Word to the wise - read your credit card statements thoroughly!

[purrtykitty]

Bit of a rant

...DH's and my replacement credit cards were stolen by some douchebag in Indianapolis, IN and he (or she) has been doing a little shopping.

DH and I only caught the charges because we're tight for money and he decided to look through the statement and see what we (read: I) have been spending our money...ya know the all important MAC and Sephora purchases.

Well, in reading the statement, I noticed several charges in Indianapolis - a place I know neither DH nor I have been to in many, many years. They weren't large charges, a few bucks here and there, one purchase for almost $200, but nothing in the thousands that surely would've raised red flags. The credit card company didn't note that the charges were out of the ordinary since DH travels fairly frequently.

I cannot tell you how unbelievably pissed off I am and how violated I feel. If that's not bad enough DH has had to call around to flag his credit reports (and I may have to do the same) and we will be scouring our past statements for any other inaccuracies.

At any rate, my point is make sure to check your statements each month to ensure that the only charges on there are ones authorized by you.

 

[littlepickle]

Oh no! So sorry this has happened to you

 

[banana1234]

this has happened to me also, i'm sorry you have had to go through this, but atleast you have caught it, will the credit card company be giving you all your money back in one go? it might be nice to put it in savings, for a nice holiday or something, that's what i did with mine

 

[purrtykitty]

It was on our most recent statement that we haven't yet paid. I'm sure the company will just put a credit on our account, which is fine. And DH was nice enough to flag my credit reports for me.

Ugh, thank you for the support. It's just like they say...you never think it will happen to you.

 

[January]

I used to be really bad at looking at my statements - I usually just pay them. I decided to look at my American Express statement closer - and noticed I was getting charged $40 a month from some company.

I figured out who the company was - and it was a company I checked out a year ago - but I couldn't use their service because it was unavailable in Canada. I never authorized them to charge me $40 a month (their service was only $20 a month- somehow I was getting double charged). I went through my emails with them, and nothing like this was to the effect. I even had emails from them saying their service wasn't available in Canada anymore and that they canceled my account.

Anyway - this happened for almost half a year, but in the end - nothing could be done about it anyway. Many reps with American Express told me I had to deal with the company directly to get my money back or stop the reoccurring charges... well, the company never replied to my emails anymore, I couldn't login because they canceled my account - AND their only contact number was an 800 # that couldn't be reached from "my calling area".

So I just told American Express I lost my card - one rep told me that was the only way I could get the charges to stop as they had no proof that these were not "authorized". Very, very frustrating.

Sorry purrtykitty! Not exactly the same situation, but I know how frustrating it is!

 

[purrtykitty]

Kinda the same thing, though. Damn unauthorized charges in a small enough amount that you don't notice. The company (or unathorized user) is hoping you'll never notice and they can keep on cashing in.

Although in our case, we would've figured it out eventually, as our cards are expiring soon. The new ones not arriving would've been a big red flag.

 

[gigglegirl]

I'm sorry this happened to you---but I know I should keep better tabs on my accounts.

I hope the bugger(s) get caught!

 

[Shadowy Lady]

OMG Karin, I'm so sorry you guys had to go through this

I really need to read my statements, I'm pretty bad with that.

The exact same thing happened to my friend when she went to Vancouver for the Olympics. They'd spent about $300 out of her credit card :/

 

[purrtykitty]

Me too. People have no shame. Get a fucking job and do an honest day's work. Mail theft is a federal offense so if they're caught, at least there will be stiffer penalties.

 

[blazeno.8]

Yeah, this can be a real paint. I haven't had my card stolen in the traditional sense, but I went with a friend to a restaurant and because we use the same bank, the waiter switched up the cards and she used my card the next day not knowing. When I looked at my statement, I was able to find the company's information and called the store to ask why they didn't check ID. They tried to convince me that I had actually been there and then tried to make up excuses for their lapse of policy.

My brother-in-law had his card number swiped at a gas station (someone had put a card reader on the pump) and noticed that there as someone in a completely different state making charges to his card. Much like in my case, when he called the store to complain, they tried to push the blame on him and wanted him to believe that he actually had been in a different state instead of at home when those purchases were made.

 

[LMD84]

man people can be horrid. so sorry that this has happened to you guys. i will certaintly make sure i look at my statements in more detail now. usually i just glance at the ingoings and outgoings...