Avoid "the real pain"....never set up automatic payments....they are in control, not you!!

I had thought about this before, but your post has me thinking about things again. Thanks for the post.

Be aware not all alerts work the same
 

Bank of America sends an alert when it posts not when it is pending the time difference can be days. I spent 6 hours going through various levels of supervisors and departments and finally got someone who had them fix the glitch in their code. 6 months later they did an update to their system and it is back sending alerts on posted instead of pending again. So I don't use them anymore for around town only for my preauthorized charges I have set up. I use another card for around town and when I travel and have had the number changed by the card company due to fraud charges 7 times in the last year. It is getting ridiculous.

About 15 years I receive my credit card statement and there is an $18k charge. Someone bought a new car, in Mexico. It takes some muy grande cojones to pull a stunt like that.

Its smart to always check your credit card activity on a daily basis-

But by paying cash for everything you are literally throwing away a lot of $$

Sam's Club MasterCard--5% cash back for gas,3% cash back for dining & travel 1% back for everything else

CHSE FREEDOM VISA-depends on which quarter is affected 5% back gas,5% dining, 5% groceries 1% back for everything else

Bank America-2% groceries

Capital One -minimum of 1.5% back on everything else

Pay all your bills with these cards and use them smartly-do not run a balance and you'll have at least an extra $1000-$2000 a year

Its also happened to me in the villages.Now I pay every thing with cash.

More pluses for using credit cards-lots of credit card companies also insure / warranty your
purchases

IMHO-the only people who must use cash are drug dealers/purchasers--people who can't legally own firearms/ and finally illegal aliens who work for cash

If the U.S. did away with cash--you'll witness a drastic decline in crime

I know several upstanding Villagers who use cash for almost all purchases. They don't belong to any of the categories you noted. IMHO if the U.S. did away with cash you'd see a black market form almost immediately, and gold and silver would reign supreme.

I never have auto payments, but have bills sent on line so I can review and pay. I get very little post mail

Capital One sends the alert when it enters into pending. There's also a function online where you can watch the pending charge, and they will notify you when it posts. I see some mistaken charges appear in pending that are corrected by the merchant and never make it to posting. That was how I found out about the $2K charge and was able to have it reversed by the merchant before it even posted, and we didn't have to shut the card down just before our trip.

I have my alert from my credit card bank set for any purchase made over $.50
Some who use your card on the internet start with small purchases....sometimes as little as a dollar. Had three tries...one for a dollar, another for a little more and then the third paying an AT&T phone bill...all one right after the other on one day. Alerts are sent almost instantly about purchases. Sending notices for small purchase amounts does generate a lot of mail, but action can be taken quickly.

It's so sad that there are some with such knowledge and they use their powers for bad.

If your credit card company let that go through without contacting you, you need a new credit card company.

I have found that if i have a problem with my card, they send me a new one, same #, but a different security # on the back side.:)

You are not the first to report a problem from that Shell station. Maybe contacting the police would be helpful for all since you have some facts to provide.