# Bank Of Ireland Credit Card Security Check



## Fnergg (6 Nov 2009)

I was in Edinburgh last Tuesday and I went in to Jessops to buy a digital camera for my daughter. Cost: £168. I produced my BOI Mastercard and expected the transaction to be completed in a few minutes. As the assistant was processing it he received a phone call. A security check by BOI. I had to confirm my branch and current account details plus date of birth. This apparently was not good enough. The transaction could not be approved.

I phoned BOI credit card services from the shop and I was put through to their security section. I was quizzed about various recent transactions including several that I had already paid for last week. Other transactions had only appeared on my account in the last couple of days and I confirmed that I had indeed been the person who initiated them (all of them were online purchases - flights, hotels and the like).

I wanted to know why I was put in the embarrassing position of having a low value transaction refused given that (a) I have been a BOI customer and credit card holder for more than 30 years (b) there has never been a payment issue with my card (I pay each monthly account in full) and (c) there has never been any fraud issue with my card.

I was given some waffle about the need to have good security in the interests of all customers  - I have no issue with that but see above - and that a security flag would remain on my card for the time being. Did this mean I might have further problems with transactions while in Scotland? Yes.

Whereupon I saw red and gave the unfortunate agent full force of my venom. What the hell was the credit card good for if I couldn't use it while abroad? Why did they single my card out given it's excellent payment record? And why in the name of all that's holy should they get worried about £168 when I had recent transactions (paid for) for several thousand Euro? 

I was put through to a manager who apologised profusely and assured me the security flag would be lifted forthwith and that I could transact the camera purchase without any further problem. I had her wait on the phone while this occurred.

All this took up about 45 minutes of my time. I was feeling profoundly embarrassed and angry and I think I was shoddily treated by BOI.  I am well aware of the level of credit card fraud and I appreciate that ongoing security checks have to be done. In this instance however and with my card in particular I fail to see why they should have felt the need to suspect that something was amiss. 

I asked why they didn't phone me if they ever had doubts about a transaction and it transpired they didn't have my mobile number in their database. That was the first I knew about that. It would be a simple matter for BOI to write to all credit card customers for whom they don't have mobile contact numbers and invite them to submit them. Instead, I had to find out the hard way that they had concerns.

The whole episode has left a very sour taste and I feel very hard done by by BOI given my long years as a good customer. I am seriously considering switching to another provider as a result.

Regards,

Fnergg


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## smiley (6 Nov 2009)

Why do they need a security check if your card is a chip and pin card and the shop uses chip and pin? its strange but there must still be a serious security/fraud threat.


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## Fnergg (6 Nov 2009)

smiley said:


> Why do they need a security check if your card is a chip and pin card and the shop uses chip and pin? its strange but there must still be a serious security/fraud threat.




Indeed. It is a chip and pin card and I entered the correct PIN into the machine.

Regards,

Fnergg


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## rev87 (6 Nov 2009)

They can still be cloned! A work colleague had his card used to buy €500 of flowers in St. Petersburg when he was in work and jad the card in his wallet. He's never been there before! On a side note - i paid for a large transaction(€4k) in the UK last week and was expecting this call-never came!


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## Blackberry (7 Nov 2009)

Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't.  It is clear that the fraud detection systems used by BOI evaluated the transaction during the authoriation process (using various fraud scoring cards) and the transaction in question scored highly as being a possible fraudulent transaction.  (No fault of the agent!!!!)  

It may be that the transaction in question may have been outside the normal pattern of transaction use on the card, e.g. used in Scotland.

If there had been fraud on he card, you would have been glad of the call and in fairness to the Bank, they are trying to mitigate against possible fraud taking place, both from the customer perspective.

My advise is get over it!!  I don't believe for one minute you were shoddily treated by BOI.  It was a fraud system that evaluated that particular transaction and not your payment record.  In fairness to them, they did by-pass the fraud system for future transactions (correct and proper) and no doubt the card did work correctly afterwards.

I have no doubt that if fraud did take place on the card and all available credit had disappeared, BOI would have facilitated you in every way possible, even down to providing short term cash. 

These systems are designed to try and protect the cardholder and are magnificant tools in the fight against organised crime.


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## Brianne (7 Nov 2009)

Yes, get over it and thank them for their vigilance. A relative was in Europe when his bank rang him, they had his mobile no , and asked where he was. They had spotted 900 euros of unusual transactions and yes, the card was not lost but had been cloned. He had to go to the police, tell where he had been and sure enough it had happened at an ATM in a bank. 18 other frauds were done there that day. The bank reimbursed him and to this day he thinks it was great to see this level of security.


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## Fnergg (7 Nov 2009)

Brianne said:


> Yes, get over it and thank them for their vigilance. A relative was in Europe when his bank rang him, they had his mobile no , and asked where he was....




They hadn't bothered making any effort to obtain my mobile and when I spoke to them on the shop floor in Edinburgh and gave them the information they required - DOB, recent transaction history, credit limit on card, current account details, branch address  - they still weren't happy. 

When I called them back at my own expense - an at least 30 minute mobile call - and spoke to a manager I received an apology and the security flag was immediately lifted. Of course I was treated shoddily. The initial contact by the bank should have been sufficient to establish that I was the actual card-holder. The BOI's procedures in this instance were clearly deficient as evidenced by the manager's apology.



Regards,

Fnergg


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## pjmn (7 Nov 2009)

This has happened me a few times - either with purchases abroad or 'larger' purchases on the internet (laptop for my daughter with Dell).

You can see both sides of this debate.

What I've started to do within the last year - is ring the number on the back of the card, before I leave the country - tell them where I'm going and that I'm likely to be using my card, I will adopt the same approach for any material internet purchase (none since my last example).  It has definately solved the problem re the 'abroad' transactions for me...


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## MandaC (7 Nov 2009)

Good advice to contact them in advance of any travel abroad, etc.  I preloaded my mastercard with cash when I was travelling to Australia.  I also notified them of the dates of my travel, which they put on their system.  I made some large withdrawls and transactions over there and never had any security issues, it worked out great.

On the whole, I think it is better to be safe than sorry.  My bag was stolen in July and a lot of information was in it, so if a person had my card, they also had my dob(driving licence) plus other personal information.  So they might have got away with using the card.


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## TheShark (7 Nov 2009)

Same here , I always give them a quick call before I travel, tell them where Im going and that I dont want any issues with my card.


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## bond-007 (7 Nov 2009)

I can see where the OP was treated badly. They should have allowed the transaction after giving all the details given that established him as the cardholder. I do see where he is coming from. Telling him to get over it is a bit much and a typical response.

I would ask the bank in writing to explain why exactly after verifying his identity they would not authorise the transaction. Get a final response letter and take it all the way if necessary.


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## Aurnia (7 Nov 2009)

That's mad. I've never called my bank (AIB) before going away- was away the other week and only flghts and 1 small transaction on the card. No calls and even when I had a 4k transaction for furniture in 06 no calls.

The reason I don't call before going abroad is that it isn't any of their business and what you do on your own time is yours. You shouldn't need their permission (by telling them in advance of trip, it is effectively is seeking permission) to a) go away for a break and b) use your credit card within the T&C's. I'm a AIB customer for 19 yrs and their credit card holder for 11 yrs.

Only ever call I got from bank was when I did a few bank transfers from another branch when I was paying for some purchases that I bought through EBay and the sellers (Germans - who don't use paypal as much) gave me their IBAN no's and had to do the transfers from my current a/c. I accepted the calls then as that would be unusual to my normal banking activity.

But a hol and some low purchases while away, and bank agent not accepting all the correct criteria no way. I'd seek a proper explaination.


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## bond-007 (7 Nov 2009)

Aurnia said:


> The reason I don't call before going abroad is that it isn't any of their business and what you do on your own time is yours. You shouldn't need their permission to a) go away for a break and b) use your credit card.


I was even told by a credit card company that calling them to advise international travel made absolutely no difference.


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## Blackberry (7 Nov 2009)

I think in fairness to the OP, the whole process should have taken less then 5 minutes.

The fraud detection system ran it's check as part of the approval process.  Once BOI called and it was clearly evident that the OP was indeed the correct cardholder, the flag should have been lifted straight away.  Also shame on the bank for not ringing you back.


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## scrivere (7 Nov 2009)

You make me laugh.... would you be posting here to thank the bank if someone had taken your card. Why is it the cc job to get your mobile number ? 
Of course the manager "took" the flag off..... really..... because you knew it was there before this happened.


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## Brianne (8 Nov 2009)

Yes, I've reread my post and didn't mean to be curt so apologies for that, I suppose my relative's experience was still in my head and he was so grateful that I didn't quite see your problem. Perhaps it would be a good idea to write to them and explain what happened and the distress it caused you. It should at the least help them improve their customer care experience for someone else. So once again, apologies.


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## Deas (9 Nov 2009)

If this is what happens when the bank looks after you, I'd hate to think what you would write if you were caught by a fraud on your card.


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## Mpsox (9 Nov 2009)

Firstly, the nature of this transaction is a classic one used by fraudsters who have cloned a card, relatively small value transaction at an electronic retailer overseas. The credit card company were within their rights to query it and were actually only trying to protect the card holder and themselves from fraud so I do not understand why he is giving out about that

The "flag" on transactions does however sound strange and was probably an error on behalf of the person in BOI. I had a similer situation in the US a number of years back, once I spoke to the person on the phone (UB credit cards) andanswered some security questions then the warning flag was lifted and I had no other issues. Ever since then, I've not had a problem. Since then I always ring the credit card company before travel, they do put a note on the system to say you are overseas and where you are.


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## bond-007 (9 Nov 2009)

> they do put a note on the system to say you are overseas and where you are.





bond-007 said:


> I was even told by a credit card company that calling them to advise international travel made absolutely no difference.


Quoted for truth.

It makes no difference and again I am a grown adult and why should I seek permission to leave the state?


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## Blackberry (9 Nov 2009)

Point of fact.......  Depending on you Card Issuer it can make a difference if you ring them before you leave to travel abroad.    What happens is that a flag is placed on the account to prevent a certain type of fraud check taking place as part of the authorisation process.  This is always a temporary measure, to prevent a genuine cardholder being refused an authorisation code at a terminal.  


This is complete rubbish about seeking permission to leave the state.  Seeking this so called permission or not, will not prevent a cardholder from using their card abroad.  The purpose of placing the flag on the account is to aid and assist the cardholder, to prevent any unneccessary calls.

A cardholder is also likely to receive a call here domestically, seeking verification detials.


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## bond-007 (9 Nov 2009)

Not in 15 years of having a credit card have I had such a call either here or abroad.


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