About Me

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I'm a life-long New Englander, father of 4 challenging kids (I know: I'm supposed to say "wonderful", but while that'd be true, technically speaking, it'd also be misleading), and fortunate husband to my favorite wife of more than 20 years. I've got over 20 years experience breaking things as a test engineer, quality engineer, reliability engineer, and most recently (and most enjoyably) a Product Safety / EMC Compliance Engineer. In the photo, I'm on the left.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Expiration Date...NOT

I have a certain credit card that expired this past fall. I was very happy for this, as there were a few on-going subscriptions and charges that were linked to that card, and automatically renewed. I figured that as the card expired, so too would these charges.

Oh, what a naive nincompoop I am. The date came and went, the new card showed up (the old shredded), and the charges continued to come along. I called the credit card company to talk about this, and they told me that these charges would continue to be honored despite the fact that the vendor would not have had the correct expiration date.

Huh. Or rather: WHAT THE FRIGGIN' HELL?

I know that when I go to a store with an expired credit card, I can't buy anything because it's expired. My Amazon account no longer worked, but they only charge to that card when I tell them to, not when they decide to or on an on-going basis.

So really, the only person who absolutely needs to have the correct expiration date on a credit card is me! Or more likely we, the owners of those cards. It's no problem if the 900 number book of the month club wants to continue to charge to an expired credit card, but when I go to the store to buy extra small condoms groceries, I'm hit with a decline.

If I have the expired card in hand, along with evidence that I am me, I can't access my funds. BUT, if some somewhat anonymous vendor puts in a charge, it's no problem for them to continue to charge to that same expired card.

No flippin' wonder the banks are the only ones getting richer!

5 comments:

  1. Credit cards are a great convenience but they also make me nervous.
    By the way, you can put a stop payment on charges coming from your credit card, but, you have to do it every month until you get the charges stopped from the originator. There is a fee for this service. What were you saying about the banks getting richer???

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  2. You miight not be able to get rid of old charges, but you should be able to stop any new ones. You might want to close that account, and get a new card with another vendor.

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  3. Yar...I've decided to shut that card down and replace it; it's just so disappointing that I'm the only one who needs the correct expiration date! :)

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  4. Dealing with banks seems to be a minefield the world over. The hours that you can actually SEE someone in a bank keep getting smaller and the charges higher. Grrr.

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  5. Oh yes, everything is structured so that the banks get richer!

    Happy New Year!!

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