Tag Archives: Barclays Bank

Chase, Wells Fargo, and other Banks Create Voiceprints from Calls to Prevent Fraud

Which Credit Card

Chase, Wells Fargo, and other Banks Create Voiceprints from Calls to Prevent Fraud

Starting soon, you may hear the following message when you call your credit card company: “This call may be monitored, recorded and processed for quality assurance and fraud prevention purposes.”  The statement is slightly different than the usual, “This call will be monitored or recorded…”  According to a CNBC article published a few hours ago (link), credit card companies (especially Chase and Wells Fargo) are investing in “voice biometric technology to screen calls for signs of fraud.”

The banks can compare the voice on the phone to previously recorded and analyzed phone calls to determine if it is actually you on the phone, rather than an identity thief impersonating you.  The system is even able to recognize voices and determine if they are blacklisted for previous attempts at fraud.   Continue reading →

*Some* Chase Credit Cards Charging Cash Advance Fees for Online Serve Reloads

Update: 7AM PST – Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Freedom reloads are showing up as cash advances online.
AMEX Serve Logo

*Some* Chase Credit Cards Charging Cash Advance Fees for Online Serve Reloads

There have been reports on FlyerTalk (link) and some Tweets that Serve is now charging cash advance fees for *some* online Serve reloads.  Most of the cash advance reports state that Chase is charging cash advance fees for online reloads.

RRGG on the FlyerTalk thread (link) has some good info:

It seems like you should include a little more information if you’re going to start a new thread. You didn’t mention the type of card for example. NOT EVERYONE is getting a cash advance from Chase, as mentioned in the Serve thread.

There are reports of no cash advance today on:
UA Explorer Visa
UA Explorer MC
Sapphire Preferred
Southwest Visa
Also Barclay, Citi cards (Prestige), Fidelity AMEX

There are reports of a cash advance today on:
UA Club
UA Explorer
Ink Bold Visa
Sapphire Preferred
Also a Capital One card

As you can see it’s not even consistent.

Finally, in the past sometimes Chase has posted these as cash advance at first. After a few days they get changed to a regular charge. If anyone actually got a cash advance fee, you might want to share that.

Continue reading →

Random News: Last Day for AMEX $10 Statement Credit, iPhone 6/Plus Cases, Friday’s App-O-Rama Results, and Hang-Up-Call-Again Success Story

AMEX Serve Logo

Random News: Last Day for AMEX $10 Statement Credit, iPhone 6/Plus Cases, Friday’s App-O-Rama Results, and Hang-Up-Call-Again Success Story

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  I had the pleasure of meeting a blog reader (and hopefully a future blog reader) for coffee in Oceanside this morning to talk miles and points.

Let’s get to the random news, shall we?

Sorry for the late notice, but today is the last day to take advantage of the $10 AMEX Serve Statement Credit After Making 5 $10+ Purchases.  You must make 5 purchases of $10 or more with your Serve Card between August 15 and today.  The statement credit posts after a few days of making the qualifying purchases.

Serve $10 Statement Credit 5 $10 Purchases

Click here to read the full article.  Continue reading →

How to Book US Airways Off-Peak Award Flights to Europe for 30,000/35,000 Miles Round Trip

All award space and screenshots were taken on September 10.  Award space has likely changed (for better or worse) since this post was originally published.
USAir-Logo

How to Book US Airways Off-Peak Award Flights to Europe for 30,000/35,000 Miles Round Trip

US Airways off-peak flights to Europe are amazing.  I went to Europe in January 2013 and visited Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne, Munich, and Brussels.  In January 2014, I went back to Europe and visited Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, and Rome.  Of course it is cold in January, but if this SoCal boy can handle a bit of snow, I’m sure you can too.  The weather in southern Europe, specifically Spain and Italy, is usually pretty good year round.  Rome in January was about 50-60 degree each day.  Amsterdam and Vienna were about 30-40 degrees each day.  Berlin was freezing, probably 10-20 degrees each day.

With that said, a winter getaway could be just what you need.  Thanks to US Airways and their off-peak awards to Europe, you only need 35,000 US Airways miles to fly from the US to many cities in Europe.  The rules are:

  • You must travel only on US Airways operated flights (no American Airlines or One World Alliance partners)
  • You must travel in economy class (no business or first class allowed)
  • You must complete your travel between January 15 and February 28

If you want to see the full US Airways award chart and other off-peak dates, please click here.

US Airways Off Peak Schedule

To read the entire post, please click here.