A plug for Citibank

I got a text at 4am, followed by a phone call at 10am, from Citibank.
They noticed unusual activity on our card.

I figured that it was just because we are traveling... but... no... the card that we use for phone and internet charges had been used - or attempted to be used - at 3am central (4am eastern) to make a small charge. Citi blocked it, and notified me by text. If it were really my charge, I could have contacted them and they would have allowed it. But since I didn't (I heard the text and turned over and went back to sleep), they denied the charge and put a block on the account until they could contact me.

Once we talked, they cancelled the card and were preparing to send a new one that would arrive Monday, but to our Livingston address. I said that we were traveling and wouldn't be back to the Livingston address for several weeks, and asked if the new card could be sent to another address - they readily agreed and it will be waiting for us at my brother's (along with several other assorted orders - family members know that the Cartwrights will be arriving soon when packages addressed to them start arriving!).

I am always pleasantly surprised when a credit card company recognizes fraud and protects me before it occurs!

FYI - with Citi, I use a "Virtual Account Number" (VAN) when I'm making charges on the internet. This service generates a one-time-use credit card number with an expiration date for the next month. If someone happens to capture my credit card number as I am using it, it will not be a valid one for them to use as the number is one-time-use. I have asked other credit card providers if they have a Virtual Account Number service, and no one else that I have asked has had it (Synchony or Chase, I believe I have asked). I don't know whether there is some other issue with the "VAN" - Citi has made some changes to it over the years I have been using it. But it seems to me that it would be a really good thing to provide for internet shopping...