dolphins_log

I received a surprise in the mail this weekend. I got a Discover card bill. I haven't used my discover card for about 18 months. The bill was for $27 written on a balance transfer check. All of my alarm bells and whistles went off simultaneously. I destroy those checks faithfully. I hate them. They can be used by anyone, above case in point.

Discover didn't waste any time in getting me in touch with their fraud department. Someone paid something concerning a 1987 Camero, gas maybe? They canceled the charge, and the second charge for $33 also on a balance transfer check. Then they canceled the card and are sending a new one. Okay, more alarm bells. The new one is also going to arrive in my mail box. That's the only place that anyone could have gotten their hands on intact checks. So now I have a password on my card. It can't be activated unless I give the password.

Furthermore Discover won't be sending any more of those convenience checks. They can suppress those. I didn't know that.

And finally, today, I canceled all of my excess credit cards. I kept doing those transfers for better rates back in the 90's so I could get my house put back together. [That's called "good debt"] It took about 20 minutes each to cancel those cards. They didn't want to let me go.

In the end I canceled $60,000 of potential debt! Yipes! Suppressed all balance transfer checks and put passwords on all remaining cards. Still... I feel victimized. I am now that other guy it happens to.