Booking Amtrak tickets with Amtrak credit card sends me to fraud dept

[bratkinson]

BofA got me yet again today! This time, they declined my card for a measly $7.75 for an all day card on Miami Metrorail! I didn't notice the email until an hour or so after I paid cash. Yet 2 hours earlier, the same card was OK for $40 on Brightline!

Putting $20 in the ticket machine was like hitting the Jackpot in Las Vegas! The machine started spitting out Susan B Anthony and Sacajawea $1 coins like it was Vegas!

 

[bratkinson]

I just got off the phone with BofA fraud department AGAIN!!! I can use the AGR card at gas stations, Walmart, Home Depot, grocery store, ebay purchases without a problem! But buying rail transportation...fails every time! This time, like my previous hits, was buying an Amtrak ticket with the AGR card. And foolish me thought that having Amtrak save the card number would solve the problem. Nope!

I also told the person that the next time I end up calling the fraud department again, I'll cancel the card! I've had it with them!

 

[jis]

In the past there have been incidents involving my AGR card that made me think that the fraud actually originated from within Amtrak. Or to put it more precisely, an Occam’s Razor analysis strongly indicated that. This would be consistent with BoA flagging rail ticket transactions more than others.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Have you tried calling Amtrak? In my case it was Amtrak's merchant account that was disqualifying the transaction at the Visa Secure (formerly Verified by Visa) security stage. Having a cobranded credit card may not have a meaningful impact on this type of check.

 

[hendo]

The ONLY reason I have a BoA card is for my Amtrak points. I have never banked with BoA but in my limited experience with them I never would. The customer service is terrible. I know I'm not a "valuable" customer to them as I never carry a balance - pay all bills in full and on time - so they don't make a dime off of me. I do hope that AGR goes to another vendor for the rewards card when the contract comes up for renewal.

 

[jis]

Indeed! AGR was sooo much better when it used Chase as their Credit Card provider. I still miss those days, though I still have the Chase Freedom Card that the Amtrak AGR Card converted to when AGR left Chase and moved to BoA.

 

[PaTrainFan]

The ONLY reason I have a BoA card is for my Amtrak points. I have never banked with BoA but in my limited experience with them I never would. The customer service is terrible. I know I'm not a "valuable" customer to them as I never carry a balance - pay all bills in full and on time - so they don't make a dime off of me. I do hope that AGR goes to another vendor for the rewards card when the contract comes up for renewal.

Well, they do make a few dimes off of you because of interchange fees paid by businesses every time you make a purchase with your card. Granted, it's not 14 to 21% interest on balances if you pay in full every month, but they're still making money off of your purchases.

 

[drdumont]

I agree wholeheartedly. BofA is totally uncontactable outside of business hours. I just tied to make an online purchase. Since the vendor is overseas, the transaction was questioned. After 5 calls to BofA, eternal auto attendant, I gave up. Used Chase card. Same deal, but I called Chase and while phone was ringing, Chase called me. Sure wish AGR would go back to Chase.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I never carry a balance - pay all bills in full and on time - so they don't make a dime off of me.

&

Well, they do make a few dimes off of you because of interchange fees paid by businesses every time you make a purchase with your card.

Although hidden from casual view, if you pay mostly or entirely with American credit cards then issuers and processors can collect and share up to about 5% of your after-tax wages in processing and assessment fees. That's a lot of dimes. It's also where all those monkey points come from, although in most cases you're probably better off with cash back cards and cash discount retailers.

 

[Maglev]

Regarding the economics of credit cards and points, I have heard that the airlines (and probably Amtrak) love these programs because they make so much money selling miles to banks. And as DA mentions, it's mostly driven by fees that we all pay.

The last time I bought tickets from Amtrak, the charge was initially declined. I checked my email and saw that I had just gotten something from the credit card company (but I didn't bother to read it). I simply tried again and it worked.

 

[Chey]

Indeed! AGR was sooo much better when it used Chase as their Credit Card provider.

Amen, brother!

 

[bratkinson]

I decided to go another route to avoid the fraud department. Since my current AGR card number is only 2 years old, give or take, account I thought I lost my wallet so cancelled all the cards, etc, it's altogether possible that the former holder of that CC number from 3-4 years ago still tries to use it? Or perhaps the number got stolen 3-4 years ago and the crook still tries it every now and then. I think it was THAT card that I got an email from BofA a couple months ago asking me to verify several small purchases i made earlier that day, and I had. So perhaps there IS some kind of recurring fraud attempts with that card.

SO....I applied for a NEW AGR card with the 40K points after spending $2500 in 90 days. No problem. It got immediately approved online with a generous credit limit as well. I wonder how long it will take before THAT card starts sending me to the fraud department...

 

[bratkinson]

Well...they got me again! And that was on my new AGR card that got me 40K points! I've already used that card for multiple Amtrak trips, but the one I tried to book today sent me a text to call the 800 number, blah blah blah.

I wrote Amtrak a flaming email expressing my displeasure with the experience and that I'll be booking the trip with a Chase credit card, which I did. I know it's not them, it's BofA that's doing it. Hopefully Amtrak has a bit more leverage with BofA than I do to get them to stop the insanity!

If BofA 'gets me' again when buying an Amtrak ticket, those credit cards will go into my "don't use" pile to keep my 800+ credit rating.