ACZoom  ·  Archive-2016

An example of a good intention and a good idea, but the implementation and execution of which completely messes everything up.

Citibank uses a Fraud Detection system - this is a software based analysis of a customer's credit card charges. If they find a suspicious charge or pattern, it is flagged.

So far so good.

From that point on, the consumer gets the raw end of the deal. To this day, it amazes me that people will believe the results from a computer program, and blindly act on it, without having it go through the smell test, without applying some human common sense.

Citibank policy is that if the computer has flagged a charge as suspicious, then they want the customer to call them, and explain why the charge is ok. If the customer is out traveling, or does not want to endure the hassle of a customer service phone call, then Citibank will automatically block all further use of the credit card.

So, based on a what a software program told them, without even confirming if what it told them looks really suspicious, they will automatically block use of the credit card. There are so many other options to handle this better - do have a fraud detection scheme, but don't automatically block the card - why not inform the customer of the charge pro-actively, and ask them if it was valid instead of asking the customer to call in? And so many other possibilities exist, before taking the drastic step of blocking the customer's use of the credit card.

Just don't travel or be out of town when using your Citibank credit card!

The charge in question here was a payment to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This is what amazed me even more - how could Citibank flag the EFF as suspicious - could they not do a simple search, find out what it is, and maybe even bump into the fact that it is a IRS registered, tax-deductible organization, and hence, not a fraudulent charge?

I like Citibank, and do want to see their stock price go up, but this was just too much, especially the fact that they automatically block a card when their buggy Fraud Detection software sends up false positives, false positives that are so easily found to be bogus, and so I canceled all my Citibank MasterCard credit cards. There are two organizations messing here - MasterCard, who probably flagged the charge, and Citibank who blocked the card. I contribute once a year to EFF - past years had no problems, but never used a MasterCard or Visa before for EFF payments, so this was a new experience.

Summary is to beware all credit card companies that have fraud detection schemes that are not backed by common sense.
Another good idea, spoiled by poor execution. Just another day in the world of software when it mingles with the world of bureaucracy.