Consumers concerned about fraud can have peace of mind with transaction alerts

By Mark Nelsen, Senior Vice President, Identity and Risk Products, Visa, Inc.

If you are like the nearly 90 percent of consumers1 who are concerned about potential fraudulent charges made on their payment card accounts, you probably check your account balance carefully and regularly. But did you know there is a proactive way to ensure you are aware of all charges made against your payment card without having to log into your banking app?

The majority of consumers (69 percent) do not know or have not signed up for transaction alert services offered by their banks. Transaction alerts offer security, control and convenience for identifying fraudulent charges and tracking spending. For cardholders in the U.S., transaction alerts can be set for specific transaction amounts, geographies or transaction types (ecommerce, phone and mail orders). Once an alert is triggered, cardholders receive a notification in near real-time via email, text message or push notification.

For financial institutions, the service enables consumers to report fraud as soon as possible-adding another layer of fraud protection.

Visa Purchase Alerts Video

What else did the survey reveal?

The survey found a few other interesting consumer behaviors and preferences as it relates to staying on top of payment fraud and spending, including:

  • Eighty percent of consumers track their spending at least once a week against a budget.
  • Millennials are the most diligent among all demographics, tracking their spending daily (millennials - 40 percent, generation X - 31 percent, baby boomers - 27 percent).
  • Despite being the most diligent generation, nearly 1 in 2 millennials (47 percent) would check social media before banking/personal finance notifications (35 percent) or the news (15 percent) when they wake up in the morning.
  • Three out of four (75 percent) consumers already receive mobile alert notifications of some sort (social media, news updates, text alerts or push notifications), but acknowledge sometimes feeling overwhelmed by their frequency (34 percent).
  • Among the mobile alerts that consumers check immediately upon receiving, text messages/chat notifications (55 percent) are prioritized ahead of banking/personal finance notifications (47 percent) and extreme weather alerts (45 percent).
  • Mobile alerts that are not checked immediately and least prioritized include news/sports updates (10 percent), utility provider alerts (10 percent) and home security updates (10 percent).
  • Sixty-three percent would likely sign up for notifications from their credit or debit card issuers, with their preferred method of alert being text message (42 percent), instead of email (35 percent) or a mobile banking application (20 percent).

As consumers become increasingly technology inclined, the payment industry is giving them more control in preventing fraud and over their finances with transaction alerts. Consumers in the U.S. can sign-up for transaction alerts through their card issuer or learn more about Visa's free transaction alerts service at www.visa.com/purchasealerts.

1Wakefield Research survey

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