Your Authorization PIN

     It makes sense that credit cards attempt to protect cardholders (but really themselves) from fraudulent usage.  Sometimes, they notice unusually large purchase amounts or purchases made in foreign locations.  However, it seems rudely inconvenient to make cardholders go through such a process to get their credit cards usable again!

     For example...

     A consumer attempts to use their card for a purchase.  For one reason or another, the credit card is "declined" and the card is "put on hold" so it cannot be used.  The cardholder is told to call the credit card company.  

     Right there is the first insult!  If the credit card company has the ability to INSTANTLY stop/hold a credit card, then it has the ability--if it chose to--to instantly have an agent call the cardholder to rectify the matter.  But, instead, the credit card company sits there and waits for you to call them (which might be while you're blocking a line of buyers behind you at a cash register).  

     So, the cardholder calls the 800-number on the back of the card.  Does the credit card company offer a speedy connection (consider the circumstances)?  NO!  They sluggishly make the cardholder (their client) wait "until their call is answered in the order it was received".  Can you imagine a hotel doing that to a distressed client?  When an operator (probably in Bangladesh) answers the call, the distressed cardholder must wait AGAIN to be transferred to the Fraud Department.  All the while, blocking the cash register, gas pump, restaurant waiter, or check-out desk.  

     If I owned a credit card company, cardholders would be issued a special PIN code to use in such circumstances.  If a suspected charge halted further purchases, the cardholder could enter that PIN to put through the CURRENT charge only.  That would prevent their embarrassment or the inconvenience of blocking consumers behind them.  After using that special PIN, the cardholder would need to call a direct hotline to alleviate the misunderstanding.  

     That's because I care about customers and would want them to know it, like TD Bank did.