Sentinel Card Services

...than done!

Sentinel Card Protection Service is something I’ve been using for years now. The Halifax introduced me to the service, when it was still a building society. I had just taken out a Visa card with them, and they suggested that for extra protection, I should consider Credit Card Sentinel. At that time, it cost £6 per annum, charged, then, to the Visa card. Nowadays, it costs £12 per annum and I charge it to a different card, ...
...found the missing cards again. Sentinel still remind you to get a loss report from the police to make sure your indemnity insurance remains intact. If they did this for you, Portsmouth’s* Police station would need a separate duty sergeant to handle Sentinel work alone.

*Yes, that’s where they are, not that it matters when you’re up to your arse in alligators in the Everglades.

I’ve not tried it, but I assume that if ... more

Sue Magee was only singing the praises of writing in the Financial section the other day, and I remember thinking, “Hmm, if only I could think of something to write about”.

Then a chance remark by Schmutzie set me going off at this particular tangent. There you go, Poppy, no sooner said than done!

Sentinel Card Protection Service is something I’ve been using for years now. The Halifax introduced me to the service, when it was still a building society. I had just taken out a Visa card with them, and they suggested that for extra protection, I should consider Credit Card Sentinel. At that time, it cost £6 per annum, charged, then, to the Visa card. Nowadays, it costs £12 per annum and I charge it to a different card, the Halifax’s APR having relegated it to the safe for a VERY rainy day!

WHAT DOES IT DO?

As anyone who has lost/had stolen a credit card will know that the immediate concern for the user is, or ought to be, to get the card “stopped” to prevent fraudulent use. Even genuinely lost ones could be found again, by someone, perhaps less than honest.

Credit card issuers will normally allow you a certain period to attempt to re-discover your errant card before insisting on being informed – probably within 24 hours. If you stray over their fixed period, then they hold the right NOT to indemnify you against fraudulent use. Please note: you may still be required to back this up by getting a lost property report serial number from the police.

So if you can do this anyway with a certain degree of convenience, why should you spend £12 per annum on an extra service? Well, if you really have only one piece of plastic to worry about, then that’s a relevant question. However, who has?

Along with a credit card, it’s quite likely that you’d also have a debit card for your bank account (like Switch), or possibly a cheque guarantee card, but probably not both, since the former doubles for the latter in most cases. Add in a generous sprinkling of store cards (the credit type, not loyalty points cards) and you’ve got a fair approximation of The Tardis, or my wife’s wallet to give its more prosaic name.

Just imagine how many numbers you’d have to ring to get that lot stopped! With Sentinel, there’s just the one – theirs!

CONTACTING THEM

In the UK, their main loss report number is manned 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, and to ease your pain, it’s a 0800 number - just in case you lost all your change too. Of course, calling from abroad, this just becomes yet another “+44 800” number to be paid for at the usual call rate. In my experience, the call answering time is good after an initial but not too lengthy filtering process along the usual lines of “If your left leg has fallen off, press 5 and for all other lost body parts, press 6” etc.

It helps if you know your account number with them, but they realise in the case of lost handbags etc, that knowing this may not be practicable, and this is where all those other tedious questions come into play, date of birth, mother’s maiden name (Marian is always a tempting one, or Bowes-Lyon perhaps). However tedious these processes seem, including telephone banking, they can be as careful as they like when it’s my money involved!

Then all you have to do is let them know what is missing, when you first missed it, and when it was last used legitimately (if you can remember). In my case, this would be difficult because I also use my card for Internet purchases, some of which may still be awaiting stock availability, or without my knowledge, actually be in the post, especially if I am away on holiday. Still, the occasional snotty e-mail from Amazon about invalid card details is better than some scallywag running up thousands in your name, just because you thought you’d wait to see if you found the missing cards again. Sentinel still remind you to get a loss report from the police to make sure your indemnity insurance remains intact. If they did this for you, Portsmouth’s* Police station would need a separate duty sergeant to handle Sentinel work alone.

*Yes, that’s where they are, not that it matters when you’re up to your arse in alligators in the Everglades.

I’ve not tried it, but I assume that if you inform them that your card is damaged and that you have disposed of it properly, then they can arrange for a new one to be dispatched, but of course to your home address, so I’m not sure if this would be much use to you or the alligators. At least you would not have to go to the Police though.

OK, THEY SAVE ON PHONE CALLS, BIG DEAL. WHAT ELSE DO THEY DO?

In addition to smoothing the path of life’s little emergencies, you can also use them as a safe repository for serial numbers of passports and driving licences. As long as you keep their telephone number safe, losing a passport might prove to be less traumatic if you can tell the British Consulate/Embassy/High Commission the number of the old one. Personally, I’ve scanned the vital pages of mine in low quality monochrome so I can’t be accused of encouraging forgery and placed it on my web-site behind a page subdirectory that only I know. Naturally, there are no links to it, and I would of course need to be somewhere near an Internet café to benefit from my efforts, but it’s an extra belt to the braces.

The one major problem to all of this, is keeping Setinel’s details apart from your money and cards. There is a great temptation to place the card they give you in your wallet……whoops!

Another little added security device they supply as an extra is a serial numbered luggage tag. Normally you get two of these, although for the life of me I can’t remember how much they cost. They come with a tough leather strap and are made of somewhat sterner stuff than credit cards. Any bags lost in the process of air travel stand a better chance of finding their way to you with these still fitted, even if all the other paper labels disappear.

OTHER THOUGHTS

Having just had to report my wallet lost with two credit cards, and my Switch card, this occurred to me.

Not only do I now have to wait until I can use the replacements again and/or get money from an ATM, but I’ve also got the tedious process of going onto Amazon, Play.com and God-knows how many other websites to update the account number for charging purposes, but worst of all, I’ve still got to speak to Sky Digital and O² about the change of account – I can feel another bout of “Lost left leg? Press 3” coming on!

The solution would be to keep one credit card aside, preferably locked in a safe for such transactions, so that you KNOW you haven’t lost it whenever de ol’ wallet goes missing. Also, this still gives you some spending power whilst in this state of financial non-existence.

Another thought occurred to me. In the constant search for that all-important low APR, we are constantly exhorted to make balance transfers to a new card. I wonder how many people bother to cancel the “losing” account. The more of these things you have lying around or in use, the less secure you are, especially if burgled. Think of the consequences of not even knowing what you’ve got, let alone being able to quantify what you’ve lost!

Incidentally, my wallet turned up (about ten minutes after the 24 hour grace period was up) – it was in the linen basket inside the “other” pair of black trousers that I didn’t even know I’d got, having gone through all the pockets of what I thought was my only pair. Primark/Matalan Sale Days have a lot to answer for!

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