Fraud!

For those who don’t believe God is involved in their lives day-to-day and in every detail, I challenge them with this story.

When the Mastercard bill arrived yesterday, we discovered we had been victims of credit card fraud. There was a charge for almost $2,500 from an airline that we did not purchase. About 10 days ago, we went to the market to pick up our butchers order of lamb. It cost over $1,000 and I knew we had the headroom on the card to charge it. It was a couple of days before the payment of $1,600 was due, and with our credit limit of $5,000, figured we were OK. Our card was declined. Although we have had occasional trouble with Mastercard on the speed with which they process the payments, putting a freeze on the card sometimes, I knew this could not be the case this time since the due date was still a few days away. I was puzzled but we put it on another card and headed home. We tried it again to pay for dinner and it went through.

The statement came yesterday and I was surprised by the balance and immediately checked to see if the payment had gone through. It was then that I saw the airline purchase. The transaction date was one day before we bought the meat, and the last item posted before the statement was processed and sent out. So, I called the credit card company to find out what we could do. I must give much praise to President’s Choice Financial (PCF). They were so helpful, and their banking and credit products are so cost effective. As far as I know, they are only available in Canada.

Once the help desk determined this to likely be fraud, he passed me on to the security division. They said they will send out a form for us to fill out and once we have returned it, they will reverse the charge. And, we’re getting new cards. This is slightly annoying because there are a couple of automatic payments go to the card, we’ll be a few days without our main credit card, although we have a VISA we can use, and I now have to memorize a new number (well, I don’t “have” to), but all this was relatively painless.

Here’s where I see God’s administration in this situation. We’re cheap! Well, frugal, I suppose. And, although the Canadian banking system has in this global economic crisis proved to be robust, we resent having to pay such high fees for any banking service. We switched to President’s Choice quite a few years ago. They have no fee bank accounts, and for a while, also had a business division, also with no fee accounts. There are a few limitations since it is a virtual bank, however, we have never had any problems with them, and like being able to keep our money in our own pockets, only paying when we actually buy a service beyond regular banking. The credit card is a no-fee and the annual interest rate is among the lowest.

When we first got the card, they kept raising the credit limit arbitrarily. This is not good for the credit rating, and we mostly just use it for tracking some purchases for income tax purposes, and pay it off completely every month. It’s really just a convenience. So the hubby, although he had to ask several times, convinced them we only wanted a $5,000 credit limit. That’s all we need. And we think it was this that saved us from the fraudster charging many more expensive purchases to our card before we knew about it. They ran into the same headroom limit we did at the market. God is good. That we had trouble at the market caused me to wonder, and I think that was also a sign of God’s working.
Other signs of God:
• this purchase was the last on the statement. We had 30 days to contest it, and that time would have passed by the next statement.
• had we not seen this purchase this time, the fraudster could have waited until we unknowingly paid the bill, and then added another several thousand in purchases.
• of all the years we have had credit cards, this is the first time there has ever been fraud.
• if the purchase had been at, say, Future Shop, we may have had a more difficult time defending fraud. But we would never have used this airline, and the number of places this airline travels from Canada are very few, and we have never had an interest in travelling to such places.
• our marriage is a good and honest one. Although I asked the hubby if he had made this purchase, I knew he hadn’t. We can trust each other not to “blow the budget” on items we haven’t discussed first. I said this to the call centre guy. He hears all kinds of things, and he doesn’t know if we’re a recently separated couple, and each is trying to stick it to the other. So happy we’re not that couple.

Was God active in this situation? I choose to believe He was. It has His caring touch.

PCF has sent mail inserts advertising identity theft protection and I’ve considered it. God protected us this time, but is this a nudge to get us to buy that protection? Again, we’re cheap! And that’s a few dollars more per month that goes out the door. Not sure. But I will definitely consider it!

Until next time, use intelligence and caution with your finances, and then don’t worry; trust God to carry you…