Burnerblog

As I standby and wait for some pending charges to be declined so that money can be put BACK into my checking account, I ponder life without my check card. I hate it. It’s nice to be able to go anywhere and just whip out the plastic. I remember the days of having to go to ATM’s before doing anything. Sure, it helped you budget a bit better, but in the grand scheme of things, I like not being tethered to the budget just in case.

My life tends to be orchestrated mayhem, especially with the kids. Having the flexibility to spend a little more money if I have to is a nice luxury. To have only my debit card at the moment isn’t too bad; they’re accepted just about anywhere a credit card is. BUT, I do prefer using the credit card feature of my check card just in case there are charges I need to dispute, etc. According to the bank, it’s safer to use the credit feature of the check card than the debit.

If my money doesn’t reappear in my account by about 11 a.m. on the 25th, I’ve been instructed by my bank to file a police report. Then, I have to take that report back to the bank, and they will then begin the process of giving me back my money. The only bright side to this event is that I am protected and will eventually get my money back. The bad part is that I have to wait.

As an aside, I told Sherry last night that if I have to become a crime statistic, I choose to be an Identity Theft victim. I’m not fond of being assaulted, robbed, burglarized, or worse.

For the first time in my life, someone somehow got a hold of my credit card number and address and charged something against my credit card. Twice. Fortunately for me, I was literally looking at my bank card information when it happened and watched a charge happen to my account that I didn’t make. I promptly called the credit card company and they locked my credit card and flagged it as stolen. They’re sending out a new one, but later today, I will have to contact my bank and go in and sign an affidavit of fraud. I’m glad I caught it quickly, but since it was stolen, I’m not liable anyway.

It pisses me off, though, and scares me at the same time. I actually received a receipt in an email for “female viagra” from a Canadian pharmaceuticals site (fraudulent site, apparently). The scary part was that they had my personal information spot-on. Wow. I think that I crossed over into being a victim of identity theft, now that I think of it. I hope that this was the end of it. Now I will be scrutinizing all my accounts much more closely.