I use credit card sentinel to register my cards etc. Up to now, it's been reasonable (approx GBP10 p.a.). I got the renewal today, and they've "upgraded" me to "Gold" cover (whoppee), the original level of cover being "unavailable", and the annual premium quote was increased accordingly (approx GBP23 pa; GBP70 for 3 years). I rang up and said it was a bit high, and without too much discussion, it was reduced to GBP50 for 3 years. Good for me to save 20 quid, but I'm almost incited to take my business elsewhere for the attempt to charge me 20 quid more than they could have done. Apathy and caveat emptor, I suppose (but always worth a phone call!)
It's going to be like any low cost "insurance", a lot of it will disappear into admin costs. It probably costs the same to administer this policy as it does a 400 pound car insurance, but you don't notice the admin cost in car insurance, here you do
Not if you keep the card with the sentinel company's details in your wallet togehter with all the other cards.. :-(
Because unless you only have one card, it means all the ones you're not carrying are at risk of theft from wherever you've left them. It seems to me that the risk of them being stolen from you in person (by pickpocketing or by force) is lower than from an unguarded place like your house or a hotel room.
Well, my comment was limited to risks of theft/robbery/burglary and I didn't consider misplacement.
But it strikes me that if you are sufficiently disciplined and in the habit of *always* putting the wallet in your back trouser pocket, that risk of loss of either one card or the whole wallet by simply being "a dipstick" (as Del Boy would say) would be minimal.
What happens if there is a problem with that card when you need money/spending power? I have one card that is only used in emergencies with a £10k limit on it. The logic being that £10k will get me from anywhere to anywhere in the world quickly, and let me do something useful when I`m there. I also have my main credit card to earn clubcard points on, and an Asda card so if I fuel up in Asda I get 2p per litre off.
There are plenty of reasons not to trust to a single card. As for losing them, the wallet is either in my hand on my pocket, no exceptions. The only way for it to go missing is for me to put it down, which doesn`t happen, or for it to be taken from me, which is much easier said than done.
It's a good plan if your circumstances are such that you might need to do something in an emergency anywhere in the world (and many people might). However, if I did the same thing there'd always be a doubt as to whether the "emergency only" card would work when I needed it, and not be disabled due to non-use, expired, or otherwise non-functional but unnoticed because it was tucked away until needed. My mentality is the same as the people who, during the Cold War, put the Strike Command warning system on the Speaking Clock and the siren control signals on the phone lines of individual subscribers - you always know they're working because they're used every day. I was very impressed when I heard of that simple piece of design.
I don't understand. You can't mean every time someone rang up the speaking clock, a light started flashing at MOD Mission Control HQ, or that whenever certain subscribers used their phone at all, klaxons sounded somewhere, so how did this "simple piece of design" fit into the bigger picture?
I've been told the most common reason cards don't work (especially abroad) is due to the user not notifying the card issuer & it being shut down due to 'unusual activity'.
Apparently at the time (probably not any more) there was an actual speaking clock network around the country, connected into each exchange
- a pair of wires on which the speaking clock announcement was being played. When someone dialed it, their local exchange just connected them to this loop, rather than placing a call to London or wherever.
What they did was to also connect Strike Command and the many regional warning points onto this loop. In the event of an attack, Strike Command would send a tone into the loop which caused special phones to ring in the warning points; they would then make the verbal annoucement of an attack or whatever. The Speaking Clock would be turned off during this and automatically disconnected in the exchanges (so you couldn't dial
123 and listen to the announcements!) but I don't know if that was done automatically just while the system was used, or manually turned off for some time if an attack was considered likely.
Apparently if one lifted the special warning phones under normal circumstances, one could hear the Speaking Clock in them.
The alternative would have been to string special wires all over the country (expensive) and also instigate a continual monitoring and testing regime.
For the sirens, there was a box piggybacked onto someone's line (they wouldn't have known) with a little pendulum in it. Solenoids connected to the line swung the pendulum, but only reacted to certain frequencies (I guess a filter in front of them). So x hertz swung the pendulum left, and y hertz swung it right. By alternating pulses of x and y at the correct rate (the period of the pendulum) it would swing higher and higher, like pushing a child on a swing. Once it got high enough, it touched a metal ring, completing a circuit which triggered the siren.
I guess it was considered sufficiently unlikely that the correct tones, alternating at the correct rate, would have ever been sent down the line in normal use.
Again, the alternative here would have been special wiring (and a lot more of it, as there were many more sirens than regional warning points) and more testing. Done as it was, if Mrs Scroggins's phone stopped working, she'd come and tell someone about it.
Heh. I wonder if some people always seemed to get their phones fixed faster than everyone else, and never knew why :-)
Pete
(Any or all of this could be inaccurate in the specifics, but you get the idea. It's from memory; googling [ handel speaking clock ] would probably find you more.)
- Cards can fail to work for one reason or another, and it is good to have a backup available
- Different cards have different features, which make them more suitable for different transactions. My Amex gives me cashback in places where it is accepted - most places but not everywhere. My Nationwide gives me good rates for foreign currency transactions
Which I used anywhere in the world as the most extreme example, it also works anywhere in europe, or indeed anywhere in the UK. Worst case, I can get a taxi/bus/plane anywhere I need to, and do whatever I need to when i`m there. Family emergencies etc, I`d much rather have the option there and not need it then not have it available the one time I do need it.
The card is used occasionally, both here in the UK and whenever I go abroad, to ensure it is still good. Bear in mind that it is a backup, my main card has a sufficiently high limit for me to do the same with it, and is held at an entirely different financial institution.
Good piece of design for the warnings mind you :-)
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