AmEx is awfully agressive.

[fireworks]

All is not lost. Dispute it as an unauthorized ACH transaction. I believe banks call this a Regulation E claim/dispute/violation.

The worst is when you try to close an account and you have an overdraft credit line attached to it, and they tell you that any transactions that post within 30 days will reopen the account! Yikes. I went to an ATM and withrew the amount of the credit line in cash to max it out just to make sure they wouldn't pay anybody that came along with another one of these drafts. I think I could have disputed a couple that flowed through in the past but I decided to just be done with it.

I opened a new account today. As soon as I've switched everything over in the next few days I'll close that one and dispute the AMEX debit. We'll see where that goes.

[fltoo]

From the sound of things, I'm glad I cancelled our AMEX account years ago! We used to use our AMEX back in the day when we rarely carried a cc balance, I loved it that I couldn't carrry a balance on it. I was used to the merchants having to call in for verification that it was me using the card, they did that all the time, but...

Then came the time I took my kids out of town for the weekend, stayed in a hotel, was eating out in restaurants, and took the kids to the mall to buy clothes - we always did the big back to school shopping.

They never bothered me while I was shopping, but a rep called my husband, who was at home, and asked "Do you know where your wife is?". DH said yes, then the guy asked "Do you know how much she's spending?". This guy called and tattled on me!! I called the next week and closed the account.

I have had this happen when I was out of town or country and spending "inconsistently"
with my previous charges. This is just the fraud department checking that someone is not using your credit card.

[fireworks]

BOA hit me today

Unfortunately my credit card processor has not yet switched to the new bank account (they are slow as molasses with paperwork) so I still have the account open. BOA hit me today for over $1200. To avoid a big stack of NSF fees at the bank I had to make a deposit out of my savings, which I had set aside to pay my sales tax payment. To say that I'm ticked is putting it mildly.

As soon as I see a daily credit card batch hit my new account, I'll be in the bank rejecting those charges as unauthorized and closing that account. That day can't come soon enough.

[fireworks]

...oh yeah, and BOA? They've already been notified that we're filing BK, yet they continue to call about the past-due payments, and they continue to pull money from my account. Surely that's a violation of something.

[mgk3378]

Judegement?

I thought these banks needed a judgement to do that???? I have used automatic withdrawl in the past with these banks. Can they draw on these without court? How long did it take for this to happen to you?

[fireworks]

In both cases I was less than 30 days past due. AMEX pulled only about $40, which would have been one month's payment (probably the past-due amount). BOA's $1200 is probably 2 months payments (past-due plus current) plus late fees.

I've already talked to my lawyer about this. My understanding is:
-there may have been some fine print in the automatic withdrawal agreement authorizing this
-some banks will go ahead and pull it, knowing that it's wrong, and hope that you won't notice or contest it
-if you do return the charge, they can go to court and get a judgment against you, tacking on fees for the returned charge and whatever else. Of course that's all moot if you're filing bankruptcy.

My advice - if ANY credit card account has EVER had access to your bank account electronically, close your bank account YESTERDAY. Better safe than sorry.

[Trixie007]

I have had this happen when I was out of town or country and spending "inconsistently"
with my previous charges. This is just the fraud department checking that someone is not using your credit card.

Well... maybe, maybe not. I was used to AMEX almost always forcing the store clerks to call in for a verbal authorization after verifying my identity. Irritating, but understandable. We lived an hour away from any shopping, so whenever I did shop it was at 5-10 different stores in a day - usually by the 4th or 5th store they would force the verbal authorization. This was a bit different, they didn't refuse the charges, didn't have the verbal authorization done, just called DH - and the guy's tone was more of tattling than anything else!