Questions you want answered.

BadKen wrote:

Permit me to spin a little tale...

This morning I woke up to two text messages from Chase asking me to verify a couple of charges for $119.99. Unless I had been shopping online in my sleep, I had not made these charges. I contacted the biller, who told me that someone in my city with an email I didn't recognize had used the card to subscribe to Brazzers, a porn site for which they did billing. So then I called Chase, and they told me about a third charge that had happened while I had been investigating all this: a $100 payment to some online charity website. So I got the card reissued, all the charges had been declined so I hadn't lost any money, and everything was kosher.

Then I started thinking about it... I don't use this card very much. I have had it for a while, though, and I know that the online trade in credit card numbers is quite robust, and that they can come from compromises pretty much anywhere. But the fact that it was a local charge combined with the fact that I had used the card yesterday at a local Wendy's that uses a card processing system I've never seen elsewhere, makes me wonder if that Wendy's is skimming credit card numbers.

Am I being paranoid? If I wanted to act on my suspicion, what might I do next?

Call the non-emergency line for the local police and file a police report. You could also contact the manager for that Wendy's, but there's a chance they're behind the skimming and could destroy any evidence.

BadKen wrote:

Am I being paranoid? If I wanted to act on my suspicion, what might I do next?

1: Stop going to that particular Wendys.

2: Accept that "Wendy's" ain't gonna be skimming your card, but perhaps a sh*tty employee at that particular Wendy's may be.

3: Move on with your life, and leave sleuthing to the credit card company

This is the very reason I continue to use a credit card over a debit card. It's so much easier to deal with fraud with a credit card company and just have the charge reversed on their end than it is to deal with the bank replacing money that went out of your account the moment it was fraudulently used.

Likely not worth it for those who need the account fund limits to help them budget and avoid over spending, but with a separate budget to handle all of that and paying off credit cards monthly to avoid any interest, I find the hassle-free fraud correction of my credit card companies extremely worthwhile.

Yep what Jonman said with the amendment that you can still go to that Wendys just pay in cash.

One note - it’s a *ton* easier to deal with a credit union when your account (checking, debit, credit, whatever) gets hacked, than dealing with a bank. I can’t believe I ever used a bank, now. They just seem so abusive...

Robear wrote:

One note - it’s a *ton* easier to deal with a credit union when your account (checking, debit, credit, whatever) gets hacked, than dealing with a bank. I can’t believe I ever used a bank, now. They just seem so abusive...

This.

Use a credit union for daily banking, resort to banks only for long-term/investment purposes.

Hear hear. All BECU needs to do is start offering high-interest online savings and I could cut my bank ties completely...

Robear wrote:

One note - it’s a *ton* easier to deal with a credit union when your account (checking, debit, credit, whatever) gets hacked, than dealing with a bank. I can’t believe I ever used a bank, now. They just seem so abusive...

I'd love to hear more. I've not actively used my credit union for years and years, since moving temporarily to another state and needing something that we'd have in both places. Since then, I've basically stuck with the bank we set up with.

Antichulius wrote:
Robear wrote:

One note - it’s a *ton* easier to deal with a credit union when your account (checking, debit, credit, whatever) gets hacked, than dealing with a bank. I can’t believe I ever used a bank, now. They just seem so abusive...

I'd love to hear more. I've not actively used my credit union for years and years, since moving temporarily to another state and needing something that we'd have in both places. Since then, I've basically stuck with the bank we set up with.

Credit unions don't have a profit motive, they're co-ops, that is, literally owned by their own members. It's the banking version of "by the people, of the people, for the people".

Thus, if you get hacked, the credit union's interest is in helping it's own members, not protecting it's bottom line.

Bottom line, banks have an adversarial relationship with their customers. Credit unions don't.

I moved over to Alliant credit union last year and I have been generally happy with them. Their checking and savings products work well and both have good interest rates and they have a decent mobile app with check deposit. I have run into problems if you go outside that like into loans, which I also heard about in reviews, so I would just stick with the core products.

Did I miss a notification that we are no longer doing the little Thumbs Up "likes" on GWJ posts?

We were waiting 15 minutes for you to join the webinar but you never showed.

carrotpanic wrote:

We were waiting 15 minutes for you to join the webinar but you never showed.

I didn't get the Outlook reminder. Why didn't someone ping me?

We were all in the Goodger SCIF.

Antichulius wrote:

I'd love to hear more. I've not actively used my credit union for years and years, since moving temporarily to another state and needing something that we'd have in both places. Since then, I've basically stuck with the bank we set up with.

So, we don't pay fees on accounts. (You can get overdraft protection and there is a fee with that, but if you decline it, you'll just not be allowed to go over your balance.) Rates on loans are lower than commercial, generally, for cars, and much lower for Home Equity (like, half). Loan approvals for cars and such are pretty quick - days, with instant pre-approval that you can take to the dealer. Homes, it can take a few weeks while they check things.

Security is tight. I can call and set up a watch on my cards, or just one, and restrict their use. I can get notifications if anything "odd" happens, and I do that. Liability is the standard amount and you have a few days to notify them of any breach without penalty. I can deposit checks by phone for free, and they support payment by phone for various types, at no extra charge. Credit card rates are sane.

NASA FCU only has about 80,000 members, making it the 93rd largest in the country, but the 3rd largest in MD, and yet they still do all sorts of loans and accounts, and I can bank nationally through other credit unions (face to face) or via any ATM.

I would suggest looking around locally to see if you can find a credit union you like. I got NASA because I worked there in the 80's, but these days, you can just take a trial membership (3 months) for the National Space Society for $5 bucks, and one benefit of membership is that you can join NASA FCU. Other local clubs do this too, like the Montgomery Striders lol. So it's likely you can find a way to join all but the smallest credit unions that restrict their membership. (For example, Alliant, one of the biggest, has you make a $5 donation to a charity, and then you are eligible to join.)

Basically, it's old school banking, without the profit motive. Very comforting and secure. Just make sure that the one you pick has the products you need, and the access you need, as well as (of course) FDIC insurance. This link will give you more info.

I don;t bank with them (yet) but i did my recent home loan through Navy Federal CU and they were amazing. Head and shoulders above the banks I looked at in both rates and service. I have a lot of inertia with Wells Fargo and some specific stuff set up with my accounts, which is pretty much the only reason i didn't immediately transfer everything over to NFCU. Well Fargo is basically one bad transaction away from losing all my accounts, so i can definitely put in another word for the superiority of credit unions over banks.

Navy Federal has been great in my interactions with them. My last car purchase was mistakenly assigned to them, instead of NASA, and when we figure out what had happened, under a deadline that could force the retraction of the loan, the Navy FCU folks simply gave me the direct number of their loan processor, and she had the direct number of the NASA loan person, and whenever I needed one of them, I picked up the phone and they answered. We got it sorted out before the car dealership even got to the problem in their stack.

Now, picture in your head trying to find the back office direct line of a loan processor at Wells Fargo...

This is all good to know. Thanks. I'll take a look around and at that link.

My experience with BECU very much mirrors Robear's. Anytime I've needed help from them, I've gotten it within minutes, and the resolution to the problem has always been in my favor. Every. Single. Time.

Now picture in your head a Wells Fargo customer saying that.....

I'm never using a commercial bank for my day-to-day banking again if I can help it.

Even if you do want to use a commercial bank please don’t use Wells Fargo. The quicker they are out of business the better.

I love BoA and have had nothing but a positive experience in 15 years of banking with them.

SallyNasty wrote:

I love BoA and have had nothing but a positive experience in 15 years of banking with them.

BoA were THE reason I moved to a credit union.

SallyNasty wrote:

I love BoA and have had nothing but a positive experience in 15 years of banking with them.

Wells Fargo isn't great. I've had a SIGNIFICANTLY better experience with Wells Fargo than BoA. I left them for Wachovia (that was acquired by WF)

Yep. I’ve been with credit unions exclusively for about 20 years now. Both Wells Fargo and BofA treated me like I was garbage. Credit Union for life.

My credit union gives me a several hundred dollars in profit sharing per year for having a mortgage with them. They also have much lower rates than traditional banks. Been with them for 23 years now.

Yeah I have been meaning to move everything over. Now my mortgage is not with WF I feel more free to move. I also have had the same bank account my whole life and have the account memorized so I'd be sad to lose that. It was Eastern Heights bank and that went through 2 to 3 transitions now WF.

Yeah I am gonna move. Suggestions for great MN CU?

Hobear wrote:

Yeah I have been meaning to move everything over. Now my mortgage is not with WF I feel more free to move. I also have had the same bank account my whole life and have the account memorized so I'd be sad to lose that. It was Eastern Heights bank and that went through 2 to 3 transitions now WF.

Yeah I am gonna move. Suggestions for great MN CU?

Trustone(Formerly Teacher's federal credit union, but they changed it a few years ago so now anyone can join) back when I was young and screwed up with a major bank, they were the only ones who gave me a chance to redeem myself and give me a bank account.

Spire, had a loan through them for a vehicle and were so amazing to deal with.

Topline current car loan is through them, and they have been good, but only 3 months with them so far. I was able to go to one of their locations and pay my car payment and they were super helpful.

Wings Financial - I have heard good and bad things, used to be Northwest Airlines Credit union before Delta bought Northwest.

Alliant is open nationwide, worth a look.

Yeah, generally, the bigger the better. More resources, more product offerings.

Our first child was born 3 weeks ago! We are thousands of kilometers from our extended families, and they want lots and lots of photos. We are trying to avoid plastering her all over Facebook, Instagram, etc., but sending to individuals is pretty tedious, and so we're looking for an alternative. We want something where we can add, remove, and organize photos (and perhaps video, but that matters less) for sharing with the family. Ideally it would be private (login/invite required) or semi-private (viewable to people who happen to know the link). It's fine if family and friends want to download the photos, as we'll only be inviting people we know and trust. Some of the viewers are rather techno-averse, so a simple interface would be best. Free is nice, but I would pay a reasonable fee if the service is worthwhile. Any recommendations?