Create Bank Activity Alerts. It could save your @$$

Yesterday I received a text message on my phone at and an email about 2pm. It said my debit card transaction exceeded my alert limit of $30. I was thinking to myself this was strange as I've been at work all day and didn't use my debit card today.

I immediately logged into my online bank account and saw pending charges in the amount of $87.98 for The Collagen Store & $15.97 for NetFlix. I immediately though, Oh no, somehow my debit card number has been compromised.

What did I do next?

1. Didn't panic and called my bank to let them know I had unauthorized debit card transactions on my account. They closed my debit card and issued me another one. (It came in two days.)

2. I called NetFlix and they were very understanding and closed the newly opened account. (The one I didn't open.)From how the customer rep handled my call, I'm guessing this wasn't the first time they have seen something like this.

3. I did a Google search for "The Collagen Store" with no results. My bank did refund the money back to me and sent me an affidavit to sign.

The moral of the story. With text and email bank notification alerts on my checking account, I know within seconds where there is activity on my debit card.

Not having setup this notification system, I wouldn't have seen these charges until I reconciled my monthly bank statement. In the mean time, there would have been a total of $103.95 not in my checking account that I though was there. Can you say bounced checks? (Not good)