4 ms·

I got a great tip here on HN: if your credit card supports email notifications for transactions, set it to alert you on every transaction. On my Citi card the n

I got a great tip here on HN: if your credit card supports email notifications for transactions, set it to alert you on every transaction. On my Citi card the notification is called “Transaction amount exceeds” and is configurable with a dollar amount, which I set to zero. Now I get an email within a minute or two of every charge that includes the amount and payee in the email. It’s a great way to put recurring charges you might have forgotten about “in your face” and lets you skip reviewing your whole statement at the end of the month (and gives you a searchable “database” of charge history).

howenterprisey 3y ago
I have this set up with push notifications on my phone and that's very helpful as well.
criddell 3y ago
That would mean I would have to turn email notifications on or get in the habit of checking my email every day. The searchable database of charge history would be nice though. My card number has changed a few times due to data breaches at places I’ve used the card and I don’t think my credit card company’s search is smart enough to follow branches.
- ipince 3y ago
  Well, you don't have to check it _immediately_. I think as long as it's visible and you see in O(days) it would serve its purpose.
godelski 3y ago
This sounds like it can get a bit overwhelming. I absolutely abhor notifications on my phone unless they are things that need my immediate attention. Email is a particular pain where it is difficult to impossible to differentiate spam from legitimate communications. I really do wish banks or visa/mastercard would offer virtual card functionality. It really would empower users to have more control over their money and improve security and privacy.
- mckn1ght 3y ago
  I'm like you in that I hate notifications, but I love this idea at the same time, so I think I'll set up an email filter that sends them all past the inbox, right to a dedicated folder, where I can periodically review them all together. Sounds much better than logging into each CC provider separately, finding the statement area, downloading a clunky PDF, after probably having to change a password and confirm contact info is still the same, etc etc etc. A CLI to parse all the emails and roll them up into a nice summary would be a neat little project as well!
  - godelski 3y ago
    Actually this is not a bad idea. I was thinking phone notifications, but emails are much easier to control. Though I find filtering often not that great. I've been using Thunderbird, but if you have a suggested CLI email client that can "easily" (I live in the terminal, so that's the bar) integrate gmail and my work/school emails, allow me to hack on it, and __most importantly__ has decent documentation, then I'd love to hear about it. I tried Mutt many years ago but experienced too much friction, but things change and I haven't revisited the topic.
    - mckn1ght 3y ago
      I use the stock macOS Mail app to pull down Gmail etc, and its backing data store should be hackable, it’s all in sqlite3 DBs (although I just tried and I get authorization errors trying to work with them! Bet it’s SIP). I was thinking either a standalone CLI or something in emacs.
- peruvian 3y ago
  That's the point. Try it out for a month, get overwhelmed by your expenses, then cut back as you learn about them. After that month, turn the email notifications off and make a habit of checking the website every day or every so often.
  - godelski 3y ago
mnw21cam 3y ago
My phone goes ping every time any money goes out of my account. Yes, at the beginning of the month I get a slew of pings for mortgage, power, water, etc, but it's worth it. A while back my phone went ping twice and I was phoning the bank within minutes of a couple of fraudulent payments being made - ironically just before the bank sent me a text asking me if I was making the third one. Having it go ping every time like that is definitely a way to have good knowledge of what recurring payments you are making.
thehoff 3y ago
I do this too for all our cards. I still go in everyday to check but the email notifications are great. Every couple years we get a charge that is fraudulent and I always catch it before the bank starts calling (if they even do that). On topic, its a great reminder to see say the Netflix charge happened and how much. An example is we subscribed to Viki for a couple months and forgot to cancel. Seeing that charge was a great reminder to poll the house if anyone was still using it.
bombcar 3y ago
Apple Card (and some but not all cards you add to Apple Wallet) pop up a little notification every time they're charged. It can be nice, but you might miss the nighttime ones.
k2enemy 3y ago
I do this as well, but with Chase, and use a filter to stick them into their own folder so they don't hit my INBOX. I use maildir for my local email and have shell scripts built on top of easy filesystem access to my credit card purchases. Oddly, I get emails for everything except gasoline purchases. I'm afraid to contact support because in the extremely unlikely event that it gets forwarded to the correct people, the attempted fix would break something in my workflow.
matwood 3y ago
I love getting charge alerts. In restaurants I'll normally get the alert on my watch before the waiter gets back to the table. Though the SO sometimes gets annoyed when I text her about buying something before she's even left the store :D
ok123456 3y ago
I've been doing this for several years. Once, I caught someone trying to make a fraudulent ACH withdrawal from my account and was able to stop it basically instantly.

howenterprisey 3y ago

I have this set up with push notifications on my phone and that's very helpful as well.

criddell 3y ago

That would mean I would have to turn email notifications on or get in the habit of checking my email every day. The searchable database of charge history would be nice though. My card number has changed a few times due to data breaches at places I’ve used the card and I don’t think my credit card company’s search is smart enough to follow branches.

ipince 3y ago
Well, you don't have to check it _immediately_. I think as long as it's visible and you see in O(days) it would serve its purpose.

godelski 3y ago

This sounds like it can get a bit overwhelming. I absolutely abhor notifications on my phone unless they are things that need my immediate attention. Email is a particular pain where it is difficult to impossible to differentiate spam from legitimate communications. I really do wish banks or visa/mastercard would offer virtual card functionality. It really would empower users to have more control over their money and improve security and privacy.

mckn1ght 3y ago
I'm like you in that I hate notifications, but I love this idea at the same time, so I think I'll set up an email filter that sends them all past the inbox, right to a dedicated folder, where I can periodically review them all together. Sounds much better than logging into each CC provider separately, finding the statement area, downloading a clunky PDF, after probably having to change a password and confirm contact info is still the same, etc etc etc. A CLI to parse all the emails and roll them up into a nice summary would be a neat little project as well!
- godelski 3y ago
  Actually this is not a bad idea. I was thinking phone notifications, but emails are much easier to control. Though I find filtering often not that great. I've been using Thunderbird, but if you have a suggested CLI email client that can "easily" (I live in the terminal, so that's the bar) integrate gmail and my work/school emails, allow me to hack on it, and __most importantly__ has decent documentation, then I'd love to hear about it. I tried Mutt many years ago but experienced too much friction, but things change and I haven't revisited the topic.
  - mckn1ght 3y ago
    I use the stock macOS Mail app to pull down Gmail etc, and its backing data store should be hackable, it’s all in sqlite3 DBs (although I just tried and I get authorization errors trying to work with them! Bet it’s SIP). I was thinking either a standalone CLI or something in emacs.
peruvian 3y ago
That's the point. Try it out for a month, get overwhelmed by your expenses, then cut back as you learn about them. After that month, turn the email notifications off and make a habit of checking the website every day or every so often.
- godelski 3y ago

mnw21cam 3y ago

My phone goes ping every time any money goes out of my account. Yes, at the beginning of the month I get a slew of pings for mortgage, power, water, etc, but it's worth it. A while back my phone went ping twice and I was phoning the bank within minutes of a couple of fraudulent payments being made - ironically just before the bank sent me a text asking me if I was making the third one. Having it go ping every time like that is definitely a way to have good knowledge of what recurring payments you are making.

thehoff 3y ago

I do this too for all our cards. I still go in everyday to check but the email notifications are great. Every couple years we get a charge that is fraudulent and I always catch it before the bank starts calling (if they even do that). On topic, its a great reminder to see say the Netflix charge happened and how much. An example is we subscribed to Viki for a couple months and forgot to cancel. Seeing that charge was a great reminder to poll the house if anyone was still using it.

bombcar 3y ago

Apple Card (and some but not all cards you add to Apple Wallet) pop up a little notification every time they're charged. It can be nice, but you might miss the nighttime ones.

k2enemy 3y ago

I do this as well, but with Chase, and use a filter to stick them into their own folder so they don't hit my INBOX. I use maildir for my local email and have shell scripts built on top of easy filesystem access to my credit card purchases. Oddly, I get emails for everything except gasoline purchases. I'm afraid to contact support because in the extremely unlikely event that it gets forwarded to the correct people, the attempted fix would break something in my workflow.

matwood 3y ago

I love getting charge alerts. In restaurants I'll normally get the alert on my watch before the waiter gets back to the table. Though the SO sometimes gets annoyed when I text her about buying something before she's even left the store :D

ok123456 3y ago

I've been doing this for several years. Once, I caught someone trying to make a fraudulent ACH withdrawal from my account and was able to stop it basically instantly.