No bueno!

Yesterday afternoon my husband called me at work to tell my a message was left for me on his cell phone voice mail. Color me confused. 

Turns out it was the fraud department for our credit union. Three guesses what i'm about to say...first two don't count.

Yep, someone got my debit card number and went to town. 

• Entertainment Weekly subscription
• Netflix
• several online gaming sites
• match.com
• etc, etc, etc...

Luckily, they thought it looked weird. #1 because there were like 50 transactions in a matter of minutes and #2 I rarely use my debit card. And by rarely, I mean like once a week...maybe.

Generally Mr. Paisley stops by the bank and takes out cash for each of us for the week. We used to have a $100 each "allowance" for the week, but recently, we dropped it to $80 after crunching some numbers and deciding that paying off the TN mortgage (principle) at $1000 a year wasn't cool. So beefing up that payment and curbing our more or less wasteful spending. The fact that I have cash, is why my debit card is collecting dust. We pay for Sunday breakfast, gas at BJs and whatever store purchases we make at BJs with Mr. P's card usually. Why I don't know...I think he just likes to play with the card reader. This week, I did pay for groceries with my card (on Sunday...after going to BJs). Frankly, I can't tell you the last time I was in Publix, but I couldn't find ANYTHING in there. What a pain! Maybe I should grocery shop more often...that's not the point though so i'll move on.

I also NEVER use my debit card when I shop online. Sure it has a Visa logo on it and does indeed act as a credit card, but call me old fashioned, i'm a little paranoid about using it online when it's connected to my checking account. Oh and I do indeed have the card in my possession so no one "took" it.

So the card was inactivated and today I got copies of my credit reports from the big three. Nothing suspicious, but I put fraud alerts on them just in case. I have no plans to open any credit card accounts any time soon, so no skin off my back and better safe than sorry.

So - word to the wise...keep an eye on your accounts! Even if there are fraud units doing it for you. 

Here's a link to the government's identity theft site...because you never know.
http://www.ftc.gov/