Finance – Mouse Print*

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Surprises Hidden in Credit Card Fine Print

September 7, 2026 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Fidelity Signature Visa Recently, MrConsumer benefited from a bargain he wouldn’t have known about had he not checked the benefit fine print of his credit card’s website.

He has an upcoming trip to Washington, DC and was getting worried about all the airport horror stories of long lines and delays. He knew that TSA PreCheck is a means to get through airport security quicker but wasn’t about to pay close to $80 for a once-in-a-blue-moon plane trip.

It turns out, however, that some credit cards offer TSA PreCheck as a free benefit. But, only a couple of credit cards with no annual fee cover that cost. One is the U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Signature Visa, and the other is the Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card.

MrConsumer coincidentally has that Fidelity card but never uses it — until now. Double checking the fine print, sure enough that is one of the few extra benefits still offered by this card. And the benefit is available every four years. (TSA PreCheck is a five-year membership for $79.95.)

*MOUSE PRINT:

Fidelity PreCheck benefit

While reading the Fidelity Guide to Benefits, however, MrConsumer found two nasty surprises.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Fidelity Visa lost benefits

Purchase security, which protects goods buyers if what they bought is lost or stolen within 90 days of purchase, has been a mainstay of credit card benefits for decades. Lost luggage protection is less common, but a nice, valuable benefit to have had for years.

This move by Fidelity follows an industry trend of dropping costly credit card benefits, as it did back in 2021 when it discontinued their very valuable “extended warranty” and “collision damage waiver” coverages (see our story back then). After receiving complaints, collision damage waiver was subsequently reinstated.

So keep an eye on your credit card’s benefit list — there may be some valuable goodies there you didn’t know about or news of other benefits soon to disappear.

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Chase Email Alert Causes Needless Fraud Scare

September 1, 2025 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

MrConsumer has a rarely used Chase Freedom Visa card and recently received the following email:

Chase email alert

Immediately, a wave of mild panic set in. I scrutinized the email to make sure it was not a phishing attempt. But it really did come from Chase and the button really did go to Chase.

Clicking that button triggered a login request. After filling in the form properly and including a six-digit code I had just received in a separate email from them, I was faced with a request to do an even more elaborate verification process that required calling them and speaking to an automated system. So I did that and was now given a new 7 or 8-digit code to enter. At that point, I was able to get into my account, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. There were no new charges on my account.

So… I called Chase customer service. Before you can speak to a human, you have to pass a voice-verification test, where they ask you to say your name and address. They presumably have made a voice print of prior calls, and then they compare that to my voice today. Then you can speak to a representative. The representative looked at my account and saw no activity and said nothing was wrong.

While on the phone with her, I made my way over to “Chase Credit Journey” which I don’t think I have ever used. You can check your credit score there, and see your Experian credit report. There, under alerts, was this:

*MOUSE PRINT:

dormant account activity

It said an account I had with US Bank — not Chase — showed some activity after being dormant. What? Chase is telling me about a problem with US Bank? Perhaps I should be grateful to Chase for pointing out a potential problem, but I wasn’t.

Like the Chase card, I rarely use my US Bank AMEX but I did deliberately buy subway fare with it a few weeks ago to keep it active. So, while the alert was accurate, it caused needless worry.

Advice to Chase: If you are going to alert someone about possibly problematic activity on a dormant credit card, it better be about a Chase card. And if not, the warning email should clearly state the activity is NOT on a Chase card but rather on another account the bank monitors on customers’ behalf.

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SSA Email Misleads on Elimination of Tax on Social Security

July 7, 2025 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

The day after the federal “Big, Beautiful Bill” was passed by Congress, the Social Security Administration sent out this email to recipients:

Besides sounding somewhat political for a federal agency, it gave the false impression that the bill eliminated federal income tax on social security benefits:

The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples.

Before the bill passed, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that changes to social security could not be made in this type of bill and the provision to not tax social security benefits was completely removed from it.

*MOUSE PRINT:

So how can the Social Security Administration claim the new law includes such a provision? They point to another measure in the law — a new $6,000 senior deduction — that would supposedly offset the income taxes that would otherwise be due on social security earnings for most people. The deduction is applied against other income too, however. And as their income rises, the deduction decreases to zero and is completely phased out after 2028.

Many major media outlets over the weekend reported on the misrepresentation in the email from the Social Security Administration. (See stories from NBC, Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN.)

I know, some of you will say these are liberal media outlets and are not objective. So, MrConsumer uploaded the entire SSA email to Google Gemini and Microsoft CoPilot and asked these AI services to “evaluate the veracity and factual accuracy” of that email.

Here is what each said about the key claim that the new law contained a provision eliminating income tax on social security benefits:

*MOUSE PRINT:

“The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries…”:

This statement is inaccurate in its phrasing. As noted above, the law does not eliminate the taxation of benefits, but rather provides a deduction that can lead to many beneficiaries paying no tax on their benefits due to reduced overall taxable income. —Google Gemini

Claim: “The bill eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries.”

– Misleading. The bill does not change the underlying tax code that governs how Social Security benefits are taxed.
– Instead, it adds a temporary deduction that applies to all income, not just Social Security. This means the tax is still technically in place, but many seniors will owe nothing due to the deduction.
– The deduction phases out for individuals earning over $75,000 and couples over $150,000, and it expires after 2028 unless renewed. — Microsoft CoPilot

What do you think? Did the SSA email cross the line? Offer your comments below, but please do not turn this into a pro or anti Tr–p rant, or a pro or anti political party diatribe.