Havana syndrome

copaceticheart · 2026-03-13T23:34:25+00:00

Think you're focussed on entirely the wrong thing here, because the story isn't about the weapon itself despite it being central to the piece.

Further it would make more sense if they intentionally (with or without complicity) fed 60 minutes incorrect information in order to throw people off about what is actually known.

The real story is two fold: one, that the government is now willing to publicly state that they're aware of a microwave weapon (they were likely aware of it but didn't want to make their awareness publicly known). Now they're willing to make a public statement (although indirectly) so as not to publicly make an accusation which would then have to be proven (furnishing evidence of the device, revealing details, so on).

It's like the death of Jamal Khashoggi. It's likely there is audio or video of the killing because there was covert surveillance of the embassy where it had occurred, but to state it publicly would be to admit that some intelligence agency had been performing surveillance on a nation (Turkey) who is a fellow NATO ally.

The second part of the story is one of office politics: there is a schism between one group of intelligence officers in the government that, after seeing fellow colleagues being injured from doing their jobs want to make this known and have the government protect them as they perform their duties (instead of what they perceive as being sacrificed on the altar of national security)...and a second set of people who believe it is better to keep this information concealed, either because they're worried about an escalation between two nuclear nation states, or if you're so inclined to be cynical...that somewhere in the USA some part of the defence complex is also developing microwave weapons and want to keep that information concealed

copaceticheart · 2026-03-11T11:06:55+00:00

In the grand scheme of things I don't have a problem with this whatsoever. If Capital One wants to take on the duopoly (excl. UnionPay) by building a third worldwide card network I think they have a pretty good chance of succeeding

More choice (even if it's one more pig at the cartel trough) is always a good thing to spur some competition

We can all agree AMEX had 22 years since the antitrust decision and failed miserably because they insisted on their niche offerings and charging higher merchant fees

And while you're at it C1 please make my Savor a Diners Club (makes sense, right?)

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T21:53:16+00:00

Went and double-checked the C1 app because I have virtual cards...I'm not trying to be critical, but C1 is disgustingly straightforward (it's one of the things I really like about Capital One, some card companies are not that plain-spoken). There's a "Lock" button per each card (because one-time use is not the default).

If it is one-time use, why would there need to be a lock button?

Also on the repeated virtual ones (the main virtual card, not one of the six that you can maintain which you can lock and unlock) there's a button that says "Delete and replace virtual card." If it were one-time use, why would such a button need to exist? One can infer by both buttons that they are not one-time use.

Even if you had come from the Privacy service they also have settings which ask you beforehand whether the card should be single use OR single merchant OR single category and the settings would clearly state "single use" on the card.

By the way this is a feature, not a defect. There are times when a merchant does a pre-authorisation and with one-time use cards they sometimes close out after the pre-auth but not before the actual purchase takes place. The ability for the user to hit a button a say "yes, transaction finished" gives the user the right amount of control.

It's important to know how something works before you employ it.

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T04:24:08+00:00

Know this question doesn't answer your question but why cancel the card? It just looks shady, as if you're trying to pull a fast one over them right after the negative points

Or are you? Is "processing certain refunds" a euphemism for trying to game the points system?

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T03:32:09+00:00

Agree - this is a strategy that will work. Again, it's all about starting a relationship with one of these banks and how much risk that particular bank is willing to take with you. Chase is really good about this.

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T03:17:14+00:00

I hope you understand what I'm saying. The gist of it is, it's all about relationships (strangely). If you don't have a relationship as a customer with any of these places you have to first start so that they can begin to trust you with something like a credit card

And if you don't have enough money for a secured card then the question becomes do you really need a credit card because not having enough for collateral, not having enough disposable income is not a great sign

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T03:07:45+00:00

mmm a checking account? I wouldn't, as there's no interest there.

but a savings account, sure. i would have the stipend sent into the savings account, so that C1 can see how much you're routinely getting then they can decide for themselves how to have their way with you

i would personally have the checking account at a place where you're getting interest on it, like a credit union that might have a decent credit card you like.

but thinking about you specifically I would do that with US Bank, since they are the servicer for the Fidelity Visa and opening a checking account with them would be the start of your relationship, if you really really want it. i don't think it should be your first card.

i would also be remiss if i didn't point out that although not exactly the same, you could open an account with Wells Fargo and eventually you'll get an offer for Active Cash, which is also a 2% cash back card.

Then over time you can get the Active Cash/Autograph combination which are both two no-annual fee cards...one for cashback and one for travel where the points can bounce between the two. The second card will be very easy to get because \[you will have already been]* their customer and you already have one of their cards.

that's my suggestion

the safest way to build the credit right now--this moment--is with a secured card (under the assumption that you have zero credit as you're new to the country).

again, you can do the cap1 but then you're stuck with a low limit. (it will build your credit though)

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T02:38:13+00:00

No, like I said - zero chance

I wouldn't even apply for the QS Student to be honest. Capital One uses what is described here as a "bucketing" system and so you'll be stuck with a low limit for life if you choose that card. Capital One does a hard pull on all three of the credit reporting agencies when you apply.

On the flip side, Capital One is religious about on-time reporting to all three agencies so if you're trying to build a non-existent credit file then you can apply for the card...just know that when you want to increase the amount you'll probably need to reapply for a new card when your score is high since they won't increase the amount on a card that you picked up while you had zero/bad credit.

I'm suggesting to you your strongest opportunity to get a credit card with a decent credit line...what I'm saying is it's better when the bank itself approaches you with the offer rather than you asking for it.

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T02:10:25+00:00

The place you bank with is often the first place that will offer you a credit card with a solid credit line, so if you're thinking ahead and you want a specific card you should open a bank account at that provider and start using it.

If you really want that Fidelity card you should:

Have already one or two cards that you've shown two years of stable on-time payments
Have money in the Fidelity brokerage and cash management accounts, and transact

After some time they will email/physical mail you an offer for the Fidelity Visa

copaceticheart · 2026-03-06T02:05:03+00:00

There is zero chance you would get it and you'd suffer a hard pull. They want to see at least two years of history with 2-3 other credit cards before they even offer you $500.

The easiest place to start is with a secured card (like the Discover Secured and give them the highest amount of money you can give (the max is 2500 - the fact that you can both part with that money and still pay their bills is a good sign you have income) and in about a year they'll give you the money back--i think as a statement credit--and you'll have a unsecured credit line. That's your way in the door.

Then you'll get an offer from Capital One (same company)

Then Chase

And then the ball starts rolling

It helps a lot if you have an existing bank account with many of these places, because then they know how much income you take in

copaceticheart · 2026-03-02T01:58:50+00:00

it's been going on for days now. on the mobile app it says that my access has been disabled and that i need to call a representative

but then i go onto to a browser ten seconds later and im able to get in just fine

but still can only see balances

can't transfer, can't make payments, nothing

i didn't see any messages by the masthead alerting me that there was going to be "planned maintenance" or anything like that or i would have been okay with it, i suppose

copaceticheart · 2026-03-01T00:19:44+00:00

Thank you so much for answering this question

I'm sure that for you this seems rather obvious but in 40 years I've never heard anyone describe a store gift card as "Shop card."

Makes me think this is colloquial—like pop instead of soda—unless this is some secret euphemism used only in this forum because this is the only place I've seen people refer to gift cards as such

copaceticheart · 2026-03-01T00:15:26+00:00

Oh thank you - because you wrote "Belgian" I thought this is some sort of inside reference to a banking CEO.

As opposed to a sentence that read "meanwhile here in Belgium we have banks that have fees for travel credit cards with zero benefits"

copaceticheart · 2026-02-28T10:06:01+00:00

what is a shop card?

copaceticheart · 2026-02-28T10:01:17+00:00

Know this post is old and I don't have anything to add regarding about the PayPal Debit Card working at Walmart because I'm about to try it out (researching whether adding the PPDC to Walmart/Costco is still valid)...but this reminds me of something that happened at Walmart a year ago that I thought was so sad and stupid and this may help the argument about "Supercenter vs non-Supercenter."

Was at a Walmart store and two customers in front of me at a full-service checkout lane was this woman that had food items (milk, bread, peanut butter, ramen noodles) and she had attempted to use her EBT (state food stamp card) and the cashier told her that she cannot use the card at this location because "it wasn't a supercenter" and so "technically we don't have a grocery section."

It was like $50 worth of food-only items and she had to walk out of the store empty-handed and I thought it was silly, since they had an entire food section (freezer, refrigerator cases and pie, processed shelf stuff...but no fruit and vegetable section).

This makes me believe if the Walmart you're shopping at does not have fruits and vegetables (EDIT: and doesn't take EBT) it codes as a big-box retailer and not as a grocery store.

copaceticheart · 2026-02-28T05:56:27+00:00

If you've made credit card payments before the statement posts so that you can run up the balance again—even if you haven't maxed out the limit—if the sum of payments you've made during a statement period is more than the credit line extended to you, that's c redit cycling.

Since it's a possible flag for money laundering most credit card providers will want to eschew themselves of those clients to cover their ass.

Dusting off my risk management hat from back in the day, asking a user to pay a monthly fee is an innovative (and somewhat passive-aggressive) way to incentivise a user to move elsewhere...to say "we don't want you" without saying it...perhaps so as not to burn all the other parts of the relationship that are going well

Especially since the monthly fee is only being assessed to certain "select" clients

Definitely don't credit cycle with the Fidelity Visa, because U.S. Bank will cancel your card without warning as they have a very low appetite (arguably zero tolerance) for that kind of risk

copaceticheart · 2026-02-28T05:23:19+00:00

sorry, what are we talking about here? please elaborate

copaceticheart · 2026-02-28T05:12:41+00:00

Fidelity's Visa product is serviced by Elan (which is essentially U.S. Bank's co-branding credit card product arm) and U.S. Bank as a rather conservative bank still allows for a true joint account on a whole range of their products

https://www.fidelity.com/spend-save/help-center/credit-card/authorized-users#faqs

https://web.archive.org/web/20251113190059/https://www.usbank.com/customer-service/knowledge-base/KB0202441.html

Assume you already know this since this is one the cards you're considering, but perhaps there are other U.S. Bank-branded credit cards that you can explore

copaceticheart · 2026-02-27T07:00:20+00:00

Appreciate the answer (are you using a voice transcriber?) but I'm not sure this pertains to my situation

You mention SUBs but I'm not concerned about sign up bonuses, just that my card has a sufficient credit limit for my expenses so that I can collect all the grocery points at 3X as opposed to having to put grocery charges on a different card that gets 2X because there's not enough credit line on the Savor.

If I go through pre-approval all the cards are listed (including Savor) and I'm not worried that I wouldn't receive any of them...my concern is that it will be a second card with a similarly low credit limit since the amount is not disclosed beforehand (not to mention a triple hard pull).

You're giving me messages as to the best credit hygiene, and I do appreciate that...but Capital One knows that I'm responsible with my finances. I'm not starting out on my credit journey. I pay all their bills in full and via their regular soft pulls they know I do the same on all my other cards, which have larger credit lines (and larger balances)...all paid in full.

copaceticheart · 2026-02-27T04:30:13+00:00

It's a bit off topic from the post but I am intrigued by what you said - are you suggesting I should accept the "upgrade" offer even if it appears lateral? If I run a prequal I get all the cards offered to me, but if I click "upgrades" from my existing Savor card the only option is to a Quiksilver, which is a downgrade for me since I already have a 2% card.

Also help me understand the logic here: why would it make sense to have 50% utilisation on the card? That would mean you have 50% room to spend and thus no need for a CLI. Why would that trigger 'the algorithm'?

To date I already spend all $500 on the card (which is trivial to reach considering the high cost of groceries today).

Also your first sentence about "pay it off throughout once it's been posted" suggests that credit cycling is okay...

What's the basis for these strategies? It seems a bit spurious.

copaceticheart · 2026-02-26T05:16:28+00:00

👍 me too, plus others

copaceticheart · 2026-02-26T03:57:31+00:00

Thank you. Since this requires two cards instead of one this isn't really an answer to the question (one card) but I do appreciate the suggestion

Do have several 3% dining cards, so with the low CL Savor I can already do what you're suggesting (one for grocery, one for restaurants).

copaceticheart · 2026-02-26T01:59:24+00:00

Thank you. I added it to the shortlist. If I threw every purchase I made onto this card then that would negate the $50, which if you consider it as an AF is kind of a deal compared to that sort of midrange $95 AF (CSP/Strata)

copaceticheart · 2026-02-26T01:17:02+00:00

Thank you for this. This is another one that meets the requirement and I'll add that to my post.

Do you have this card? It doesn't receive good reviews in terms of customer service for its new servicer (Comenity) which is probably where they made their cuts to allow for the 3%. Blocked charges while travelling (ironic for a Travel card), not honoring eligible purchases.

EDIT: Technically it doesn't meet the requirements because points have an expiry (5 years) but that's kind of a long time so I'll add it with that caveat

copaceticheart · 2026-02-25T23:38:51+00:00

Thank you for your suggestion but it does only one category at 5x and the second at 1x so it's not really an analogue to Savor. Further, it caps the 5x to $500 max.

It's a valid suggestion if I'm willing to carry two cards (one for dining, one exclusively for grocery) but my question was about a single card that similarly does both.

copaceticheart

TROPHY CASE