Help with safety concerns

mr97

Perhaps the title should read reassurance rather than help.  I'm an older person trying to embrace modern banking but it just seems to be moving too fast - for me anyway!  I still find internet banking both extremely useful and frightening.  Starling is my new card for travelling and I love it.  Being a worrier I decided I take a few cards on my next trip to Asia - possibly next yr now due to the current situation.  I like the idea of having a card in my hotel safe and one on my person and decided to try Monzo (for a back-up card) or Curve.  With Curve I could use my banks not so hot standard debit card and use the fee-free features of curve to transform it into a travel card, so to speak. I was actually thinking of adding my credit card too but would need to be aware of purchases over £100? losing there section 75 protection.  So, like a big kid in lockdown, this is now becoming a hobby as I look at my options for travel and perhaps a day to day card/s.  What I'd like to know is are these cards ( particularly Curve ) or rather the apps safe?  My concern is on the curve app, I can not find any way of deleting/closing the account - just checking this prior to my adding cards.  I know I can delete cards from the app but I'm clueless as to what info is kept, what is deleted - if any - and can this information be hacked or accessed even at a later date?.  I'm just a bit old school and as much as I'm all for the bells and whistles I do ultimately want to feel my money is safe and is protected by security i semi understand and trust - also that i have a choice over my data. Believe me, I have tried to research and school myself but I really am out of my depth.  Apart from getting a computer science degree, I just feel more confused than ever trying to understand encryption in an area that moves so fast.  These hackers seem to be just as swift too, unfortunately.
I'd just like to know that using these cards etc that I'm not leaving copies of all my card details 'out there' on the internet or inadvertently handing over all my card details etc to apps that are fun and convenient but at the risk of real potential security issues?  
Sorry is this appears dumb but when it comes to all these new cutting edge banking cards/apps I genuinely do feel quite clueless.   
PS I haven't received the curve card as yet - in the post- so I'm getting as much info as I can before i decide to add my credit card etc
Thanks guys.
PS it's my first post re. such matters

tacpot12

I don't know anything about Curve, but when using a new service, and especially when travelling, I would say "Don't put all your eggs in one basket".  Take a regular card (and don't link it to Curve), and one that is linked to Curve. Keep your travelling cards separate from the cards you use for purchases in the UK.
Don't store the three digits on the back of your card on any website or app. 
Don't worry about understanding encryption; you don't need to understand it - any reasonable UK provider will have many safeguards in place, including strong encryption.

born_again

tacpot12 said:

I don't know anything about Curve, but when using a new service, and especially when travelling, I would say "Don't put all your eggs in one basket".  Take a regular card (and don't link it to Curve), and one that is linked to Curve. Keep your travelling cards separate from the cards you use for purchases in the UK.
Don't store the three digits on the back of your card on any website or app. 
Don't worry about understanding encryption; you don't need to understand it - any reasonable UK provider will have many safeguards in place, including strong encryption.

You cant store the CVV on any site or APP.
NO retailer is allowed to store that number as it is against the payment regulations. As such will see the company with a big fine.

Personally Curve is just adding another level of confusion to the whole process. Some Credit Cards charge Curve purchases as a cash transaction. As in effect it is a money movement to a 3rd party. Not the actual purchase.

mr97

Thanks, guys. You have helped a lot. I'm planning on using just one debit card (limited funds) to get the hang of using curve.  I like the idea of updates via the app with purchases and, of course, that it can turn my debit card into a fee free travel card abroad.  I think I'll keep my credit card separate.  Good to know all elements are not recorded from the cards re CVV and as for encryption, well I'm not even going to try and understand that!   I will take on-board your solid advice of "not putting all my eggs in one basket".  I tend to take cash (a great option for Thailand) a credit card (section 75 for hotel & incidental charges) and at least one travel card.  Always have this fear of been stranded penniless halfway around the world.    Cheers guys are really appreciate your time and advice.  Have a good one.

Mickey666

Not putting all eggs in one basket is of course good advice, but don't worry too much about losing cards while abroad.  I had my credit cards stolen while unloading my bags from a taxi at Gatwick for a flight to USA.  Fortunately I still had my passport so I was ok to take the flight.  I checked in and went to the airline lounge and they let me use their telephone (the days before I had a mobile phone!).  I called my bank and explained my situation.  They cancelled the card and arranged a replacement to be delivered to my USA hotel.   They also called the hotel to check me in since I wouldn't have a card on arrival.  I already had enough US dollars for the taxi to the hotel so I was all set.  I arrived at the hotel and all was well and the replacement card arrived the next day.

Basically, these things happen all the time, all over the world, and the banking/travel/leisure/hotel industry is used to dealing with it.  So yes, take all sensible precautions but don't let it really worry you and spoil your enjoyment of travelling.

As for card security and hacking, it's not a new phenomenon.  Remember those paper slips that were used with a manual machine to take an imprint of your credit card?  When I first travelled to USA in the 80s I was surprised to be asked if I wanted the carbon paper from the paper slip.  When asked why I would want that I was told there was a fairly common scam whereby people would collect the carbon papers from wastebaskets and be able to recover the card information for making fraudulent copies!  Many hotels and restaurants would actually make a point of tearing up the carbon paper in front of you.  The technologies might change but the basic scams remain the same!

eskbanker

Mickey666 said:

Not putting all eggs in one basket is of course good advice, but don't worry too much about losing cards while abroad.  I had my credit cards stolen while unloading my bags from a taxi at Gatwick for a flight to USA.  Fortunately I still had my passport so I was ok to take the flight.  I checked in and went to the airline lounge and they let me use their telephone (the days before I had a mobile phone!).  I called my bank and explained my situation.  They cancelled the card and arranged a replacement to be delivered to my USA hotel.   They also called the hotel to check me in since I wouldn't have a card on arrival.  I already had enough US dollars for the taxi to the hotel so I was all set.  I arrived at the hotel and all was well and the replacement card arrived the next day.

Which bank was this?  Sounds like outstanding service and correspondingly worth naming, although if it was a long time ago their current practices may not be quite so customer-centric....

mr97

Thank you Mickey666.  Very reassuring to know that there are facilities in place to help people out during such a crisis.  I imagine your mind would have been racing to try to figure out a solution after your cards were stolen.  I'm so pleased you managed to continue with your trip.  Thank you for sharing your experience, it has always been my worst nightmare, as I assumed wrongly, it would be a case of all bets are off!  Always refreshing to learn there some Good guys out there too.  Thank you for taking time to add your post.  Have a good one. 

badger09

eskbanker said:

Mickey666 said:

Not putting all eggs in one basket is of course good advice, but don't worry too much about losing cards while abroad.  I had my credit cards stolen while unloading my bags from a taxi at Gatwick for a flight to USA.  Fortunately I still had my passport so I was ok to take the flight.  I checked in and went to the airline lounge and they let me use their telephone (the days before I had a mobile phone!).  I called my bank and explained my situation.  They cancelled the card and arranged a replacement to be delivered to my USA hotel.   They also called the hotel to check me in since I wouldn't have a card on arrival.  I already had enough US dollars for the taxi to the hotel so I was all set.  I arrived at the hotel and all was well and the replacement card arrived the next day.

Which bank was this?  Sounds like outstanding service and correspondingly worth naming, although if it was a long time ago their current practices may not be quite so customer-centric....

OP mentioned having credit cards stolen. I'm pretty sure American Express undertake to replace stolen/lost card within 48 hours.

colsten

Mastercard have the same offer, delivery of a replacement card to you anywhere in the world within 24–48 hours
 https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/consumers/get-support/global-services.html

I'd be surprised if VISA didn't do similar.

Mickey666

Apologies for the confusion, it was my credit card that was stolen so the 'bank' was actually the credit card company.  It was an Alliance & Leicester card.    This was around 2002/3.

Amex does offer quick replacements and I could have had a company Amex card as I was travelling a lot on business at the time, but I preferred the A&L card because it had a good cashback rate and the amount was unlimited at that time, so putting all my expenses through it meant I got 1% back on the money my employer was paying for my expenses, quite handy on around £35k a year expenses

I also had another minor glitch with A&L when checking into a US hotel one evening only to have my card declined.  I called the A&L emergency number and they explained it was declined because I had exceeded my credit limit.  Turned out this was a few days before the previous balance was due to be paid off by DDbt.  So, I'm stuck in a hotel that won't let me check in without paying for at least one night with only a declined card and not enough cash for the night.  They were very polite about it but there was no way they were letting me in.  So I called A&L again (this was around midnight UK time) and explained that I was in the lobby of a US hotel and I needed to increase my credit limit so I could check in.  At first they said no problem we can do that first thing in the morning, which I explained would be rather too late for me!  Once they understood they arranged a temporary limit increase of £500 so I could check in and all was well.  I would have been ok because my contingency was to call one of my US colleagues to help, but it would have been a bit embarrassing.  The obvious moral to that story is to take a spare card or at least check there is plenty of available credit  before travelling!

Incidentally, it wasn't just my credit card that was stolen - it was my briefcase.  I was unloading my bags from the minicab, took out my briefcase first and put it on the ground, turned around to lift out my main case and in the few seconds it took to get the case out and turn back the briefcase had gone!  I reported it to airport security immediately and they said they'd had a number of similar incidents that morning - so beware!  It can happen in a flash.