I tried to use my credit card over the weekend and it was strangely declined but I assumed it was a bank error as the card was well under its limit, or was supposed to be. My card was charged multiple times in the last two weeks in another country and eventually reached it's limit, which is why it was declined when I tried to use it. So far I'm waiting on forms to go from place to place in the process of investigation so I have no real feedback from the bank on it yet. The first step is filling out a Transaction Dispute Form at the Bank. This goes to the fraud department who investigates the complaint. Depending on how long the merchant takes to reply and what priority your case has, it could takes weeks to get a response and months for a refund. In the mean time I have to pay for what was fraudulently charged on my card so that it can be used again. The card is being replaced and that takes about 3 or 4 working days from the time it is cancelled to the time you can collect the new one. The new one has a new number.
I am not worrying about when and where the card was compromised because there are too many times in the last couple times it could have happened as I use my card allot. It could have been either a copy of the info from the card itself or from an infected PC that was reading my info at some point. I am confident I will get a refund for the charges and I do not regret choosing a credit card over a debit card. The convenience and cost/bonuses of the credit card make it more worthwhile. What I am displeased about is that I was not notified about the charges since the first one happened two weeks ago. Visa dropped that ball on this one and now I have to pay for it, literally.
Update: 1st June 2011
I have been refunded ALL the money from the disputed transactions and also the $6.75usd for a new credit card. The entire process took a little under a month.The new credit card was ready for pick up 3 days after I cancelled the old one.
The inconvenience I had to go through was dealing with the bank as the first transaction dispute form I submitted was a very bad photo copy and could not be written on. This meant the clerk who filled the form did not use the proper lines she should have because it would not be legible. After I left the bank thinking the form was submitted, one week later the fraud department from the bank called me and said I had to submit the form again because the proper section was not filled out. This time they emailed me the form and I signed it and faxed it back. In the mean time I had to go back to the bank to pick up my new (chip and pin) credit card and also pay towards the amount owed to be able to use the card again. Note: I also asked the fraud department if they could email a blank form to the branch of the bank with the bad form and they said they could not, who am I to argue?...
The fraudulent charges were placed online in French stores and occurred around the same time Sony reported it had security breaches relating to credit card data. I did buy a PS3 a couple years ago at the Sony HQ in New York and I would not be surprised if my info was stored there, but yes, it could be a coincidence.
I am still unhappy that I had to detect that the card was being used fraudulently and was not notified by Visa. Yes it was online purchases but it was on the other side of the world and very large amounts! I have the perception that other people who use my bank and Visa have the same positive outcome from getting refunds for things they did not buy so I hope they keep up the good work.
your bank is the one at fault for not notifying you not VISA. With my Scotiabank MasterCard as soon as I used my card at Heathrow airport the bank shut the credit account associated with that card down. Luckily I didn't need to use my card again while I was on that trip since if I had tried to it would not have worked. When I got back home and tried to buy a phone card online I kept getting an error until I called the bank and they told me that since I did not inform them that I was travelling and would use my card in specific countries they assumed when the card was used abroad that it was fraudulent and immediately took action. I am really happy that they take this sort of action even though it would've inconvenienced me at the time. I was at fault for not informing them but at least now I know my credit account is safe if ever used abroad without my knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happens with my mom's MasterCard from First Citizen's Bank. Her card recorded an overseas purchase and she received a telephone call from the bank very soon after the purchase was made at which point she told them to cease the account.