2 ms·

I will frequently close credit cards when I terminate a subscription service, like a gym membership, just to ensure vendors don't 'accidentally' continue to cha

I will frequently close credit cards when I terminate a subscription service, like a gym membership, just to ensure vendors don't 'accidentally' continue to charge me. I guess Google has determined that my behavior is a bug and figured out a way to route around it.

thieving_magpie 8y ago
It isn't just google and even then you're blaming the wrong entity. This is your credit card company. I'm sure this solves a particular problem for credit card companies by significantly reducing their middle-man involvement between a customer and business in regards to their contracts. However, this should absolutely be an opt-in feature. Your behavior isn't a bug but it is atypical. Your workaround to an infrequent problem just requires a new step: closing and opening new credit card accounts.
- Simon_says 8y ago
  I actually misspoke in my post. I report the card lost and get a new account number. I have dozens of open credit cards at any given time. It's easy enough to move on to the next one, and it works for me.
crazygringo 8y ago
1) Do you really? You know that frequently opening and closing credit cards negatively impacts your credit score? Which means you could wind up paying far more money in the end for a mortgage, say? 2) If a vendor is "accidentally" charging you and you're actually in the right, chargebacks fix that instantly. 3) If you have an actual (multi-)year contract with a gym, cancelling your card doesn't get you out of that contract. Charges can often still be made to a closed card, you'll get bills from either the gym or your credit card provider, and it will go to a collections agency if you don't pay (and again, knock down your credit score). I really hope you don't actually do this because you'd be harming yourself for zero actual benefit.
- Simon_says 8y ago
  Ha, sorry, I misspoke. I mean I report the card lost, which closes that account number, but the account at the bank remains and my credit report remains unchanged. You can only request a chargeback, and chargebacks only work sometimes. I've done maybe 10 in my life, and I think 1 out of those 10 didn't go through -- the bank sided with the merchant. And I think if you do too many, the banks get pissed off. So depending on chargebacks is not a panacea. And I'm not talking about reneging on my responsibilities or contracts that I've entered into. I always resolve those.
sp332 8y ago
Yeah, and PayPal updated my credit card number and kept all the same subscriptions attached to that account.
scrollaway 8y ago
If vendors charge you after you unsubscribed, accidentally or not, they're in trouble. File a dispute (it's possible with debit cards, credit cards, SEPA, etc). You'll get a refund and the vendor will get a surcharge. Furthermore, vendors with high dispute rates get shut down pretty quickly by payment processors. Your behaviour is harming you far more than it's helping. This is a feature: You update your details and don't have to individually talk to every single service out there that use the old details. Of course ideally banks would have a way to let the users control these types of features but, you know, banks suck.
- Simon_says 8y ago
  That's only in theory. In practice, my solution is less hassle.
  - scrollaway 8y ago
    In practice, your solution is a major hassle. There are very good services that do what you do much better, such as https://privacy.com https://privacy.com.
jacobsenscott 8y ago
Yeah - this doesn't work. It surprised me too. The fact that Google is actually notifying you is a point in their favor. I've never heard of anybody else sending a notification. Good for them.

thieving_magpie 8y ago

It isn't just google and even then you're blaming the wrong entity. This is your credit card company. I'm sure this solves a particular problem for credit card companies by significantly reducing their middle-man involvement between a customer and business in regards to their contracts. However, this should absolutely be an opt-in feature. Your behavior isn't a bug but it is atypical. Your workaround to an infrequent problem just requires a new step: closing and opening new credit card accounts.

Simon_says 8y ago
I actually misspoke in my post. I report the card lost and get a new account number. I have dozens of open credit cards at any given time. It's easy enough to move on to the next one, and it works for me.

crazygringo 8y ago

1) Do you really? You know that frequently opening and closing credit cards negatively impacts your credit score? Which means you could wind up paying far more money in the end for a mortgage, say? 2) If a vendor is "accidentally" charging you and you're actually in the right, chargebacks fix that instantly. 3) If you have an actual (multi-)year contract with a gym, cancelling your card doesn't get you out of that contract. Charges can often still be made to a closed card, you'll get bills from either the gym or your credit card provider, and it will go to a collections agency if you don't pay (and again, knock down your credit score). I really hope you don't actually do this because you'd be harming yourself for zero actual benefit.

Simon_says 8y ago
Ha, sorry, I misspoke. I mean I report the card lost, which closes that account number, but the account at the bank remains and my credit report remains unchanged. You can only request a chargeback, and chargebacks only work sometimes. I've done maybe 10 in my life, and I think 1 out of those 10 didn't go through -- the bank sided with the merchant. And I think if you do too many, the banks get pissed off. So depending on chargebacks is not a panacea. And I'm not talking about reneging on my responsibilities or contracts that I've entered into. I always resolve those.

sp332 8y ago

Yeah, and PayPal updated my credit card number and kept all the same subscriptions attached to that account.

scrollaway 8y ago

If vendors charge you after you unsubscribed, accidentally or not, they're in trouble. File a dispute (it's possible with debit cards, credit cards, SEPA, etc). You'll get a refund and the vendor will get a surcharge. Furthermore, vendors with high dispute rates get shut down pretty quickly by payment processors. Your behaviour is harming you far more than it's helping. This is a feature: You update your details and don't have to individually talk to every single service out there that use the old details. Of course ideally banks would have a way to let the users control these types of features but, you know, banks suck.

Simon_says 8y ago
That's only in theory. In practice, my solution is less hassle.
- scrollaway 8y ago
  In practice, your solution is a major hassle. There are very good services that do what you do much better, such as https://privacy.com https://privacy.com.

jacobsenscott 8y ago

Yeah - this doesn't work. It surprised me too. The fact that Google is actually notifying you is a point in their favor. I've never heard of anybody else sending a notification. Good for them.