[munger]

I bought something from Target in this window with a credit card (Wells Fargo).

I called them up to proactively report it stolen - the problem is they will immediately deactivate your current card and it takes 7-10 business days for the new one to show up. It is not possible to get a 2nd card number without deactivating the first (to avoid a no-card for 2 weeks situation). Or you can have them overnight it to you for $16.

Kind of annoying to pay $16 for a merchant error, or to not have your primary card for 2 weeks during the holiday season (and also the card you use to pay all service bills like cable tv, internet, city/trash/water etc).

Ultimately I decided to do nothing and just keep a close eye on account activity until January when it is less inconvenient to wait for the new one.

[clauretano]

Very inconvenient. I wish more banks had the feature of Simple[1][2] where from the mobile app, you can lock and unlock your card at will. They emailed customers proactively regarding the Target breach and suggested that if you are really worried, you can leave your card in a locked state and then unlock it only when you need to swipe it.

Since they by default send a push notification on every transaction, it'd be overkill as long as you respond quickly in the even of an unauthorized one.

[1]http://www.simple.com [2]simple is fantastic for a whole host of reasons. Check them out. I'm not affiliated in any way, but have been using them as my primary bank since early on in their beta.

[jisaacks]

I also have Wells Fargo. Whenever I have lost a card in the past (It used to actually happen a lot - I usually left them in ATMs). They would do what you said, only I could go in to any WF location and get a temp card until my new one arrived in the mail. If I was not near any WF location and I explained the situation, they would ALWAYS overnight it for free.