We were Grinched--Protect Your Bank Account

I returned from my Minneapolis Grandma Holiday Trip to find that my debit card was no longer working. Jim was still out of town due to return on Sunday and he had no access to using our bankcard. It was Friday night the bank is closed and couldn't check our balance when a friend told me to call the banker at home. Thank heavens we live in a small town. He told me that while we are all out shopping so has the Grinch from my bank account.

The banker informed me that the bank had caught as many as 50 different clients accounts that had fraudulant transactions being debited out. The bankcard numbers had become comprimised. Our bank as a limit on our debit transactions and the two transactions against our account were over the limit. The bank Hotcarded our bankcard to protect us, suspending our account.

But that left us in a quandry, we couldn't access our cash, and didn't notify us. We carry a credit card with a small balance for just this sort of emergency. Jim will be able to take Nate and Stacey out to eat and still get home.

We will Take to Protect Our Bank Account

We will keep a limited amount of money in the account with the debit/credit card.

We will be opening a separate account has the bankcard connected to it.
I will be putting the largest of the money in the savings account, the main checking account will not have a bankcard, (it will be deactivated) and our living expense account will have a bankcard with limited funds availability. The Grinch cannot get much.

We will be making sure that our accounts are not automatically connected. The bank told me that most bank accounts will automatically be connected to protect you from overdraft charges. But for the Grinch, it gives it free reign to go into the next account and you will be surprised to find the account drained.

I will be watching daily on my on-line banking for fraudulant transactions.

We use our card as Credit instead of Debit (it is insured) and we are very thankful for our low debit daily limit. It saved us being Grinched to the tune of $1100.00 on Friday.

We will keep an open small credit card for emergencies or in case we get hotcarded again. It saved us being stranded out of town penniless.

In this tough economy, we are all struggling, and so is the Grinch!