My experiment with Citibank’s AAdantage MasterCard is (almost) over. Their security verification features pushed me over the edge. Every time I tried to talk to them on the phone I would come away frustrated.
Their phone verification system assumes that all their customers will have a land line or addition accounts with Citi. I have neither. They seem to have a specific bias against VoIP phone users. It was never sufficient for them to verify my identity using information on my account via SMS, email, or even phone. They invariably fall back on snail mail to verify me. Since I only use this card for travel, this repeatedly has been a problem.
The first time it happened I was early for a flight and decided to take that opportunity to activate my Apple Pay. I went through the usual steps and got to the final screen that displayed a message that Apple Pay could not be activated — please try again later. I boarded my flight assuming that I would have time later that day at the hotel to work on it. I tried to buy a soda to take on the flight and found my card was deactivated. Strange. There was no alert, email, or text to tell me that I was now sans carte. Now I had to call them.
This would be the pattern over an over again. Apparently, activating Apple Pay is something that always activates their fraud system. Perhaps Citi is trying to drive customers to use their tap-to-pay option by frustrating those that dare to use a digital wallet. Once I got to an agent, I was asked to provide my name, address, and phone password. Some times the agent would text me a code or send me an email. In those cases, we’d be good. In this particular case, the agent unlocked my account. Once the account was unlocked, I was transferred to digital wallet support. With the agent on the phone, we activate my phone and watch. The watch is my preferred way to use the digital wallet but you cannot activate it without activating the phone first. We end the call. All is good. I try to buy a soda. Denied.
At this point, I’m a little frustrated. I call Citi again. I still have some time before my flight takes off. The agent goes through the exact same script but at this time does not offer to send me a text to verify my identity. The agent is asking me if I can receive a call at my home landline. I explain that I am not at home and don’t have a landline. Then I am asked if I can verify the balance on another Citi account, like a checking or savings account. I do not have any other Citi products. I ask why the agent could not text me and was told that that method had already been used and could not be used again. It didn’t seem to matter that I was calling about the same issue 20 minutes later from the same phone number. The agent said they’d exhausted all the options available to verify me over the phone. No problem, they would just send me a letter in the mail. All I had to do was call back and read them the code. Time to board plane.
Hours later, in another city without a functioning credit card, I called back. Only after escalating to a supervisor, did I get to someone willing to verify my identity using the phone I had with me — the same phone number that is listed on my account. All of this just to unlock an account where the only fraudulent activity was activating a digital wallet, twice.
This is my travel card. I have used it on four continents with no trouble for the most part. The American Airlines benefits to waive baggage fees easily pay for the $95 annual fee. The other benefit I care about is auto insurance when traveling overseas. I had to use this last year in Ireland when I accidentally scratched one of the rims of my rental car in a deep pothole. Hertz charged me €800 for the infraction. Citi took care of the claim, no problem. Those are the main reasons I continued to put up with the verification issues. I used the card again this year in Scotland when renting a card. It is a good thing that I didn’t have any trouble because Citi had recently dropped the rental card coverage benefit. I read about it only after returning home.
I have had fraudulent charges show up in different events. The first time was while I was traveling in Florida. I got a popup alert on my phone that someone had used my card to purchase shoes. I immediately called Citi. That was my mistake. I should have locked the card first then called Citi. So I called Citi and reported the fraudulent charges. They said there was nothing they could do about the charges until the actually posted. While on the phone with the rep, I got a couple more authorizations hit for bedroom furniture or something. The rep offered to send me new cards in the mail, leaving me stranded in Florida without a card. I opted to lock the card and keep it locked except for when I am actually using it. I finished the last few days of my trip, called back, got new cards issued, and disputed the fraudulent charges. Since Citi had not detected the fraud, my account was not locked and I was able to keep using it. I use this card just for travel. It’s very likely that someone skimmed the card at some point. In the end all worked as it should and Citi took care of me.
This latest time with fraudulent charges baffled me and pushed me over the edge. Here’s the scene. I have a second card on the account for my daughter who is away at school. The cards expire in July. New cards show up in the mail. I’m getting emails and letters telling me that I need to activate the new cards before I can use them. When I activate the new cards, the card that my daughter has for emergencies and travel will get deactivated. I ignore the requests to activate the new cards. I plan to do it when my daughter comes to visit and before it expires in July. All this time, I keep the card locked except when I want to use it.
Then things get weird. I get an authorization alert for a 1¢ charge with a 1¢ credit from a company that does payment processing for gyms and health savings accounts. I check with my daughter to see if she recognizes the charge. I look at my account to see that it’s still locked. How do you have an authorization when the account is locked‽ Again I call Citi. The automatic identity verification does not work where you enter the credit card number using your touchtone keypad. I finally get to a person who is able to pull up my account and asks for my phone password to identify me. I report the fraudulent authorizations. While on the phone, a $151 Amazon charge comes in. Now I’m confused. How are these charges coming in if the account is locked. This is where I learn that the new cards, still in the envelopes, with new numbers that I have not even seen, is the card that has been compromised. I further learn, that cards are mailed unlocked. The activation is merely a formality and just the act of using the card could be sufficient to deactivate the old cards. Frustrated and confused, I have the new cards cancelled. I have to figure some other way for my daughter to travel without the card. A third set of cards are put in the mail.
Fast forward a week later, I have the new cards. Daughter is taken care of using a different bank. I removed the old account from my watch and phone. I add the new card to my phone knowing full well that a call to the fraud department is in my future. Just as before, the card fails to get activated. I call Citi. I am presented with new questions asking if I can receive a phone call at the “main number” for my work. I don’t even know what the main number is or who answers it. I tell them they can call my work number (also VoIP) but they cannot accept the number from me. We are stuck yet again. I wait a week for the postman. Meanwhile, they will not talk to me about the Amazon charge, my online account is a mess. My original account and all my transaction history is gone. I can see just the second and last cards. The fraudulent charges have been reversed from the second card and reposted to the new card. The postman arrives and I call back.
I manage to read the code from the letter to prove that I can receive a letter at the address on my account. I proceed to report the Amazon charge as fraudulent (again). This results in changing the state to be “under review”. I am told that it will probably be 6 weeks to complete the investigation. I decide to finish activating my Apple Pay and live with the frustration. I mean the baggage fees are pretty bad — if I ever fly again. The agent transfers me to the digital wallet person. We get the phone setup. The automated process just sends a text message when it is working correctly. I get the text. I enter it. The last step asks if I want to activate the watch too. I click yes. Activation fails. I tell the agent who assures me all is fine. I ask them to check again. After a few tries, the agent sees the watch authorization request and we clear that one out too. At this point, there’s a fraud alert on my account but I don’t know it. My new account is already disabled.
While all this is going on, I had a lot of time waiting on hold, as you can imagine. I looked and found another bank that has baggage fee benefits and foreign rental car insurance for the same annual fee. I decide to go ahead and apply for a card at the other bank. I’m approved and installing the app on my phone before the rep comes back on the line.
I ask the rep when my renewal date for my annual fee will be. Since I cannot see my transaction history online anymore. The agent does not know but helpfully suggests that I can search for it. I had a little trouble searching for it because the amount had gone up. I could only search by date and category. I was not sure of either. Finally we find last years charge in July. I was planning on keeping the account open until the Amazon issue was resolved but I do not want to pay $98 to resolve $151 charge. I decide to go ahead and cancel my account now. I am transferred to another person.
I assume I’m at the loyalty department at this point. They are following a script. I am not arguing. I just say thank you for the offer, please cancel the account. This took a while. Finally we agree that the account is closed. I managed to make it through some gate in the rep’s script. The rep’s tone switched from pleading to professional and took care of my request.
Another week later, I have my letters from Citi about fraudulent activity, activation of Apple pay, and the closure of my account. I tried to call back to check on the Amazon charge. I cannot talk to anyone because the account is under fraud lock again. I still have access to my online account. I’ll have to watch there for a resolution.
