That Dreaded Credit Card Fraud Alert

By Erica Waasdorp

There it was: a text and an email message from my credit card company. Someone was trying to use my card in a different state!

I had traveled there the week before and stopped at one of those travel plazas to fill up my car. Maybe that’s where it happened.

How on earth somebody got ahold of my card information from my wallet and worse—was able to use it—is beyond me.

Something must have set off this alert because the credit card was not present.

"Card not present" fraud—the type of transaction you'd do online—is now 81 percent more likely than frauds perpetrated in person, according to Javelin.

In 2017, nearly a third (30 percent) of U.S. consumers were notified of a breach, up from 12 percent in 2016.

In my case, fortunately, this was the only charge; and because of this fraud alert, I was able to prevent future damage.

What a blessing. What a great service! But, of course, it’s also a pain-in-the-you-know-what, because it meant I had to cancel my card and wait for a new one.

Now the hard part comes: Which organizations was I donating regularly to? I don’t remember! I give to so many organizations and have several credit cards to do so.

Fortunately, I’ll be able to go online to my account and look back to the last month. But you know what, I have a better idea… I’m going to wait and see.

I’m going to wait and see what the organizations will do to get my updated information to continue my monthly gifts. How many will call? How many will email? How many will send me a letter? How long will it take?

So, as a fundraiser with monthly donor program, now’s the time to evaluate your processes. Make sure you have good in-house alerts, so you know immediately if a monthly donor’s payment doesn’t come in. If you’re not yet doing this already, make sure you track the success rate of your mail/email/phone monthly donor retention efforts and see what you can do to improve on it.

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Erica Waasdorp Author's page

Erica Waasdorp is one of the leading experts on monthly giving. She is the president of A Direct Solution, a company serving nonprofit organizations with fundraising and direct marketing needs, with a focus on monthly giving and appeals. She authored "Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant" and "Monthly Giving Made Easy." She regularly blogs and presents on fundraising, appeals and monthly giving — in person and through webinars. She is happy to answer any questions you may have about this great way of improving retention rates for your donors.

Erica has over 30 years of experience in nonprofits and direct response. She helped the nonprofits she works with raise millions of dollars through monthly giving programs. She is also very actively supports organizations with annual fund planning and execution, ranging from copywriting, creative, lists, print and mail execution.

When she’s not working or writing, Erica can be found on the golf course (she’s a straight shooter) or quietly reading a book. And if there’s an event with a live band, she and her husband, Patrick, can be found on the dance floor. She also loves watching British drama on PBS. Erica and Patrick have two step sons and a cat, Mientje.