New Security "Feature"!

I got a letter from First Republic Bank today that was really disappointing. The letter is addressed to me personally by name and the very first line says: "We want to alert you to an important new security feature now being linked to your ATM/Debit card."

I like First Republic because they do things like sending you personally addressed letters. Their slogan is "It's a privilege to serve you," a sentiment I wish more businesses would practice. They pay you back for those stupid ATM fees that other banks charge. Recently, though, the bank must have been experiencing pressure to be more like other banks!

The new security feature on my ATM/Debit card? They will freeze the card from further use the instant they (or their software, more likely) decides that there is suspicious activity on the card. It will not be unfrozen until I personally talk to a representative of the bank and confirm that the activity is not suspicious. Chase and Citi and all the other banks that have owned my credit card(s) over the past few years have already been using this security feature and I have never been more incensed at customer service than when I find that the credit card that I maintain great credit on is refused because their {goddamn} computers decided that I was doing something unusual with my card.

My definition of unusual and their computer's definition of unusual is often quite different. For instance, their computer will decide that it's unusual if I travel to a different city and begin spending money. That sounds like taking a vacation to me! That has happened at least four times when I go to Santa Fe, where I happen to own a house.

This is not a new security feature designed to make the customer's life better. Instead, it is a cost saving action to get the bank off the hook for covering fraudulent charges by crooks who steal people's credit cards and get as much cash out of them as they can as quickly as possible. What's disappointing is that First Republic chose to introduce it to me as a benefit for me, rather than a major inconvenience that just makes their bank like every other bank in the world: Putting their profit margins at a higher priority than my convenience.

Comments

[Emma]

The great thing about First Republic is that if we give them this feedback, they are likely to listen. Unlike CitiBank, which has refused my decades-old card for such offenses as charging the SECOND half of a furniture purchase because the vendor had the effrontery to enter the charge from their delivery department instead of the retail location where I put down the deposit.