Debit card troubles - advice?

[ang in NC]

OK back in Jan. I ck our bank account. Someone had gotten ahold of our atm card ## and our pin. Got like 845 dollars of computer software downloaded. Contacted the bank and they issue us a temp credit. Well now they settle our "dispute" and are unable to settle the claim and took out $845 out of cking. We didn't even had it in there! And now are charging us $30 for each ck they cash that the money isn't in the account. So tomarrow we have to go to the cu and borrow the $$ to cover it. Any advice, or do any of you know any action I should take? Thanks for letting me vent. Angie

[aimefisher]

For starters have you called the police department? Also if they deny your claim I believe there is an appeals process. ( not sure and it's after banking hours, otherwise I would call my mother and ask her )

[whiterose3]

Did your bank have you fill out some paperwork where you were filing fraud against that transaction? It is an affidavit and some other paper you fill out. They then do look into the matter and research it. They have to contact the people to find out where your money is. If it is real obvious to them what happened, (like if you ahve some totally obvious proof), they don't always do that, but will sometimes bill it back to the company.

When I ordered my computer from Dell over the phone, I had some new salesperson who didn't obviously know what they were doing. He put my debit card twice and I was billed twice. It took forever for them to do anything about it. That is when I finally filed fraud charges aganst them at the bank. It was an awful experience....messed up my whole account when Dell did that.

One thing I did learn though, that I am nervous about every single time I use my debit card, is that even though they have a visa logo on them, it means nothing. You do not have the same rights as if it were a credit card.

Hope that helps.

[whiterose3]

I also would call the police about your situation because if they are using the ATM card and they can trace it to where they used it, sometimes there are cameras outside of the ATM machines. Plus, it also shows them you are serious if you have a polie repor.

One other thought, and I'm not sure if this would work or not, but do you have homeowners or renters insurance? I know sometimes they will cover certain things. It doesn't necessarily have to be taken right out of your house either.

[Tasha405]

Someone got my hubby's wallet one time when it dropped at a gas station, well the woman behind him picked it up and went straight to Wal-Mart on a shopping spree. The cops were called and they got her on tape using it but of course she never got in trouble because she tunred in information on another big case they were working on. :mad:

I would call the police, fill out some fraud papers at the bank and see what happens. We had a company take some money from our account using my debit card (we never gave them my info), I filled out the fraud papers but nothing really happened. The bank did half the over draft charges though but thats about it. We closed the account after we got everything paid off.

I hope you can get it all worked out. I know what a pain this can be. {{{Hugs}}}