What can you do when your bank will not reverse unauthorized, fraudulent use of your debit card?

Question

Ive been in and out of the hospital most of the summer and when I reconciled my checking account after a few months there were appx 15 unauthorized debits from merchants I have never heard of, totaling over $3,000 that had been withdrawn from my account. Chase told me too bad and refused to reverse and I doubt they even investigated. What can I do?

Answer 1

Go into the Branch and request you speak to a Manager. Get his or her name. Then send a letter 1 regular 1 certified to the manager demanding that the credit be issued within 10 days or you will file a complaint with the Banking Commissioner. Keep a copy of the letter.

Answer 2

You need to keep trying no one else is going to reverse them. Contact the merchants and get a statement of why they charged and a copy of the signature used from you card holder. File a police report, allthough the police are no good the report shows you are serious. Go to a different branch and find someone willing to initiate an investigation of the charges. Have documentation that you could not have made the charges, this needs to be fool proof.
If you have all these things you should find someone to help you, if you cannot get these things together you have a problem. Most people come into a bank and expect to be believed on what they say, problem is a hundred people a month overdraft or charge to much and have a sob story when it most the time is their fault. If your story is true you should have no problem providing supporting documentation that they are unauthorized charges. Unfortunately too many liars in the world to take peoples word for things, you need proof.
This is how the banks will look at it. I know because I am the bank person you would be telling this too if you came to my branch.

Answer 3

Get proof you were in the hospital. You have will be able to claim the two special exception for going beyond the 60 day limit.

for unauthorized transfers involving only your debit card number (not the loss of the card), you are liable only for transfers that occur after 60 days following the mailing of your bank statement containing the unauthorized use and before you report the lost.

The special rule is not listed at the web site. That if you were out of the county or had an extended hospital stay. These rules are extended for another 60 days from they way I understand it. It applies for both credit and debit cards. I would check with an attorney first.

Answer 4

I think banks have some type of protection from people being able to come back months later and claim things on the statement are not right (60 to 90 days I believe). That is why you are supposed to reconcile every month to the bank statement. Since you were in the hospital, you might be able to get this waived, but your best bet would be to do it through a lawyer. Be aware though, lawyers get expensive fast!

Answer 5

By law they are required to give you the documentation resulting from their investigation. You need to go in and speak directly with the branch manager and request the documentation from the invesetigation resulting from your dispute regarding the items.

Here is the problem...usually you only have 30 days after your statment is issued to submit a dispute...you would need to provide unequivical proof that 1 the transactions could not have been made by you or anyone with fiduciary responsiblity for you and 2 that there was no way you could have reconciled your statment (they expect that if you are sitting in the hospital bed away that someone could have brought the statments to you so you can review them...banks do not believe that people would allow $3000 worth of transactions to go for months before they go to the bank to dispute them).

Do not bother speaking with tellers...their job is to enforce bank policy...they are told not to compromise. You need to speak with someone with authority and you should take the proof of everything with you (along with a lawyers name that you plan on hiring if they should refuse to do an investigation). You do have to realize that it very well may come to you hiring a lawyer due to the fact that the time limit for submitting a dispute has passed.

Answer 6

You bought stuff on line or by the phone... You gave them permission to keep sending additiional products... Stop fighting with the bank... Call the merchant to tell him to stop...When your account gets overdrawn there will be additional charges at the bank... Try and close the account and ask if that is going to make a difference on the automatic withdrawls...
I bought a silver dollar advertised on TV for a $4.95... Gave them my CC number and for the next 3 months I received $400 worth of coins. Trying to get them to stop.sending orders-- that I did not order... Bank of America ended my account but the charges kept appearing... The orders did stop...
I will never order any thing on line or on TV... If I need it go to WalMart..and buy the item...

Answer 7

Ask to see a bank manager. Demand and sign an 'affidavit of fraud' and specify the improper charges. Make a copy and take it to the police. File a police report concerning fraudulent use of your card and specify the merchants..

Some banks only get kicked into gear when they see you are serious and the police get involved. The bigger the bank - the more this is true.

Answer 8

Unfortunately not much. I would ask again and see if there is an appeal process. You may have waited too long. If the Merchants are local. You might want to involve the Police

Answer 9

Debit cards unfortunately don't have the same protections assured by law that credit cards do.

Answer 10

That's bogus (I loathe Chase) and you need to get an attorney...no way you're responsible for those charges.