Life, Interrupted

Well, since I have to go do the Family Crisis business, I was going to find out about paying my rent. I no longer pay my rent electronically. The management of my otherwise very good apartment rental corporation has switched to a new portal, which is insecure. (I always read the privacy statements on financial contracts. They state that they aren't secure at two points, maybe three -- it's been awhile. Not with my bank info, they aren't.) So, I've been writing checks for rent and for the water/trash/bug man. This is a hassle when I'm out of town.

I can't give them the check before I leave, because they have to deposit same day. Don't like them so well that I want to give them two months of rent up front! If I pay with a Visa, I am assessed a $33 fee. My bank does not do eCheck, and I don't want to give the info to a third party. The apartment complex apparently doesn't know their bank account deposit number -- and I don't want to get into an argument with the customer service rep at the portal, trying to get it out of them.

Apparently I'm down to either calling the portal to try and get the code from them, or mailing checks to the complex.

I hope "annoyed" is still an option on Mood. Thank the universe the house in Michigan is paid off. It's looking like I'm going to need to find a new home. This one is slowly becoming a problem.

from a friend's LJ, for warning and sharing...:


"Another $2,000+ credit card fraud attempt hit my WAMU account this morning.
That's the second in about six weeks.

Thing is, this time it's against the new credit card number issued to me after
I closed my prior account due to the previous fraud event. The new card has
sat in my desk drawer with the little sticker still on it, not activated or
used in any way. No telephone shopping, no Web sites, no POS transactions.

Which means that the thief either broke into my house, copied down the info on
this one credit card without disturbing anything in my office and left again;
or WAMU's credit card data is insecure on their systems. There's simply no
other way the number could have gotten out except a hack against WAMU.

When I tried to explain this to the fraud agent, she wasn't interested. Not in
the script. So I talked to customer service and closed the account
permanently. There's no point in having another card re-issued if their back
end is insecure. She wasn't interested either. Also not in the script.

I very strongly suggest that if you have a WAMU credit card you close it
immediately. They are not able to keep customer financial data secure, and
they aren't interested in hearing from customers about the problem."