Banking in Barangay

[Jack Peterson]

23 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Skype calls are cheap

 Cheap as chips I will agree BUT can you call an 888 number on them 

[Jollygoodfellow]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Cheap as chips I will agree BUT can you call an 888 number on them 

I'm not sure but most likely a bank or card company will have more numbers or ways to contact.

Actually these countries you can

Quote

Yes, use the dial pad to enter toll free numbers on Skype. The following countries and number ranges are supported and are free of charge to all users:

France: +33 800, +33 805, +33 809
Poland: +48 800
UK: +44 500, +44 800, +44 808
USA: +1 800, +1 866, +1 877, +1 888
Taiwan: +886 80

 

[OnMyWay]

7 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Had same thing happen many times.. banks, credit cards, money transfer companies.  If they are dealing with your cash and they get suspicious then will freeze your account until you call and explain OR I have had one compay (XOOM) say they don't want to deal with me anymore and that was in the middle of an approved transaction.  I never got that money but they did return it to the source.

Changing banks won't help.  They all do it.  All it takes is finding a freakin phone that will call the company.  That is frustrating.  I was on a cell phone calling my bank on an 800 number and it still used up 500 pesos load and cut me off when my load ran out.  The world is going nuts.  Deal with it.

I have been using Google voice for several years now.  It is free for calling the U.S., and works for all types of numbers.  I usually use my laptop but I can use it on the phone too.

[Tommy T.]

13 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Skype calls are cheap

 

13 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Cheap as chips I will agree BUT can you call an 888 number on them 

Perhaps this is a bit too dear for some here...

I pay about $52/year to maintain a Seattle area code phone number with Skype. It works for any numbers just like any other USA number, including "toll free" numbers. But then, I don't need to use them since I can call anywhere in USA for no extra charges using regular numbers. I also have it automatically call forward to my cell phone Skype and just keep it active 24/7. It includes unlimited time on USA calls also.

It has worked out especially well when holding on "ignore" listening to lobotomy music or how much they appreciate my business - sometimes for close to an hour! It has given me huge piece of mind when resolving credit card issues/questions.

The only real problem is that there is a time delay of a few seconds so sometimes we step on each other's words. But the call quality has been excellent with no robot sounds, call drops or interruptions, even during calls lasting more than an hour with friends.

Like mentioned above, I have occasionally had issues when using the US ATM card if I exceed the withdrawal daily rate, make too many withdrawals in a short time (five or more within a week or less - I do that if I need more than P10,000 at a time) or go a long time without using it and not informing them that I am travelling here...

[GeoffH]

16 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

or go a long time without using it and not informing them that I am travelling here...

Yes I've been caught by that one too.  I notified my banks I was travelling to the Philippines but my card was randomly blocked after about three months.

When I rang my bank they gave me the 'you should have told us you were travelling' speech and I said "I did that before I left in February' and the staffer sort of mumbled and said that the travel notification only stayed on their system for three months (that would vary from bank to bank of course).

[Tommy T.]

31 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

Yes I've been caught by that one too.  I notified my banks I was travelling to the Philippines but my card was randomly blocked after about three months.

 

My bank's computer system seemed to learn - as one employee said would happen. Maybe two years ago I made a travel notice that they said would be good for so many months. Well, I kept up a regular usage of the ATM card every week or two... In two years, I haven't been dinged since. However, lately I made a big transfer for the house and expenses and so have not tried it for over two months. Whenever I need to, I will try it again and see what happens...

One of my credit card banks states that they actually monitor the location of my cell phone (if I activate the location function). This way they know I am physically in the same place as the card - or, at least, that's the idea. But I rarely use credit cards except for online purchases so it doesn't matter... I can turn off that service from the bank, but am not really concerned about that...

[Old55]

39 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

Yes I've been caught by that one too.  I notified my banks I was travelling to the Philippines but my card was randomly blocked after about three months.

When I rang my bank they gave me the 'you should have told us you were travelling' speech and I said "I did that before I left in February' and the staffer sort of mumbled and said that the travel notification only stayed on their system for three months (that would vary from bank to bank of course).

This is good to know Geoff. Something we should be aware of.

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, GeoffH said:

Yes I've been caught by that one too.  I notified my banks I was travelling to the Philippines but my card was randomly blocked after about three months.

When I rang my bank they gave me the 'you should have told us you were travelling' speech and I said "I did that before I left in February' and the staffer sort of mumbled and said that the travel notification only stayed on their system for three months (that would vary from bank to bank of course).

A few years ago when Capital One credit cards introduced the chip cards, they stopped travel alerts.  I don't have to worry about that now.  Previously, I had to go in every 3 months and set a new travel alert.  I logged them in a spreadsheet, to keep track of how much time had passed.

As I mentioned above, 

"If there is a transaction flagged, I get an e-mail with a green "good to go" button, and a red "no that wasn't me" button.  You have to chose one and then it goes to their web site and says "Ok, you are good to go".  I never had to use the red button yet.  They don't shut you down unless you don't respond within X hours or you push the red button."

[GeoffH]

9 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

"If there is a transaction flagged, I get an e-mail with a green "good to go" button, and a red "no that wasn't me" button.  You have to chose one and then it goes to their web site and says "Ok, you are good to go".  I never had to use the red button yet.  

That would be great, I wish one of the banks I used here had something similar.

[OnMyWay]

2 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

That would be great, I wish one of the banks I used here had something similar.

And, I actually get those alerts 3 ways, so it is not easy for me to miss them.  They send a text to my Google voice number, and that generates an e-mail to my Gmail.  And they send an e-mail to my Yahoo mail.