Credit Card ? Does this sound right?

[patsal]

Last month my card was hijacked by Classic Closeouts with a few charges that I didn't make as well as a charge from something else that I didn't make. They closed out the account and mailed me new cards. I paid what charges I knew were mine and didn't pay the disputed charges--BTW I did copy the statement, filled out the required paparwork and mailed it all in in under 30 days though I had 60. I got this months bill and the charges from last statement (disputed charges)were transfered to this account and showing as late payment (since the total minimum required by the original statement was not paid, as well as the interest on the things I am disputing). Now I am one who pays off every credit card on time or early, I never pay finance charges and I do not pay interest unless we have some kind of an emergency that precludes a full payment. I called and I was told that they do not just remove the items that I have to wait for the dispute to be resolved and when it is they will credit me for the late fee and the interest--of course this is reported to the credit bureau-isn't it??? and it makes it look like am not paying my bills. I am irked and frustrated and I am not patient enough to wait until just before this is due to see if it has been straightened out.

 

[HayGan]

It depends upon the terms of agreement that you agreed to when you got the card. Personally, I would always pay at least the minimum until the issue was resolved. I would pay the amount that you need to in order to get the account current ASAP.

Yes they will and can report your deliquency to the credit reporting bureaus if you go 30 days on the account.

Sorry you have to deal with this kind of stuff. CC fraud is a PITA to deal with!

 

[seashoreCM]

Write a new dispute letter listing all of the disputed items, including any applicable finance charge and late fee, that appear or still appear on that specific bill.

If enough credits are shown on this bill to offset all of the charges disputed from an earlier bill using a previously written letter, then you may omit mention of both the previous balance and the credits from your new letter. If not, include as a disputed item the entire amount of the previous balance (and/or transferred charges) that is under dispute. Also itemize as negative numbers any credits so the total amount under dispute still comes out right.

Ultimately, any finance charge that is still due must be computed as if the disputed items were not there, not just a proportionate or prorated reduction of the finance charge.

I say you should not pay any portion of the disputed amount other than finance charges, even if you miss the minimum payment showing on the bill.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[mskayjay]

JCP did this to me but once it was resolved, they did clear everything off the card and no, they did NOT contact the reporting agencies. When an item is being disputed they cannot do that.

Just be super super careful now. I was an identity theft victim so you may want to have all your credits run now and let the major agencies know your credit was misused. They will put you in a special category and your accounts will be watched for a while and if anyone tries to open new credit, you'll be called immediately. they watched mine for 5 years because it was so bad.

 

[patsal]

Man, I really wish the representative wouldn't have told me not to pay the disputed charges--heck I would have paid it in full had I known!
My agreement says "You do not have to pay any amount in question while we are investigating. But you are still obligated to pay the parts of your bill that are not in question. While we investigate your question, we cannot report you as delinquent on the disputed item(s) or take any action to collect the amount you question." So the question is by putting the charges onto my new account are they trying to take action to collect the amount in questions and by charging me a late fee and interest are they not in violation of their own terms?

 

[mskayjay]

No what they are doing is protecting themselves from people who say a charge isn't theirs when it really is, get away with not paying for months, etc etc etc. You should be fine but keep track of everything.....phone calls, names of reps, times of calls, etc. In my case with JCP they found out that a clerk had manually entered numbers into a register (don't know why???? bad card maybe????) and inverted two numbers and came up with mine instead of the right one.

 

[thomas998]

Frankly I would stop using that bank... get a different card and when you are certain that you aren't going to need a mortgage or car loan for a few years close it out completely.. just don't close it out right now because if you think you may need to get a loan closing it out will hurt your credit rating.

Some CC companies don't treat you like your being treated. I just had a similar thing happen to me a couple a months ago when someone used my number to charge 4 different plane tickets to my card. Chase just removed them sent me a form to fill out and that was that... the only problem I had was the pain in the backside of having to set up monthly automatic charges on the new number. But when I called the charges were instantly removed, had they later found that they shouldn't have been removed they would have put them back on.

 

[manhattan]

We had one of DH CC number stolen and we called and everything was taken care of right there on the phone. We received a letter which we had to sign and mail back. This was with Providian, which was acquired by Washington Mutual.....which is now Chase. But they couldn't have been nicer.