You’ve probably seen the little sticker on a new credit card that says the above. I wonder what the reason is for the company to want you to call from your home phone.
I have done this once in the past from a different phone, and never had a problem, but that doesn’t really prove anything.
Just curious, is all.
If you can call from your home phone, they can recognize the ANI information, and the process is quicker. If you call from another phone, they’ll ask you more questions or have you talk to someone, but they won’t specifically say, oh, we’re doing this because you’re calling from a different line. It just seems like a seamless part of the process.
It’s just a security measure. Otherwise, anyone could intercept the card and activate it. I have never tried activating mine from anywhere else but home but I assumed the credit card company’s automated system compared the caller ID from the number you are calling from to your home phone for verification.
I assume it’s to keep someone from stealing it out of your mailbox and then being able to use it…
I would assume if you try to activate it from elsewhere it would ask for your SSN (in fact, now that I think about it, I’ve activated from work and then it asks if I want to add that number to my account).
It does bug me a bit that as long as you call from a home phone all they ask for is your zip code. Seems like a good way to have a problem with an ex-wife/ex-husband/gf/bf etc etc etc. Hell, now that I think about it, if someone found it in your mail all they would have to do is hook a phone up to the box on the back of your house and they could do it.
As mentioned, this was probably a longer process (perhaps involving a person–ugh) than it would have been from your home phone.
Doesn’t the fact that caller ID numbers are ridiculously easy to spoof kind of make this security feature a liability?
It probably was, but I just don’t remember.
Anyway, the answers make sense as an additional security measure.
The kind of caller ID that an 800 number owner has (ANI, as mentioned above) isn’t nearly as spoofable as regular caller ID.
Just an extra safe guard. If someone steals the card, they most likely won’t know your home number/have access to it/etc. Yes, numbers can be spoofed, but not everyone can/will do that.
In my experience, whether you activate it or not, it is activated. At least this is the case for the Discover® card. I did not wish to use it any more, yet they kept sending me renewal cards. I finally called them about this, and they said that if I don’t call, it’s automatically activated. 
I said then what’s the point of activating it? To which I received no answer.
Toll free numbers (800, 888, 877 etc) are different, because the person who owns the numbers pays for the call so they have a right to see who is calling. When I’ve worked for businesses we were able to see all the numbers who called our toll free lines and see how long the call was for (handy for when employees are using the numbers to have their long distance relations call them at work).
You don’t even have to activate those cards. I tried it once, I got the card and went to Walgreens. The clerk said, “he’d have to call it in.” They handed me the phone and asked me a few questions, “Mother’s maiden name, last 4 digits of my SS# and something else,” then the charge went through fine.
Oh? My daughter got a new one when she was in Germany, and we got all sorts of calls from security about her not activating it. It was actually a bit of a hassle - but not one I blame them for. It was definitely not activated by default.
I can only speak about my experience with Discover® card. Actually, as I recall now, after failing to authenticate a couple of renewals, I go a call from Discover questioning why I never use their card. I told them I never authenticated their card and never intend to use it. That’s when I got the response I posted above.
My experience was the opposite. We received two Discover cards. I activated mine. Turns out there is yet another number on the back of the card that has to be used during activation and my wife’s card had a different number. We found out when she tried to use the card and it did not work. Discover was very helpful in activating the card. A very cheerful-almost giddy-young lady from Salt Lake City helped. It was a pleasure to talk to someone to whom English is a first language. Though I haven’t had trouble with our friends in India, it is clear those responses are being filtered through a foreign language. Very nice people there as well, but both sides of the conversation have to be on guard to make sure that the communication is successful.
The number on the back on credit cards (except for AmEX, where it is on the front) is a security code and you need that if you order anything on the web or by mail. Actually, it should be checked even in person-to-person transactions.
Minor nit pick (could have been what you meant anyways). The CVV code is ONLY used during transactions where the card is not being swipped. It’s never printed on a receipt and it’s not raised so it can’t be imprinted anywhere, in reality it should never be written on anything. It’s used during keyed in transactions to prove that the customer actually has the card in their hand, often times that charge will still go through even if the CVV code is wrong.
What’s strange is that our new CC terminal doesn’t ask for it.