Morning!
So right as I went to hit “publish” on this post, I got hit with a 2nd great credit card tip so you’re gonna get a two-for-one special today 😉 Neither of which, btw, I’d ever heard of before in my 15 years doing this so of course I had to share!
The first comes from my friend, and fellow blog reader, Win (real name!), in response to my $500 subscription mistake I shared recently, and as he stated this would have most definitely prevented it!
******
“I ask my credit card company for a new card with a new number every year. That cancels any services that I pay for automatically. The service contacts me and I decide if I want to give them the new credit card number.”
******
HAH! Brilliant!
I asked him to explain more as I was intrigued as hell by this (was it really just to cut down on subscriptions?? Or was it more of a security hack?) and here’s what he wrote back:
******
“Did I tell you the story about my daughter losing my credit card? I let her use it for shopping. She called and said “I lost your card! I’m so sorry!!” She didn’t understand that I’m not liable if someone finds my credit card and uses it. (
The next day, I called the credit card company and canceled it. They sent me a new card in the mail. It took 7 to 10 days. I think the pony express was faster than that. 🙂
Disadvantages? If you have any online payments like cellphone, Verizon will send you an email saying your credit card didn’t work. You have to contact them to give them your new number. I’ve been doing it for a few years. No problems, but I don’t make many online payments from my credit card. I pay electric, natural gas, etc from my bank account.
I do think it’s a good security idea. There’s a big biz in stolen credit card numbers, so changing your number every year should help.”
*******
Ok so yeah – definitely good for security, but what a great way to force yourself TO REVIEW all your subscriptions each year too. And it’s not like it’s just a calendar item that pops up and you can brush it off – with this route you literally have to take action *right then and there* or the service you’re signed up for will be canceled!
Such a great idea, and for a few solid minutes I actually considered it… Until I realized I have over 25 places my card is connected to (10’ish bills + 15’ish charitable donations) and there’s no way I’d want to deal with that every year 🙃🙃 Def. works best if you only have a few accounts linked up and/or the patience of Mother Teresa.
Now onto the second hack…
This one comes from my personal proofreader, and blog fan, Lenny Bron, whose trick is a little more invasive but doesn’t require any major changes like that first idea:
*******
I have a new trick I’ve started ever since my C/C was electronically stolen a few months back (Chase is great at catching that stuff, btw).
I set my phone to get alerts every time the credit card is used at all. So now I know if something weird gets charged (even if it’s a subscription I no longer need) and I can cancel whatever it is right away or at least call the bank to stop the transaction.
So far, the system has been working well! And plus I can monitor if any of those pesky hackers are using my credit cards again!
*******
Another great tip at least in theory! It forces you to review all your charges EVERY DAY which is even better in the “paying attention” department! Of course, that can get annoying fast if you’re a big swiper, so it would be interesting to see if Lenny’s still doing this a year or two from now 😉 Perfect for those who rarely use their cards though, or even better: those who only keep cards for *emergencies*! You’d know there’s something concerning going on fast in this case!
And btw, on the topic of Lenny, I gotta promote his side hustle here as a proofreader as he’s super fun to work with and great at catching all those pesky misstypings of mine (or even made up words, like misstypings!! Don’t you edit this one, Lenny!!). He reviews all my posts for me, and as you can imagine has a lot of patience 😉 If you run a blog or small business and can use an extra set of eyes on things, be sure to reach out to him: TheBlogProofreader.com
So there you have it! Two great tips to consider!
Let me know if any of these ideas resonate with you and/or if you’re already doing them… And feel free to pass over any other creative hacks you have incorporated into your financial life as well! They’re all super helpful and you never know how much of an impact they’ll have on others!
Big thanks to Win and Lenny for letting me share their ideas here, and huge thanks to all of YOU for always reading. Will see ya back here again soon 🙏
FYI: Lenny proofreads my posts *after* I publish them, so if you come across any errors today that would be why! I’m too lazy to send them to him first to proofread 😉
(Visited 313 times, 2 visits today)
Get blog posts automatically emailed to you!
