On Sat, 06 May 2017 20:12:31 -0500, dpb wrote:

On 05/06/2017 7:55 PM, dpb wrote:
...

The biggest difference is what you're already experiencing except in
spades--when a debit card transaction occurs, real _OR_ fraudulent, the
money is gone from your account at that instant and it's up to somebody
else to get it back or you're out.

...

I don't know just how fast these "holds" actually get cleared; I would
presume within minutes if not seconds after the transaction is actually
completed the final billing transaction occurs.

I tried to call the local gasoline company today, to learn about
their end of things (The gas station guy gave me their number, told me
to call them, and he's right.) but I couldn't get the phone to work.
My landlady/roommate told me it's a toll-free number but it's one
can't call from a cell phone!!!! So tomorrow I'll use her home phone.

Thus, even though your bank balance really does take such a "ding", it
lasts only a very short time and so unless you're trying to do two
transactions simultaneously, you never really notice.

OTOH, if somebody actually makes a fraudulent transaction, now they've
either got the actual hard cash if it were an ATM withdrawal

For that, they'd need the actual card. Which indeed I could lose,
but they'd also need the PIN (which is memorized and not written on
the card.)

or the
merchandise or whatever it was and the $$ are gone from your account not
to return _UNTIL_ you make the complaint and go through the process.

This is btw, why I want those email alerts, not to read about my
purchases but about whoever that guy is who's spending my money.

If it is really fraud, the chances of them cooperating as BOA suggests
you should do first is, of course, zero.

Good point. I think I was carried away with the fact that in this
case, it wasn't fraud and the merchant ... well he didn't have a good
explanation since he could barely speak English, but he pointed me to
one.

Only in the case of you're
dissatisfied with a purchase or the like does that ever come into play;
probably the least likely occurrence in the real world with gas pump
skimmers and all the other nefarious ways to compromise your security.

Yes, the bank is mostly just saying "Go away, kid. You bother me."

But it's not because of the bank that I went first to the gas station.
I wanted to hear from him first. Glad I did.

Glad to have cheered your day...

And I appreciate it. I'm going to send your original letter to my
niece and nephew for their birthdays.