Credit card companies certainly know how to discourage customers reporting criminals!

I can do better than that!

A couple of years ago I applied, and was accepted, for an RBS Advanta Gold card.

I only used it once (at a Chinese restaurant), primarily because one of the other cards I had offered me a promotional deal of something like 6 months

So the RBS Gold card sat in my purse gathering dust.

Until, that is, a card statement arrived showing loads of electrical goods purchaes and a car hire, all in Hong Kong!

RBS were actually very good about the whole thing and wrote the debt (5,000+) off, telling me my card had been skimmed. Seeing as I'd used the card only once at a Chinese restaurant and that my "card" had subsequently been "used" in Hong Kong, you might have thought that RBS would have put 2 and 2 together and worked out the only possible place that the skimming could have occurred.

However, the chinese restaurant is still open for business and still accepting visa/switch payments.

As you say, it makes you wonder if the banks are actually that bothered about card fraud.

Why? I don't understand what you're getting at. Why would the credit card company phone her to ask for her details?

Of what help could the credit card company be in the scenario, which seems likeliest here, where the mystery caller had nothing to do with the card company?

If you want to try to trace the caller via the phone company, of what possible assistance would a signed declaration in triplicate from the card company be that they never called her and that it must have been someone else? Will not the phone company act without it?

I'm perplexed. What am I missing here? What were you trying to achieve?

The interest & fees they charge must dwarf what they loose in fraud.

Without a hint of irony, "Mary Queen of Scots" astounded uk.finance on 04 Jul 2004 by announcing:

So are Esso.

I have had numerous phone calls from GE Capital Bank. They are the parent company behind Burtons finance. I have a card with them but a zero balance.

They ring up, then tend to ask for you to prove who you are when you answer. I respond with a refusal, asking THEM to prove who THEY are, as they were the ones who rang out of the blue. I usually ask them some personal questions about me, knowing they'll not have the answers, then say 'sorry, you failed my security check, goodbye'.

It doesn't stop them ringing again, but it isn't half fun. :-)

In message , Peter Saxton writes

Youve lost me on this one.

Isnt it obvious that the call wasnt made by anybody at the Credit Card company and that is the reason why there is no record of the phone call?

If your wifes mobile phone company has a record of who called her then the info will also be in her phones memory.

How on earth would you expect their system to show details of a call that didn't come from them?

Alan

Don't reply to this e-mail address - messages will be deleted unread. To reply to me take away the news and substitute alanc

As the spam fairy hovered like a flatulent buzzard on Mon, 5 Jul 2004

So why are they calling you demanding this information?

Perverse verses, putrid poetry, diabolical doggerel...

Presumably to check who you are before offering you a credit limit upgrade / balance transfer deal.

cd

If it was the bank calling then they would want to verify that they were talking to the cardholder.

To try to confirm whether the credit card company had called?

Wouldn't the phone company want to know whether it was a simple case of the credit card company phoning?

I've explained above. Do you understand or are you still perplexed? If you are still perplexed what is perplexing you?

It's not totally obvious unless you ask them.

Have you heard of callers witholding their numbers?

How would I be certain if I didn't check?

In message , Peter Saxton writes

Yes, and you said

"Unfortunately they said that no record had been entered on my wife's record to indicate that a call had been made"

which means to me that they didnt make the call.

Yes. You said

"I would hope the mobile phone company has a record of who called her"

so how could they do that if the number was withheld? If the DO have the ionfo, then it will be in the phone's memory.

Unless we made the call to the credit card company we wouldn't know that they didn't have a record. Just because the credit card company doesn't have a record doesnt mean that they didn't make the call it simply means that no record was made.

I would expect for billing purposes phone companies do know who called who even if the numbers were withheld.

I'm at a loss to understand your points. You have made two points that seem to have no logic at all:

"which means to me that they didnt make the call."

"If your wifes mobile phone company has a record of who called her then the info will also be in her phones memory."

Without a hint of irony, Peter Saxton astounded uk.finance on 11 Jul 2004 by announcing:

Not by asking account details, they wouldn't.

Not all the generally issued details but some organisations ask for passwords but the Data Protection Registrar's staff don't approve of that.

Without a hint of irony, Peter Saxton astounded uk.finance on 13 Jul 2004 by announcing:

Every company I've used asks for 2 letters/numbers from the password. If anyone asks for the full password, they'll get told exactly where to go.

Yes, but they shouldnt ask for a password if they call you. That is only for if you call them. I know there could be other people answering the phone but it's thought as over the top if there is no reason to believe they arent talking to the right person

And how is the callee meant to be satisfied that the caller is really the bank? Why would a bank be calling its customers anyway? Other than, perhaps, to ask if they really want them to pay this cheque for £100,000 that's just been presented to them with a dodgy-looking signature.