check fraud
user1...@aol.com
check on my account, yesterday, and found out my checking account had
almost no money left in it, when it was supposed to have about
$1,500.
Sure enough, a check for $1,500 had cleared about 5 days ago,
bringing the account down to near zero.
I sure didn't write the check for $1,500. It looks like a mistake
on the part of the credit union, or just plain fraud. The check
number was about 500 higher than my current check number.
Of course I found out on a weekend, and the credit union is closed
until Monday, so I get to stress out about it until Monday, at the
least.
The website for the credit union says each account is insured by the
FCUA (Federal Credit Union Assoc) for $100,000.
My question is whether the credit union will refund the $1,500 if
it is indeed fraud.
Thanks
Marsha
> I called up my automated phone teller system at my credit union to
> check on my account, yesterday, and found out my checking account had
> almost no money left in it, when it was supposed to have about
> $1,500.
>
> Sure enough, a check for $1,500 had cleared about 5 days ago,
> bringing the account down to near zero.
>
> I sure didn't write the check for $1,500. It looks like a mistake
> on the part of the credit union, or just plain fraud. The check
> number was about 500 higher than my current check number.
Have you looked through your boxes of checks to see
whether any are missing around that number?
> Of course I found out on a weekend, and the credit union is closed
> until Monday, so I get to stress out about it until Monday, at the
> least.
>
> The website for the credit union says each account is insured by the
> FCUA (Federal Credit Union Assoc) for $100,000.
>
> My question is whether the credit union will refund the $1,500 if
> it is indeed fraud.
>
I would think so. It could end up being more than
$1500.00 if you count bounced checks.
Marsha/Ohio
Al Bundy
It's not common knowledge but all the banks have huge departments just
to sort out the fraud that takes place like this. Sometimes that fraud
is coming from within the bank itself. I think it's more than
coincidence that whoever it was knew how to max out that withdrawal at
$1,500. The banks take an aggressive stand AGAINST the consumer in
these cases and assume that they are in on the fraud. Insist that they
credit your account immediately. Our news here has had segments where
they say that this type of fraud is more common when people use debit
cards as that acts on the checking account directly. People at the
store or people behind you in line have ways of accessing your
account. This is not the place to explain it, but it is a very simple
process to take money from your account. I never use my debit card,
only the credit card, which offers more protection in my view, and
cannot touch my checking account.
George Grapman
On a related note I keep getting calls from a blocked number with a
recording telling my I have pre-qualified for a loan and all I need to
do is enter my account number and routing info.
Remember, every person who handles your paper checks has this information.
The insurance you are taking about is protection in case the credit
union goes under.
Gordon
news:1194796636.8...@v3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
Different banks will handle the situation differently. But when it
happened to me, my credit union put provisional funds back into my
account while they investigated.
George Grapman
I had the opposite one. I deposited a $500 check in a Wells-Fargo
ATM. The next day the phone system reflected a $5,000 deposit. I checked
my receipt and it showed $5000 deposited. I called the bank and the rep
said she was freezing my account because she suspected fraud on my part.
I tried to explain that if I was defrauding them I would not be
bringing it to their attention. Too other reps refused to budge so I had
to go to my branch where the manager acted as if he was doing me a favor
by letting me have access to the funds on hand prior to that deposit on
warning me of the consequences of fraud.
The next day the mistake was rectified and as soon as all my
outstanding checks had been cleared I closed my account. The same
manager was called over and he still felt that he had done me a favor.
Shawn Hirn
"unree...@aol.com" <user1...@aol.com> wrote:
If you didn't write the check, you will be reimbursed. A couple of
months ago, an electronic transfer of $570 was made out of my checking
account to pay an insurance company with which I have never done
business. My credit union had me fill out a dispute form and sign it. A
few days later, the missing funds were returned to my account and that
was the end of it. I suggest you go down to the nearest credit union
branch tomorrow (Monday) and dispute this transaction.
George
>
>> Different banks will handle the situation differently. But when it
>> happened to me, my credit union put provisional funds back into my
>> account while they investigated.
>
> I had the opposite one. I deposited a $500 check in a Wells-Fargo ATM.
> The next day the phone system reflected a $5,000 deposit. I checked my
> receipt and it showed $5000 deposited. I called the bank and the rep
> said she was freezing my account because she suspected fraud on my part.
> I tried to explain that if I was defrauding them I would not be
> bringing it to their attention. Too other reps refused to budge so I had
> to go to my branch where the manager acted as if he was doing me a favor
> by letting me have access to the funds on hand prior to that deposit on
> warning me of the consequences of fraud.
> The next day the mistake was rectified and as soon as all my
> outstanding checks had been cleared I closed my account. The same
> manager was called over and he still felt that he had done me a favor.
Megabanks can be just ridiculous, dumb and bureaucratic. I have 2
accounts at Wachovia. Everyone mentions that they are still First Union
and they simply bought little Wachovia to claim it was a merger in order
to dump the First Union reputation. I never had any issues until
recently. They sent me a routine replacement debit card. I called to
activate it and the automated system refused and it connected me to a
person. Person says there is a "fraud alert" on the account. I asked why
and he said it was because I had died in *1995*. I said that that was a
long time ago and why did they happen to wait until now. He said I would
need to report to the bank to prove I wasn't dead. I said that Wachovia
was insulting me and this made no sense because there was no unusual
activity on the account and the noted event was over 10 years ago.
I asked to speak to a supervisor and they said everyone was busy. I
insisted and the supervisor said they were doing this to "protect me". I
asked if the checking account it was linked to was frozen and he said
no. I asked him to give me a logical explanation about the protection
since I could simply write a check because I am still in control of the
account. He completly reinforced the "we are megabank and there is only
our way" rule that seems to be written on every wall at their office by
refusing to do anything. I asked to speak to whomever he reported to
and he insisted he didn't report to anyone. Eventually he said that
customers could not speak to anyone above him. I asked even if this was
for a case when Wachovia was insulting a customer and didn't want to fix
it by correcting their error and he said no.
I am in the process of moving and closing the accounts now.
clams casino
Wachovia has been trying to collect $2000 from me through dozens of
collection agencies reportedly from credit card debt back in 2002.
I have NEVER had any banking relations with Wacovia (actually, I never
heard of them until this scam surfaced). No such debt or credit card
appears on my credit report
Unfortunately, my name has continued to be passed around from collection
agency to collection agency about 4-5 times/ yr for the past 5 years.
user1...@aol.com
(Monday) to the the credit union to report the check. They said it was
a check from another credit union member that got taken out of MY
account by mistake !! Just a coincidence that it took my account down
to less than one dollar. It took only 1 minute for the person on
the phone to figure this out, by looking at the computer screen. My
account is supposed to be back to normal by this afternoon.
I mentioned that this event ruined my weekend. She apologized. Oh
well, at least an apology, and she seemed sincere. No monetary
compensation for my suffering though !!
Antagonostic
George <geo...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> George Grapman wrote:
> >
> >> Different banks will handle the situation differently. But when it
> >> happened to me, my credit union put provisional funds back into my
> >> account while they investigated.
<snip>
It's not just megabanks that screw up, either. The local credit union
where I bank cut off my online account access without warning early last
summer. When I called to find out why, they told me I had been
transferring money from one account with insufficient funds to another
account to cover bill-pay activity. This after happened two trouble-free
years of routine transfer activity from an interest-bearing account into
a checking account to cover bills paid. Suddenly, I'm transferring funds
from and to the wrong account? Don't think so-- it's become so routine I
could do it with my eyes closed.
Spoke with three different IT people at the CU. Each gave a different
explanation, all of which tended to blame me and/or my technical
ineptitude for the glitch. Naturally, I work top-level tech support at a
large multinational company.
Fed up, I went to the physical location and sat for two hours with a
young, but surprisingly competent assistant manager. She brought out my
transaction records for the previous 24 months, none of which showed any
inappropriate online activity on my part. She could not understand why
my online access was removed so suddenly, nor why I was being hit with
all these insufficient funds charges.
In the end, she wound up restoring my online access; refunding all of
the insufficient funds charges, plus all the charges for bill-pay
service (all these years, it should have been free with my automatic
deposit), plus all of the returned-check charges incurred during this
month-long nightmare. About $800 all told.
Since then, I have changed my situation at that place. Among other
alterations, I bought a line of credit which should automatically cover
overdraws in my checking account. The small quarterly LOC maintenance
fees are MUCH less expensive than even a single insufficient funds
charge (currently $25-per-incident), and there are no interest charges
unless the LOC is accessed-- which it never is.
That assistant manager's restitutive effort on my behalf is the primary
reason I continue to bank there. I have her business card in my wallet
and I make a friendly "how are you doing" call every so often just to
let her know how much I appreciate what she did (and to make sure she
still works there). They lose her, it's entirely likely they will lose
me. It's always good to feel you can trust the people who care for your
money.
--
Ask about our faith-based erectile dysfunction treatment.
Seerialmom
Most likely. And my mom has had 2 of these "checks" go through her
credit union recently, too. Luckily hers were lower (like $120 and
$200); but it seemed more like "typo" problems from phone "bill pay"
since they were made out to CSAA and AT&T. What's really frustrating
is that her CU has to refer to the receiving bank...and they seem to
have no idea who's account it was on behalf of (eventually I believe
they figured it out).
Parallax
Wachovia is a scary place. A friend of mine had someone steal his
identity and got an ATM card sent to him, then started cleaning out the
account. After my friend went to his local branch, had the account
closed and a new one opened, then set up all sorts of notes and alarms
in the system that he will only do business in person at the branch and
no cards are to be issued by phone, their fine employees promptly issued
a card for the new account to the identity thief who called and
requested one.
--
Replace '???????' with 'hotmail' to e-mail me.
George Grapman
any fees and never have complaints,
I rarely go to a branch but it seems most of the times that I see a
live teller they send me a customer satisfaction survey. In addition
when more than 4 or 5 people are on line the manager starts handling
transactions. Compare this with Wells-Fargo where every branch seems to
have an employee whose sole job is to walk around in circles behind the
tellers and smile at the long lines.
Finally, they are part of a network of credit unions that allows me to
use ATMs at almost any 7-11 store with no fees and lets me make
deposits at other credit unions.
E Z Peaces
have a slip of paper with my routing number pasted to the bottom.
Apparently any time a stroke of my signature went below the line, it
would confuse their reading machine and a person would have to type a
sticker.
I wonder if your problem started when a bank employee mistyped a sticker
for a check that the reading machine rejected.
E Z Peaces
>
> Wachovia is a scary place. A friend of mine had someone steal his
> identity and got an ATM card sent to him, then started cleaning out the
> account. After my friend went to his local branch, had the account
> closed and a new one opened, then set up all sorts of notes and alarms
> in the system that he will only do business in person at the branch and
> no cards are to be issued by phone, their fine employees promptly issued
> a card for the new account to the identity thief who called and
> requested one.
>
I hate the term "identity theft." Traditionally it was called
impersonation. It was between the institution and the criminal. The
person impersonated had no burden of proof.
Often the "thief" gets your "identity" from information about you in
institutional files, whether or not you knew it was there. So the
institution was in possession of your identity, and if somebody stole it
from the institution, you're nothing until you can satisfy that
institution and many others.
George
>>
> I can not think of a single issue with my credit union. I never pay
> any fees and never have complaints,
> I rarely go to a branch but it seems most of the times that I see a
> live teller they send me a customer satisfaction survey. In addition
> when more than 4 or 5 people are on line the manager starts handling
> transactions. Compare this with Wells-Fargo where every branch seems to
> have an employee whose sole job is to walk around in circles behind the
> tellers and smile at the long lines.
> Finally, they are part of a network of credit unions that allows me to
> use ATMs at almost any 7-11 store with no fees and lets me make
> deposits at other credit unions.
One of the accounts is commercial and at least the last time I checked
credit unions are personal only.
I didn't start out with Wachovia. I was using a locally owned bank. The
bank got bought up by a bigger bank and then again by Wachovia. I really
find faceless megacorps annoying.
Meghan Noecker
wrote:
>One of the accounts is commercial and at least the last time I checked
>credit unions are personal only.
>
It varies.
I have accounts with two local credit unions. I have banked with the
one for over 15 years, and I wish it had commercial accounts. I have
asked several times over the years as I have a small business and need
to be able to accept checks written to my business name. Until
recently, they always said they could not do it. The last time I
asked, they told me they used to but can't now.
I do have a commercial account with another local credit union, but I
don't like them as much. They charge $20 for each online transfer over
6 in one month. And they have been very difficult in getting a bad
transaction stopped.
I do like the fact that both particpate in shared branching, so I can
do transactions for both accounts at both banks. My favorite bank is
20 minutes away, but the other bank has ATM machines at the store
where I work, so I can deposit money into my account right at work.
That is pretty nice.
val189
> a check from another credit union member that got taken out of MY
> account by mistake !!
I'd want to know more details - who made the mistake and what are they
doing to prevent its happening in the future. Did the other person's
check have his correct routing and account number on it?
I thought things were automated now to the point where this 'couldn't
' happen. Scary. Good thing you checked - I call mine every day just
to keep tabs on it. I can also go online to see the actual payee's
name.
Just curious -what prompted you to call in the first place?
231
> Meghan Noecker <frie...@zoocrewphoto.com> wrote:
>> I do have a commercial account with another local credit union
> If "commercial" in this context means "business", then I'm afraid
> that I don't quite understand how a credit union can have commercial
> accounts. The notion is oxymoronic; that's not what they're "for".
Wrong, they can be for business accounts or personal accounts.
> Credit unions are not banks;
Irrelevant to whether they can have business accounts.
> AFAIK, credit unions remain pari-mutuel organisations more akin to
> S&Ls than to banks and definitely -not to be trusted with ones assets.
Many business accounts dont involve assets, what they want is a basic transaction account.
Meghan Noecker
>Meghan Noecker <frie...@zoocrewphoto.com> wrote:
>
>>I do have a commercial account with another local credit union
> If "commercial" in this context means "business", then I'm afraid
>that I don't quite understand how a credit union can have commercial
>accounts. The notion is oxymoronic; that's not what they're "for".
>Credit unions are not banks; AFAIK, credit unions remain pari-mutuel
>organisations more akin to S&Ls than to banks and definitely -not to be
>trusted with ones assets.
I have the same understanding, but they recently started accepting
accounts for small businesses, and they gave me one. I used my tax
number instead of my social security number. My checks have my
personal name and business name on them. And I can cash checks written
to my business name.
They used to be a open to employees and their family members. Then,
later they opened up to all Washington state residents. My other
credit union is the same way in terms of Washington residents, but no
business names. They will allow me to put my business name on checks,
but they will not allow me to accept checks written to my business
name. So, I just have my personal account with them.
George Grapman
credit union was originally only open to employees and retirees of what
was then Pacific Telephone Co. later it was extended to anyone working
in telecom and now it is open to anyone who lives or works in a city
where they have a branch.
Meghan Noecker
>Meghan Noecker <frie...@zoocrewphoto.com> wrote:
>
>>They used to be a open to employees and their family members. Then,
>>later they opened up to all Washington state residents.
> Thanks for the info. I've never given any attention to credit
>unions. Always thought that in order to participate, one must be on a
>payroll somplace, a condition in which I never had much interest ;-) I
>guess your experience reflects the growing overlap of services among
>institutions. BTW, if the account you mention is structured as some kind
>of savings account with check-writing priviledges, instead of as a
>straight demand deposit account, the monthly cap on transfers (ACH?) may
>be regulatory.
This particular credit union charges a fee for all online transfers
over 6 in a month. But my other credit union has never mentioned a
limit. So, I'm not sure how this works.
My nephew managed two charges when he didn't believe me about the fees
and kept changing his money back and forth between his checking and
savings.
They also have a limit of checks per month, and debits per month. My
regular job is in a grocery store, so I do not carry cash at work. I
use a debit card for everythingI buy at work. I would easily exceed
the limit at the one bank. Fortunately, my regular account has no
limit.
clams casino
>On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:31:46 -0500, Derald <der...@invalid.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>>Meghan Noecker <frie...@zoocrewphoto.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>They used to be a open to employees and their family members. Then,
>>>later they opened up to all Washington state residents.
>>>
>>>
>> Thanks for the info. I've never given any attention to credit
>>unions. Always thought that in order to participate, one must be on a
>>payroll somplace, a condition in which I never had much interest ;-) I
>>guess your experience reflects the growing overlap of services among
>>institutions. BTW, if the account you mention is structured as some kind
>>of savings account with check-writing priviledges, instead of as a
>>straight demand deposit account, the monthly cap on transfers (ACH?) may
>>be regulatory.
>>
>>
>
>
>This particular credit union charges a fee for all online transfers
>over 6 in a month. But my other credit union has never mentioned a
>limit. So, I'm not sure how this works.
>
>
>
My credit union offers two checking accounts (you can have both). One
has low interest rate with unlimited withdrawals and the other is a
higher money market rate interest account with a maximum of 3 per
month. Could the type of account / interest rates be different?
Meghan Noecker
The interest rates are almost the same for both banks. My dad and
sister have banked with them for over 15 years. My nephew got his
account a couple years ago, and I got mine last year. The rules have
been the same for all of us.
They do have one deal where they offer a higher interest rate if the
account is less than $500, and you have payroll deposit. My nephew was
thrilled and opened another checking account, thinking he could spread
out his money and get a higher rate in each account, but he failed to
understand that it was only for the account with payroll deposit.
My preferred credit union has never had any limits or fees (except an
overdraft fee if you need it).