Who wants to be me?

Well it would seem someone does, or more accurately they want to be my credit card! For the past 2 years, I've had, in addition to my 'normal' credit card, a one which I only use online. This morning I logged on to pay for stuff and it was declined. I was a bit concerned, so called Nationwide - the ones who are proud to be different. Well different indeed they are!

Apparently my card was stopped on 5th June because a 'test' transaction was attempted by Carphone Warehouse to prove that the card was real. This transaction caused Nationwide to put a block on my card to avoid fraudulent transactions - very kind of them, however they didn't bother to write, email, or phone me, and there is no message on my internet banking to say that the card is blocked, or even asking me to contact customer services. Grrrr!

So my first indication COULD have been when I went to use it in a shop and it was declined - embarrassing. At least with online retailers you don;t see the look of 'Hmmmm' on their faces.

So now i have to wait 14 days for a new card and new account number for that VISA card.

I looked back at the online sites I have used that card at.......

• Justgiving.com
• bmycharity
• Amazon
• Ebuyer
• Amazon
• Amazon
• play.com
• Hammicks BMA
• Easyjet
• iTunes

Hmmmmmm none of those seem at all dodgy..... I guess I'll never know if it was a simple miskeying of the number of someone attempting to steal millions. With a credit limit for £500 it hardly seems worth it!


PS. The amusement of having to deal with Nationwide (who are based in Swindon) is that half the staff sound like West Country yokels and half like Billie Piper. Makes a change from teh BAnk of Scotland call centres anyway.