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OT- Credit card malfunction mystery

Milacron

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Joined
Dec 15, 2000
Location
SC, USA
I have two MasterCard's (Citi and BOA) that both stopped working in gas pumps, and at a retailer, at the same time. Meanwhile my Amex card still works. I presumed the magnet strip or chip were damaged from scraping in my wallet for a year, but it did seem highly suspect for two cards to stop working simutaneously. Regardless, I confirmed nothing suspect going on with the actual account and Citi sends me a new card.

Which worked once or twice in gas pump readers but now the new card doesn't work either !

Citi androids confirm account is still good and have no clue what the issue is. (FWIW, the card numbers still work for phone or internet purchases and no scratches on the new card magnet or chip) My only theory is something weird going on with a particular gas pump card reader somehow corrupting data on card and only American Express cards are magically impervious to that.

Any ideas folks ? :confused:
 
I've noticed that I have about a 25% success rate on gas pumps that don't use a chip reader. That includes multiple swipes. I'm just as puzzled as you because I used swipe cards at gas stations for years with no problems whatsoever and now it seems even new-ish ones are hit or miss.
 
I've noticed that I have about a 25% success rate on gas pumps that don't use a chip reader. That includes multiple swipes. I'm just as puzzled as you because I used swipe cards at gas stations for years with no problems whatsoever and now it seems even new-ish ones are hit or miss.
Interesting... but my week old new card now doesn't work on desktop readers at clothing (or wherever) stores either !

(forgot to mention I haven't ordered a new BOA card yet.... such a PITA waiting on the phone I gave up... )
 
I gave up on BoA a few years ago and switched to another big bank...and have found they actually suck less. BoA is the worst of the worst.
 
I never liked using cards for anything. Always cash. Its easier to remember what I bought and how much I have, when I can just reach in my pocket and count my money.

I have been slowly getting into using cards and have found problems with ACH transfers in and out. One of my cards allows them in but not out. One of mine is for Biz and 1 is for personal.

I havent had these problems you speak of yet.

The last thing I would want in a pandemic is for the piece of plastic in my pocket to screw up me getting food and supplies to survive.

I am getting Quickbooks going right now for my biz and it will make things so much easier for me. The only thing I worry about is linking my banking info to them. I am using it entirely offline as I am still too scurred of it.

TD Bank has been good to me so far. 7 days a week I could get in front of a human if I had problems. Until Covid.
 
It seems like the common factor is that the cards that failed all come from the same wallet, carried in the same way.

Is it possible that, recently perhaps, you are being exposed to unusual magnetic fields which you were not before? It could be a new apparel at home, even on your nightstand or wherever you put your wallet down at night.

I would start to look at my own environment and what has changed about it recently. Although, even if I am right, it is not clear that whatever change will be obvious to see. Magnetic fields are sneaky like that.

Jacques

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Employee's DEBIT card(local bank) quit working at his preferred gas pump/station. Has tried it at all the pumps at that location. Works at all other places he has gone to. No one can offer an explanation.
 
I think the readers on gas pumps are often dirty and worn due to heavy and often careless use. Most people are in a hurry and they seem to use less care than with an in-store reader.

Also, since the pumps are outside they are in a harsh environment.
 
Latest con over here is pulling more money for gas out of your account, getting it back is a nightmare, few guys I know charged £100 for £20 of gas
I won’t pay at pump anymore
Mark
 
I have two MasterCard's (Citi and BOA) that both stopped working in gas pumps, and at a retailer, at the same time. Meanwhile my Amex card still works. I presumed the magnet strip or chip were damaged from scraping in my wallet for a year, but it did seem highly suspect for two cards to stop working simutaneously. Regardless, I confirmed nothing suspect going on with the actual account and Citi sends me a new card.

Which worked once or twice in gas pump readers but now the new card doesn't work either !

Citi androids confirm account is still good and have no clue what the issue is. (FWIW, the card numbers still work for phone or internet purchases and no scratches on the new card magnet or chip) My only theory is something weird going on with a particular gas pump card reader somehow corrupting data on card and only American Express cards are magically impervious to that.

Any ideas folks ? :confused:

Yes I have run into that on a card. It will work at Wal mart using the chip method one week and the next week I have to swipe it. Then in the self checkout on the same Wal Mart the card will not work in self checkout! Wired so I carry cash.

Too in drive through I notice it is more and more common for fast food that they will tell you in the drive through they can take cash only. One has to stay in line and move with the flow because they can not get out of line.

Too I notice some places will take extra money when I get gas at some places with my card. Like 150.00 and they will hold it for a whole day. Everyone uses cards now a days. I like cash but not a lot at a time I do want to get cash when I want though out of a atm or tagged on to a card purchase at Walmart.

I do use a RFD protected wallet to block card readers. Likely is a good precaution. When traveling that problem could prevent charging a room.
 
Employee's DEBIT card(local bank) quit working at his preferred gas pump/station. Has tried it at all the pumps at that location. Works at all other places he has gone to. No one can offer an explanation.

I think the readers on gas pumps are often dirty and worn due to heavy and often careless use. Most people are in a hurry and they seem to use less care than with an in-store reader.

Also, since the pumps are outside they are in a harsh environment.


Employee's card quit working about a month before all the pumps were replaced. Don't work on the new pumps. Did work on the inside reader before pump change. Doesn't work inside now. Store manager says that his card is the only one(of her regular customers) she is aware of that doesn't work.
 
Employee's DEBIT card(local bank) quit working at his preferred gas pump/station. Has tried it at all the pumps at that location. Works at all other places he has gone to. No one can offer an explanation.


This! My debit card quit working at a single 7-eleven. No place else does it not work. Grocery store, other 7-Elevens, gas pumps, everywhere else. The asshole looks at me like I'm a deadbeat and says use a different card. I say F you, I am not using a regular card for a gallon of milk.
 
This! My debit card quit working at a single 7-eleven. No place else does it not work. Grocery store, other 7-Elevens, gas pumps, everywhere else. The asshole looks at me like I'm a deadbeat and says use a different card. I say F you, I am not using a regular card for a gallon of milk.

If your chip doesn't work 3 times in a row, you can swipe it.
 
I quit using my cc/debit at gas pumps. Had my card compromised 3 times in about a 6 month span. Have not seen anything since. Are you sure you need to order a card over the phone, or is there no local branch there? I use a credit union, but I can walk int he office and request a new debit card and they make it on the spot, all I do is type in a new PIN x 2 to verify, and I'm done and can go across the street and use it immediately.
 
Interesting... but my week old new card now doesn't work on desktop readers at clothing (or wherever) stores either !

(forgot to mention I haven't ordered a new BOA card yet.... such a PITA waiting on the phone I gave up... )

Ask the companies to issue you a new number, treat it like your account has been violated.
I think you have something more sinister going on.

Verify all the most recent purchases that they have on record to make sure they agree with your purchase.

Good luck.

BTW, I had someone order new cards from companies. They then had the post office notify them of deliveries ( I didn't know you could do that). The post office sent me a card indicating that someone signed up for notification. I immediately responded that I didn't ask for this. So they stopped the notification. 2 days later 2 credit cards showed up that I didn't order.

I now have a locked RURAL MAIL BOX. The post office and state police were useless. They didn't want to try to stake out my mail box to find the culprit. So the only recourse was a locked mail box.
 
Gas station card readers are much more subject to being hacked. There is no one really watching them. 99.9% of the time I use a gas company credit card. If something goes wrong, maybe someone steals a tank of gas. And my real CC still works if the gas card does not.

Went on vacation a few years back and both my and my wife's cards got hit and turned off on maybe the second or third day. Embarrassing and extremely inconvenient. Fortunately we had other options for paying. I've started carrying enough cash to keep this from happening. If I think there is any chance of a card hack I pay cash.
 
I have those alpine credit card sleeves. I have never had a card failure since I started using them. I did have 1 failure using just a paper sleeve.

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