Bad News! Just logged onto online banking and noticed two suspicious transactions pending in the account. Called billing dept and voiced my concerns to them. They said they cannot do anything about the charges until it hits my account. In the meantime, a new card will be issued to me in about a week. Now this is really scary because I still have the credit card in my possesion so I'm really not sure how the perpetrator managed to charge up the card. The inconvenience in all of this is that I only have 1 credit card. So in the meantime, I would need to go to the ATM to withdraw cash for all my usage. I feel so helpless without the plastic.
Has this happened to you before or anyone you know of?
How long have you gone without needing to use your credit card?
7 comments:
Oh no! Is there nothing that you can do before it actually hits the account? Can you not free your credit card so that no transactions go through? I once did this after I cancelled a gym membership to make sure they did not charge anything extra.
I have two credit cards and I don't use them that much. I didn't even start using them that much until law school. I regret not using them earlier because I have insufficient credit history and I rarely qualify for anything.
Good luck!
This has happened to me twice before. The bank really can't do anything while the charges are pending but it's a good thing you notified them when you did--they CAN block any future charges. When the pending charges go through, follow the bank's fraud protocol--you might have to wait 10 days or so, but you'll get the money back (if it's longer than 10 days, escalate your complaint. You notified them before the charges went through so there's no reason for it to take longer than that.)
There's any number of ways someone got your card number without having your card--ATM skimmers, unsecure online transactions, shady servers who take your credit card from the table to process payment. It's so common that the banks have a standard operating procedure. Just remember to update any recurring payments with your new card number when you get it!
This has happened to me twice before. The bank really can't do anything while the charges are pending but it's a good thing you notified them when you did--they CAN block any future charges. When the pending charges go through, follow the bank's fraud protocol--you might have to wait 10 days or so, but you'll get the money back (if it's longer than 10 days, escalate your complaint. You notified them before the charges went through so there's no reason for it to take longer than that.)
There's any number of ways someone got your card number without having your card--ATM skimmers, unsecure online transactions, shady servers who take your credit card from the table to process payment. It's so common that the banks have a standard operating procedure. Just remember to update any recurring payments with your new card number when you get it!
It's so common these days banks and credit card companies don't even flinch. Most of their fraud detection systems work pretty well, though sometimes you might notice your card gets declined and you have to call to verify you have the card and the suspicious transactions are yours.
It's happened to us in the past - probably 4 or 5 times, once twice in one year. It's just annoying and a pain.
There are card number generator programs out there that will create valid numbers. You can probably google and find some. Once someone latches on to your number, they may post it online and then others charge to it. Also, periodically you'll see stories how some big company's database was hacked or a laptop computer was lost with tons of credit card numbers on it.
Just keep a close eye on those temporary transactions. Sometimes they'll just go away. But in the mean time cancelling the card and getting a new card and account number is the best you can do.
Also, get another credit card from a different provider. If you have Visa, get a Discover or Mastercard. It is always beneficial to have a backup card - for either this type of situation or for some reason your primary card gets rejected.
Hey Money Honey,
I wouldn't be too concerned. By law, you're not liable for more than $50 of fraudulent charges on your credit card.
In fact, most credit card companies won't charge you anything at all.
I'll let my friend, Wikipedia, do the talking:
"In the US, federal law limits the liability of card holders to $50 in the event of theft of the actual credit card, regardless of the amount charged on the card.[9] In practice many issuers will waive this small payment and simply remove the fraudulent charges from the customer's account if the customer signs an affidavit confirming that the charges are indeed fraudulent. If the physical card is not lost or stolen, but rather just the credit card account number itself is stolen, then Federal Law guarantees card holders have zero liability to the credit card issuer"
Oh I'm so sorry this happened to you. I hope you can get those charges removed after they hit.
Two weeks ago my sister lost her debit card (she thinks she left it at the ATM) and somehow the person who took it knew her PIN number and managed to deplete everything out of her checking and savings. Because they knew her PIN number on the first try, she's having a hard time getting her money back after talking to her bank. But she filed a police report so they're going to do an investigation.
The good news is that you caught this fairly quickly and were able to notify the billing department so hopefully no additional charges will be made to the account.
SeeJaneGetRich.com - The bank was able to freeze my card and issue a new one right away. I'm sorry to hear you did not have sufficient credit history due to having few credit cards. Maybe you can open a few up and use it once or twice and store them away to start building a good credit.
Little Miss Moneybags - Yes, it was so coincidental that my DH had asked me to check my account online for something. That was when I discovered these pending charges. If it wasn't for him, I would have not know until a few days later perhaps.
Howard - Thanks for sharing your experience as I'm sorry that you had to deal with this so frequently.
Mike - With my situation, the charges only adds up to $70. It's good know that my liability limit is $50.
Making Me A Millionaire - I'm surprised there was not an ATM maximum amount of withdrawal limit for one day applied to your sister's situation. I know my bank allows up to $300 a day of withdrawal from the ATM. Anything above that would be declined. I hope she can recoup her losses.
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