Google Voice Now Receiving Bank of America SMS (Text) Verification Codes

[earthdome]

7 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Ok, I think I have some more good news about Google Voice numbers.

As described above I could not get into my Cap One account due to the e-mail option being gone.  I called them today and that is gone forever.  She said I would have to use a phone number and not an international number, then she helped me get into my account.  I changed the number to Google Voice, and it works!  Google voice send the text on to my G-mail, and I get it there.

That is good news. Time for me to get a google voice number. I recently had trouble getting Cap One to approve a charge by Cathay Pacific for my flight reservations to Hong Kong (Thants for the tip OMW). While on the phone I mentioned I would be traveling internationally and would need to update my travel plans with them so I wouldn't get charges denied. The customer rep told me they no longer do that. There is no longer anyway to indicate to them you will be traveling internationally or to what countries you will be in. They stated that all the fraud checks are now done based on your usage pattern. I could see this potentially causing a major problem for those traveling outside the US who don't have a way to validate the charges with Cap One.

This just reinforces the need to have multiple cards from multiple institutions and carry enough cash just in case you can't get your card to work. Also the requirement that you have some way to access the internet while traveling.

BTW, OMW, you can get a tourist SIM card at the HK airport. This looks like a good choice: https://www.hkcsl.com/en/discover-hk-tourist-prepaid-sim/

[OnMyWay]

16 minutes ago, earthdome said:

That is good news. Time for me to get a google voice number. I recently had trouble getting Cap One to approve a charge by Cathay Pacific for my flight reservations to Hong Kong (Thants for the tip OMW). While on the phone I mentioned I would be traveling internationally and would need to update my travel plans with them so I wouldn't get charges denied. The customer rep told me they no longer do that. There is no longer anyway to indicate to them you will be traveling internationally or to what countries you will be in. They stated that all the fraud checks are now done based on your usage pattern. I could see this potentially causing a major problem for those traveling outside the US who don't have a way to validate the charges with Cap One.

This just reinforces the need to have multiple cards from multiple institutions and carry enough cash just in case you can't get your card to work. Also the requirement that you have some way to access the internet while traveling.

BTW, OMW, you can get a tourist SIM card at the HK airport. This looks like a good choice: https://www.hkcsl.com/en/discover-hk-tourist-prepaid-sim/

Yes, Cap One discontinued the travel notifications a year or two ago when they implemented the chip cards.

I don't mind the way they have been handling the "unusual" transactions now, although it requires you to maintain e-mail access and can be a bit more hassle.  For instance, when I bought our Cathay tickets recently, I was turned down on the Cathay website, first pass, and I immediately got an e-mail about the transaction from Cap One, with a button to press "OK" or another button "Somethings Wrong".  Hit OK and it tells you to try the transaction again and it should go through, which it did.

On smaller transactions that did go through, I have got the same e-mail, but I did not have to submit the transaction again.

Thanks for the info on the tourist SIM!  We will definitely need it!

[earthdome]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

Yes, Cap One discontinued the travel notifications a year or two ago when they implemented the chip cards.

I don't mind the way they have been handling the "unusual" transactions now, although it requires you to maintain e-mail access and can be a bit more hassle.  For instance, when I bought our Cathay tickets recently, I was turned down on the Cathay website, first pass, and I immediately got an e-mail about the transaction from Cap One, with a button to press "OK" or another button "Somethings Wrong".  Hit OK and it tells you to try the transaction again and it should go through, which it did.

On smaller transactions that did go through, I have got the same e-mail, but I did not have to submit the transaction again.

Thanks for the info on the tourist SIM!  We will definitely need it!

For me the email verification for my Cathay Pacific reservation was not enough to authorize the transaction. I had to get on the phone with them and had to try to make the payment a half dozen times or more before it went through. Each time the Cap One representative had to reduce the fraud protection setting. At one point having to escalate me up to a supervisor who had more authority to reduce the fraud prevention setting even more. But that was an online transaction where fraud is more likely. Hopefully, with the chip card, there won't be any problems with in person charges if the vendor has modern card reader which uses the chip.

[Gentleman.Jack.Darby]

On 8/24/2018 at 8:38 AM, earthdome said:

Time for me to get a google voice number.

I'm a Google Voice fanboy and it's my preferred way to talk and text, but I understand it can sometimes be a problem to set it up if one is not a U.S. resident or is outside the U.S. when trying to activate it.

I've been trying to solve another bank authentication problem for the last week or so and I finally made some decisions and got everything set up yesterday - what I did costs a few bucks a month and is more complex (but with a lot more flexibility) than setting up GV, so it's likely to be of interest only for those outside the U.S. trying to activate GV and having trouble or those who don't have or don't wish to maintain a U.S. phone line of some type.

If you have trouble setting up GV and need an alternative that doesn't have the shortcomings of Skype and messaging apps such as TextNow, WhatsApp, etc., let me know and I'll explain it.

[Gentleman.Jack.Darby]

On 8/24/2018 at 1:08 AM, OnMyWay said:

Google voice send the text on to my G-mail, and I get it there.

Sending a text and having it forwarded to e-mail as well as transcribing a voice mail message and delivering it to e-mail are additional methods of getting them within GV.

If you sign into GV (voice.google.com) using a browser on a PC or the GV app on a cell phone, you can text directly without the use of an e-mail account.

Another option just in case.

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 8/24/2018 at 8:38 PM, earthdome said:

This just reinforces the need to have multiple cards from multiple institutions and carry enough cash just in case you can't get your card to work.

A prepaid travel card is good too for such circumstances.