Received a text message from Westpac on Friday. Asking us to confirm a transaction made on our Visa card. So we rang the bank and found that an unauthorised transaction to purchase airline tickets had occurred to the amount of $600.00 by a company in the UK. The flagged the transaction up because it was outside our abnormal spending routine. The transaction was picked up within minutes. I consider ourselves lucky that it was picked up so quickly.
To protect us our cards were suspended immediately. We were on our way to Cotton Tree for the weekend and had no cash. Fortunately I had a business credit card. Otherwise I would have been in a pickle.

Cyclone
How lucky you were. I would have still been wary just to recieve a text asking me to make contact over a purchase.
Peter

i have recieved an email similar warning me about an unusal transaction, seeing as it refered me back to the issuing bank i contacted them
in my case it was me doing something outside their norm
seeing how everyone uses credit cards these days i have several & chose which for what purpose (special one for internet purchases etc. another for overseas transactions)

i have heard that some companies do a pre-authorisation on your card as a safety deposit which is sorta ok unless you are overseas or close to your limit
overseas you can get hit with the currency exchange rate twice! once when they debit your card, once when they re-credit it
if close to the limit it can put you above your personal limit & cause fees as well as rendering the card usless for any other spending

Krusty,

You said


With pre-authorisation the amount is not debited twice. The amount is initially registered as an amount due with the effect of reducing your available credit. Once the transaction takes place (hotel/motel bill) it is the one debited and the other registered amount clears.

Pedro

I had an incident recently when I purchased a new ride on mower for $3500.00 and whilst the salesperson was completing the receipt my bank rang me and asked if I had just made a large withdrawal, the sales person was flabbergasted that she had not even wrote out the receipt. I was impressed and rang the customer service section of my bank (Credit union) commending their prompt action.



Hank