I’d expect that you’ll have more of a hair-trigger fraud alert on your card now. I had a fraudulent charge taken off one of my cards, and now they’ll freeze my card if any charges look suspicious. They don’t tell me that it’s frozen; I have to find out it’s frozen by trying to buy something and having the card denied. I call them up, they unfreeze my account, and then I have to go back to start the buying process all over again. It’s a pain. Not my fault that the (one) charge came on my account, but now they’re making it harder for me to use the card by proactively stopping charges from going through.

AMEX may be better about it than my card, but if it’s not, sorry about that!

Like Tomaste says..use some credit card management system. I use Yodlee and it has been awesome so far. (and I am not affiliated with Yodlee either). The point is that use any system that gives you all transactions at a glance. That way sometimes you will spot the trouble right after it happens…you don’t have to wait till your card statement.

But whether it’s transactions or statements..you got to read something to keep stuff in control.

While I don’t read every statement that comes through, I do see every transaction I make. I use a budgeting service called mvelopes.com. When I was desperate to get my finances under control, and blindly searching for a tool to help, I stumbled upon them, and it changed the way I look at and spend my income. It ties into any online account you wish to add. (I do my checking account and any credit cards) and shows you a log of every transaction you make. You then drag each transaction into a virtual envelope, simulating the old school envelope style budgeting.

Might be worth looking into! (I am not affiliated with mvelopes, just love the product!

It was nice of them to give you the refund. Other companies would have freeze your credit privilages.

Seems like these days you are never 100% safe.