Anyone have any info or opinions on how the scammer got a hold of Alliant’s member contact info? Received this email this evening from Alliant.
A scam has recently been identified in which a caller, pretending to be from Alliant’s Member Care Center, is calling Alliant members and attempting to obtain debit card PINs.
If you receive a call from someone saying they are an Alliant Member Care representative who needs your debit card number or PIN, hang up and do not provide the information.
The caller, who appears to be calling from our phone number, will give you a reason why your PIN is needed. For example, the person may tell you that Alliant needs to reissue your debit card, but to do so you must provide your debit card number and PIN.
They may just be calling random numbers hoping to hit an Alliant CU member. Just like when the calls threaten you owe money to the IRS and you are going to jail. They don’t know you owe money, they are just hoping to hit someone who does or at least is scared they might.
That seems like a long shot. Everyone deals with the IRS, I’d guess that a vast majority of randomly called people wouldnt even know what Alliant CU even was.
Remember, any merchant data breech likely exposes your name and phone number along with the credit card info. And if you know the card number, you know who issued it.
For new cardholders only that don’t have an Alliant credit card:
Alliant’s VISA Platinum Rewards offers 5000 points bonus for $500 spend in the first 90 days, That’s $50. It’s a no annual fee 2% rewards card with a possible 0% APR for 12 months for new cardholders.
Alliant is the only institution I’ve encountered that approves you for the card and sets the introductory APR rate based on their view of your credit, i.e. you might get 0% for 12 months, or they might approve the card and give you 3.99% for the first 12 months.
For those who care about such things, and who are on the same Alliant CC statement cycle as myself (I think Alliant offers two different statement cycles, actually), here are the next three upcoming statement closing dates:
Yes, they do offer two due dates – the 8th and IIRC the 22nd. If your due date is the 8th, then the dates you listed are off by 1 – the next three statement closing dates will be 3/14, 4/13, and 5/14.
The due date is the same every month and the statement closing date is exactly 25 days before the following due date. This doesn’t need to be announced as it can be easily calculated.
Example:
March due date: 03/08. February statement date = 03/08 - 25 = 02/11.
April due date: 04/08. March statement date = 04/08 - 25= 03/14.
etc.
I am sure that is what the rep told me when I telephoned Alliant. I wrote down the date information in real time.
However
We all know one too often must make multiple calls and speak with multiple reps, then use a voting procedure to arrive at an answer on such matters as this. I made only a single call, and I admit it.
Is your due date the 8th of the month? If so, then it’ll be the dates I provided, not the dates the rep gave you. You can verify my math by looking at all the previous statement dates.
You’ve got me on that one, scripta! I candidly have no clue whatsoever, regarding any of my MANY very active credit cards and surely including Alliant, what the due date is. Due dates on credit cards have zero impact on my operation or on my life. All that is of importance to me is the various statement closing dates . . . which I watch like a hawk.
I am a true student, and disciple, of Argyll.
ETA
Respectful of scripta’s post, I decided to telephone Alliant once again and make the very same inquiry. This time I reached a different rep, one who said she has a LOT of experience. Here is the statement closing day data this new rep provided for 2019:
This is regarding the Alliant Visa Signature card which offers a 2.5% reward after the first year at 3% reward (with no annual fee for that first year).
It appears the annual fee, following the first year, has increased from $59 to $99.
Q: Appears? What does that mean, Shin?
It is not clear to me whether or not existing cardholders will be impacted. They might be grandfathered . . or not. I simply do not know. However, new applicants will pay the new $99 fee after the first year.
So the latest statement closed, but it’s not available for download yet and from my transactions I can’t tell when it actually closed. I think that this rep may have been correct and my calculations were incomplete, as I found an exception in the past (last July) that may explain why the April statement may have closed on the 12th (not the 13th I expected). I suspect that the statements never close on a Saturday, but are instead accelerated one day to Friday, and we get a 26 day grace period instead of the usual 25.
Another way to calculate it, is if the 8th of next month is a Wednesday, subtract 26 to get the closing date, otherwise subtract 25.