In order to avoid having to rush about without the benefit of a car in Minnesota to make my now empty, in the process of undergoing proper cleaning flat ready for my imminent inhabitation, I arranged with the highly co-operative property management to have most of what I would need shipped to my new address. Everything from a Keurig coffee maker with the special reusable home-brew capsule to a rack for drying clothes was ordered. Then the credit card company struck…
As I’ve had to spend a fair amount of money preparing for my move, and as my credit card has a relatively low limit, I’ve been in the habit of paying for purchases within a few days of making them. Having long thought it good sense it never occurred to me that any sort of problems would arise because of this. Yet problems did arise. My account will now be frozen for the better part of a month. The reason, if it can be considered a reason at all, is that I simply paid too much money. Not only is there a limit of how much I can put on the sodding thing, there is a limit to how much I can pay. As I well exceeded the payment limit, I have a mark of “possible fraud” on my bank record now. While it does not get reported, it does mean that I can’t use the card — even though everyone from the local bank credit card agent to the director of the credit card department at the main bank find the charge absurd to the nth degree, considering my long history of financial integrity.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Christopher, you seem to be over-burdened with bureaucratic complexities just now. Hang in there!
Another case of big company bureaucracy overruling common sense – I hope you can iron this one out
Looks like you’ve been hit with the “money laundering” scare virus, Christopher. Hope you can sort it out.
What a bizarre situation!
I think Sheona is quite right, it’s just yet another anti-money laundering inconvenience. I cannot see any other reason for it.
Christopher, I think it is more to do with the fact that you are a ‘bad’ customer. By paying off your card early you incur no interest charges and thus are no good to the company. When I first moved to the US I had no credit history and though I had plenty of cash, I could not get a card. Eventually I managed to persuade my bank to give me one but with a very small limit. she advised me to max it out before paying it off, She also advised me to keep applying for bigger limits. Eventually I got to where I wanted to be. Thereafter, like you, I paid my account every month and did not incur any interest charges. That was in the days before debit cards.Now, I only ever use credit cards for car rentals and plane tickets.
Does your bank not give you a debit card? The money is taken straight from your account. No credit involved.
1. I would talk direct to the credit card co. not the issuing bank, they can do nothing for you except sympathise!
2. Meanwhile as a matter of practicality to get Minnesota organised can the bank of mum and dad help out with use of a card and you pay them back?
3. Can’t actually see how you are going to cope in such a cold climate without a car. Not the kind of place to hang around at bus stops at -40.
4. credit cards are a total pain in the butt, as sheona says, this anti laundering crap has got completely out of hand, ours will refuse all travel abroad charges unless we phone them first and tell them we are travelling! Talk about nanny state complex.
Janus: thank you.
Pseu: after a few weeks it will get worked out, but there is still that annoying wait.
Sheona: yes, that is exactly it. The term they used was “kiting” — moving money around
form account to account to give a semblance of liquidity when there is very little money there.
Minters: neither can the bank. They’re as frustrated as me.
Sipu: yes, I do have a debit card from the same bank. I know how it works, I’ve had it for years.
My card has a decent points programme. Every $6,000.00 I get a $100.00 shopping card for Amazon.com.
What I liked to do is charge and pay to get the points.
CO:
1. They won’t talk to anyone, not even the bank’s credit card manager! Their decision is automatic and irreversible
2. I have money in my chequeing account, enough to hold me over.
3. I will get a car, but not for a few weeks. So long as the weather is decent I will just walk where I need to go.
St Cloud is a relatively small town and nothing is more than 2.5 miles away. When I’m settled down and my financial aid comes through I’ll buy a car.
4. Yes, I’ve dealt with that as well. When I flew to Germany last year the bank declines both Swiss International Air — Switzerland being deemed a high security threat — and KLM as their payment process is done in the UK and the UK is deemed a high fraud country. It ended up costing me over $50.00 in telephone charges and a second booking fee that was incurred because I had to book by telephone.
G’Day Christopher. On the other side of the coin, as it were, number one cub left school and went straight into work. For years he rented an apartment and paid for everything in cash,never being overdrawn and never owning a credit card.
After a decade or so he decided to get married and buy a property and applied for a morgage. The application was refused – get this – because he had no ‘credit’ history and had never been in debt. In the end I had to stand as guarantor for the loan. Utter, utter madness.
Good luck with your move.
OZ
OZ; my own credit is also virtually non-existent. I’ve always preferred cash, save for large purchases, online purchases, petroleum, and aeroplane tickets. The bank issues me a duplicate of my father’s card and let me take over the account. That is why I’m a bit stuck with things as they are.
It’s ironic that people who have debts are better treated than those who have always kept their
spending under control, never giving out more than they had. They say that they care more about
proof that people will at least pay their financing costs than anything else.
Unsavoury as it may be, bank biz is the same as the rest. A customer with a history is a known quantity; a non-customer is not and therefore ‘suspect’ until hsitory is acquired.