Barclay Bank Put a "Hold" On My Visa Because I Made a Donation To ACLU

[we can do it]

they didn't bother to inform me - they just put a hold on.

[villager]

1. What!?

How can they justify that?

Hey -- can you get the ACLU to sue 'em, now!?

[Scuba]

2. Bingo.

[Snoutport]

3. CALL THE ACLU RIGHT NOW!

lol...let them do the dirty work.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. MOVE YOUR MONEY! Get thee to a credit union!

I don't understand why ANYONE still has their money in a Robber Baron Bank.

[we can do it]

11. I Don't Have It In That Bank- and am Moving Funds To My Credit Union

[ecstatic]

15. Also, you should know that your credit score takes a dip

when you close long term accounts. Moving to a credit union won't necessarily help either--most banks will put a hold on a card when they suspect someone else might be using your card (due to unusual transactions).

[PeanutGallery]

5. Something's not right here

I don't know why you're getting worked up about this. Why should Barclay's, a British bank, give a rat's ass about you donating to an American organization? Something tells me that there's more to this story than the OP is leading onto. I've donated money to Democratic organizations before and have NEVER had a bank put a "hold" on my accounts.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Wait Wut]

24. Wow.

Too much caffeine?

[mod mom]

14. Welcome to DU, you'll have to learn to ignore the rudeness of some here.

Most of us are considerate, compassionate & dedicated. Unfortunately, others (I won't name names because it's against policy) are assholes.

Welcome aboard. :hi:

[we can do it]

19. It Pisses Me Off When Someone Questions My Story With NO Reason To

when someone specifically names a transaction and stops you from using your account (my credit is totally up to date always) without notifying you in any way it tends to make you a little upset.

[PeanutGallery]

34. Thank you mod mom

Thank you for the welcome. I just feel that if they contacted Barclay's and they said that a "hold" was put on it because of the donation, there probably was more to it as to what triggered the hold, and it was explained by the person over the phone. Kind of like Paul Harvey's " ... the rest of the story." Was it an unusual charge? Was it an overzealous worker? Was it that the charge caused it to go over the limit? Likely, if the account was in good standing,once it was explained that they did in fact authorize the charge, the hold would've been lifted before they got off the phone.

[Wait Wut]

27. Ignore the "f off"

You're right. This happened to my husband twice in two weeks after he made a donation to another nat'l charity. The woman he talked to apologized profusely for the misunderstanding and said it was because of an overzealous flagging issue with their new software. It happened a few days later, he called again, it was resolved and hasn't happened since.

She did tell him that the reason the software had been changed is because hackers were using "charities" as fronts for scams and if you weren't donating to that particular charity before it would probably be flagged. Happened to me about 5 years ago. The bank asked me if I was making donations to a charity in N. Korea!!! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[we can do it]

28. They Made No Appology and It Would Have Been Nice For Them To Let Me Know

wtf they were doing.....and disallowing my grocery usual purchase made no sense

[Wait Wut]

31. I know.

The exact same thing happened to us. The kids were in town visiting and his card was declined at a restaurant. It was embarrassing as all hell. But, as a victim of c.c. fraud 5 times over, I'll put up with the occassional inconvenience. Thankfully, my bank has always been very helpful and reverses the charges (usually) within a day. The N. Korean one took a week, though.

[jacquelope]

29. And since it never happened to you

it can't happen to anyone else either. :sarcasm:

[we can do it]

30. Thank You. I Had Hoped Someone Here Might Care WTF Was I Thinking

I made that donation 2 weeks ago, went to get gas the next day-no problem....got a statement on the 13th with that transaction listed and paid in full- no mention of hold.......excuse me for being upset. Of course no one else here would have thought anything was wrong. Especially after being asked by they bank's customer service person if I had made a donation to the ACLU - and then told me "someone" put a hold on my account - she she did not know who did.

[jacquelope]

32. No problemo.

Been there, done that myself.

I can't stand those Johnny-come-4-posts-only people, thinks he's Sherlock Holmes or something... :wtf:

[spanone]

6. i'd suspect there is another reason. they cannot legally do that.

[pipi_k]

7. In case anyone thinks the donation to ACLU is the problem...

it's not.

Some years ago we had a credit card through a bank that sold all its interests to Juniper Bank, which then sold it to Barclays.

There was never any trouble up to that point.

Then Barclays got all crazy. It was in Mr P's name, but I had been using that card for a long time and paying on it regularly (actually I paid it off each month).

Some of the companies I used it for I had been a customer of for a long time.

But that didn't stop Barclays from putting a hold on each and every charge because I was using it instead of Mr P. He actually had to call Barclays and tell them I had permission to use that card and that they should NOT put a hold on it again.

But they did. Two or three more times. Then we got rid of it. I now have two cards in my own name and the only time there's a hold is when anything I charge goes outside the usual pattern...which I'm thankful for.

But anyway...in case anyone was wondering what's "wrong" with donations to the ACLU, it's not them. It's Barclay Bank. They're just idiots in general.

[we can do it]

12. Well I Have Made Several Purchase Larger Than That With NO PROBLEM BTW

and she specifically asked about the ACLU

[pipi_k]

33. Similar happened to me

One of the places Barclay kept having a problem with was Netflix. I had an account there for a number of years. My rentals were charged on a monthly basis. If they had examined their records they would have seen that. The monthly cost at the time was less than $15.00.

Yet Barclays was allowing charges from other places, for more money.

The place submitting the charges wasn't the problem. It was the assholes at Barclays.

[we can do it]

23. I Tend To Agree About Them Being Idiots

I called back when I got home - no managers to take call, they could call back within 48 hours? So I am supposed to walk around all weekend carrying my financial info in case they might call?

[Bandit]

8. Is that in writing or just your belief?

:shrug: If it is in writing you have a case..

[we can do it]

10. Let's See I Was At Grocery This AM Tried To Use Card -Declined

(first I pay off in full every month - its LLBean Visa )
The only items on it is gas, grocery and OMG ACLU donation - I just checked my accts this AM before going to store.......

Anyway I ask the cashier to try again, the accounts paid up - she said no- its declined. I said I will call and clear this up (let everyone else go by) Call customer service number - CS rep says "someone put a hold on your account" I said who and why? She said there is a questionable transaction - I said what? She said did you have a transaction with ACLU? I said YES - and there is no one else with access to my account - so who put a hold on it and why was I not notified??????? WTF?

[Amaril]

16. It was a charge that didn't match your normal pattern.....

.....my old bank once froze my debit card because I spent $300 at the mall, and wouldn't clear the hold until I called and confirmed that I was the one who made the purchase.

New bank is MUCH better -- they still flag for unusual purchases, but will call me first to confirm BEFORE they freeze the card.

[we can do it]

25. I Would Be Happy If They Called To Confirm Large-Unusual Transactions

the simple fact that they put a hold on my account with no notification -is what has me fired up......and that they declined my using it at a store I frequent made it worse.

[Thunderstruck]

17. You conducted a transaction that was not typical so they put a hold on it for security purposes

[we can do it]

20. No Not Really, I Made the Donation 2 Weeks Ago. I Always Go To That Grocery

The ACLU transaction showed up on my electronic statement - no star comment or anything. It does not make sense

[ecstatic]

13. Unusual activity often gets flagged as fraud. The hold would have occurred

regardless of who you donated to if that particular activity seemed out of step with your normal activity. It's supposed to be a protective measure.

[we can do it]

18. They Didn't Seem To Think Repetitive Tiny Charges By a Company In India

was a problem, even though I alerted them to it. And I commonly make donatins to causes like that so I'm not buying it. And - when I told the first CS person to take the holsd off then - she said wait 5-10 minutes, I said no, NOW.....she said ok go ahead and use it now.

[AzDar]

21. Banks suck. Please allow me to commend you for making a donation to the ACLU, though!

:thumbsup:

[we can do it]

22. I Wish I Done It Sooner

[FreeJoe]

26. Computers

I knew a guy that works on fraud detection systems for banks. The "logic" is crazy because it just looks for patterns that have lead to fraud in the past. It looks at factors like buying patterns, whether transactions are faceless or not, locations, past fraud on the account, types of stuff purchased, and all sorts of stuff. I highly doubt that they put a hold on because of the views of the ACLU.