlogHer (I always forget that one)
  • One for the internet dating site (I also have to remember my user name here)
  • One for the Meetup groups I belong to - I'd hate not to be able to go drinking with them
  • One for my internet provider
  • One for Paypal
  • One for my Citylink/Eastlink  account (A toll system that gets me into town more quickly)
  • My phone number and postcode (yeah, I'm just being silly now)
  • The PIN for a stamp company in the UK where I once bought my long suffering Pa a black penny stamp for his birthday
  • The PIN for my new you-beaut-GPS account so I can update my maps
And I'm sure there's more. 

I'm confused. In fact, once I actually tried to get money out at the ATM using my photocopy number. Needless to say it didn't work.

Anyway, my point is my brain is FULL, I cannot possibly remember another PIN so when I got my new credit card I didn't even look at the PIN. This was a mistake. To log on I need the PIN. Or I need to get some of my personal details correct.

I failed.
I got very annoyed.
I rang them and ranted.
It didn't help.

I went looking for another credit card provider. 
I found one: Virgin money. 
I started to apply.
They wanted to know my marital status.
I wanted to know why they needed to know my marital status.
How can it possibly make any difference to them?
So I asked them.
They couldn't tell me.

So I will look for ANOTHER credit card provider. Preferably one where I don't have to remember anything. (This is very, very annoying as I know my current credit card details off by heart.)

That sound you can hear? Yeah, that's me grinding my teeth.

Stella x

2 comments:

  1. I'm impressed you were able to list so many accounts! I have no idea how many accounts I have passwords for!

    A suggestion (you know me! ;) ) Pick a few (3 or 4 maybe) passwords/PINs and use them for everything. Then go back to all the accounts you already have, and change those to one of the 4 or 5 new ones. And don't make them similar like "stella1, stella2, stella 3" ;)

    Re the Credit Card: You could ring up your credit card company again and ask them to re-mail the PIN. They'll do that. There's no fraud potential there. They can re-send it to the address they have on file (unless you've moved recently!)

    Alternatively, is there someplace you can go in person re your current card? Because those phone people sound like morons :P

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    Replies
    1. I've thought of another since. I can still use the current card because I sign but because I cannot identify myself correctly I can't ring them up and ask them for anything. I will try again though.
      Good suggestions with the passwords.

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