As MT.Net readers are aware, Target recently suffered a massive security breach when hackers stole millions of credit card records. Banks dutifully responded by issuing new credit cards to their customers.
I was surprised to get new credit cards in the mail recently as we’ve not seen any fraud with our account. Kelly mentioned a friend’s replacement cards coming with a warning that her friend’s old card would expire in 30 days. We both groaned at the thought of updating all of the automatic payments that are linked to our old card. It would take great effort to track them down and update them.
“Well, we don’t seem to have any expiration on our old card,” I said after thoroughly reading the letter that came with our replacement cards. It seemed we had some time to shift our accounts over after all.
We used our old cards every day since then until today when the card stopped working. I called up Chase, the issuer of our card, to figure out what was up. After wading through a voicemail menu that is maddeningly frustrating, a rep named David Norris came on the line.
“The old account number you had is no longer a valid card, sir,” he answered.
“None of the mailings I got indicated that this card would stop working,” I said. “I can go back and look at the paperwork…”
“Yeah, because there was … it’s thirty days from the time that we sent the card to you,” came his reply. “That was in the paperwork that was sent to you.”
You can listen to the call here (recorded for quality purposes, ‘natch):
[jwplayer playlistid=”16330″ height=”60″]
Rather than go round and round with David, I ended the call and checked the paperwork again. Sure enough, the letter I received from Chase said nothing about the old card expiring in 30 days (here’s a scan of the letter):
WLC1 4291
CHASE
Dear Customer:
Please begin to use this new credit card to protect yourself after the Target breach.
Thank you for being a loyal Chase customer. Here’s your new Chase credit card to help protect you after the recent data breach at Target stores.
Here’s what you should know:
– You have a new credit card account number, expiration date and three-digit security code to protect you.
– All your Chase cards have our Zero Liability Protection. That means you’re not liable for unauthorized transactions you report to us.
– Your credit limit, PIN, and all other terms remain the same.
Here’s what you should do:
– Please use your new card, and destroy your current card.
– Contact merchants who automatically charge this account (cable, cell phone, insurance, etc.) with your new information.
– Make sure your next payment is directed to your new account number it you pay through a bill pay service.
If you have any questions, please call us at the phone number on the back of your card.
Thank you for choosing Chase. We appreciate your business and trust.
Sincerely,
Julia Ashworth
Senior Vice President
Customer Communications
Chase Card ServicesPara hablar con un especialista de servicio al cliente en espanol acerca de esta comunicacion, llamenos a cualquier hora al 1-888-446-3308.
As you can see, there is no mention anywhere that the old card would no longer be valid thirty days after I received this. None of the other paperwork that was included mentions anything about when the old cards would expire, either. I’m fortunate I discovered this while I was at home, rather than driving around someplace. What if my car was low on gas and I couldn’t buy fuel?
I have no problem with Chase issuing new cards after a security breach. That’s a good thing. What I do have a problem with is not mentioning that my old card would quit working without warning. Chase dropped the ball on this one.