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Debit Card Skimming Victim and Bank Is Dragging Their Feet

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ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA

I discovered a multitude of unauthorized transactions on one of my bank accounts on 17 October. I immediately reported to my bank and had my acct frozen and went to my local branch the next morning and did a claim there at the bank. Was told it should take no more than 10 days to have it all squared away and informed that I may be asked to file a police report (was called 2 days later and asked to and I complied same day). Transactions totaled a little more than 3K and came from all over the state at various ATM's and service stations and grocery stores. Since my card had always been in my possession and I later ran across a post in a facebook group warning people about a skimming device at a service station that I had used 2 days before the unauthorized transaction began, I'm assuming thats what occurred with me.

It has been well past 10 days obviously and I have now contacted my bank twice. Latest time, about an hour ago and was informed that it could take up to 3 months as they are still awaiting information to be returned to them from the various locations where transactions occurred. I have only asked for a provisional credit be issued but it was denied.

My question is basically can the bank drag this out for this long and if so, how long? Everywhere I've looked, I'm reading that the bank has 10 days to investigate (45 if they issue a provisional credit). Waiting 10-15 days wasn't going to cause a financial problem, but it has now become one.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA

I discovered a multitude of unauthorized transactions on one of my bank accounts on 17 October. I immediately reported to my bank and had my acct frozen and went to my local branch the next morning and did a claim there at the bank. Was told it should take no more than 10 days to have it all squared away and informed that I may be asked to file a police report (was called 2 days later and asked to and I complied same day). Transactions totaled a little more than 3K and came from all over the state at various ATM's and service stations and grocery stores. Since my card had always been in my possession and I later ran across a post in a facebook group warning people about a skimming device at a service station that I had used 2 days before the unauthorized transaction began, I'm assuming thats what occurred with me.

It has been well past 10 days obviously and I have now contacted my bank twice. Latest time, about an hour ago and was informed that it could take up to 3 months as they are still awaiting information to be returned to them from the various locations where transactions occurred. I have only asked for a provisional credit be issued but it was denied.

My question is basically can the bank drag this out for this long and if so, how long? Everywhere I've looked, I'm reading that the bank has 10 days to investigate (45 if they issue a provisional credit). Waiting 10-15 days wasn't going to cause a financial problem, but it has now become one.
If you can open a new account at a new bank that might be wise...and get any direct deposits re-routed to the new bank. Since the charges were all somewhat local the bank obviously feels that it needs to be extra careful.
 

ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
If you can open a new account at a new bank that might be wise...and get any direct deposits re-routed to the new bank. Since the charges were all somewhat local the bank obviously feels that it needs to be extra careful.
Can they legally be "extra careful"? Like I said, from everything I've read (including the OCC regulation -12 CFR 1005.11(c)(3)) all I've seen is 10 day (45 if provisional credit given).
 

HRZ

Senior Member
It may be quicker and safer to open a new separate account elsewhere than to debate administrative issues with your current bank....?
 

ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
It may be quicker and safer to open a new separate account elsewhere than to debate administrative issues with your current bank....?
I already have another account at a different banking institution. I primarily use this account for online billing. No direct deposit goes to it. Either way, I'm not really interested in debating administrative issues with my bank. My goal is to recover the money from the fraudulent activity. Opening another account somewhere obviously will not aid in that pursuit. My goal here was to find out if my bank is conducting themselves within the scope of the law/federal regulations in regards to reinbursing the fraudulent transactions.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
My goal here was to find out if my bank is conducting themselves within the scope of the law/federal regulations in regards to reimbursing the fraudulent transactions.
To me it looks like there are enough exceptions to the time limit that might cover the delay.

What reason did the people at the bank give you for not provisionally crediting the account?
 

ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
To me it looks like there are enough exceptions to the time limit that might cover the delay.

What reason did the people at the bank give you for not provisionally crediting the account?
They didn't say. Only said there was "nothing we can do at this time" and was still waiting for requests for information to be returned to them from some of the locations transactions occurred.

I can't speak directly to someone at the fraud dept. Can only speak to someone who gets my info and then puts me on hold to supposedly talk to someone in the fraud dept and then relays the info back to me. Very frustrating. I can understand that they may want to view camera footage in order to see that it is not me making the transactions but can't see how they'd have to wait for every single one to come in. Enough of them should have come in by now to see that its not me. On top of that, there is only one card issued to my account and there were transaction taking place in different locations within the state within 30 minutes of each other and the locations are more than 3 hours from each other. Obviously showing that my card was manufactured in some way.
 

ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
What are the "exceptions" that you are aware of that justify a delay? I'm mainly going off this from the OCC -

"
Time limits and extent of investigation.
TEN-DAY PERIOD.
A financial institution shall investigate promptly and, except as otherwise provided in this paragraph (c), shall determine whether an error occurred within 10 business days of receiving a notice of error. The institution shall report the results to the consumer within three business days after completing its investigation. The institution shall correct the error within one business day after determining that an error occurred.


FORTY-FIVE DAY PERIOD.
If the financial institution is unable to complete its investigation within 10 business days, the institution may take up to 45 days from receipt of a notice of error to investigate and determine whether an error occurred, provided the institution does the following:

Provisionally credits the consumer's account in the amount of the alleged error (including interest where applicable) within 10 business days of receiving the error notice. If the financial institution has a reasonable basis for believing that an unauthorized electronic fund transfer has occurred and the institution has satisfied the requirements of § 1005.6(a), the institution may withhold a maximum of $50 from the amount credited. An institution need not provisionally credit the consumer's account if:

The institution requires but does not receive written confirmation within 10 business days of an oral notice of error; or

The alleged error involves an account that is subject to Regulation T of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Securities Credit by Brokers and Dealers, 12 CFR part 220)"
 

justalayman

Senior Member
So did they require and did you provide a written notice of the error (fraud)?

How long prior to the first fraudulent use was the first deposit made or more simple; was it less or more than 30’days?

There are circumstances that double the 10 day and 45 day periods.
 

ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
So did they require and did you provide a written notice of the error (fraud)?


How long prior to the first fraudulent use was the first deposit made or more simple; was it less or more than 30’days?

I called the bank and had my account frozen once I realized the fraudulent transactions. The following morning, I went to my branch and had the forms filed with the bank. I am assuming this would satisfy the "written notice" portion as upon completion, the banker stated "this should be cleared up in a week, sometimes it can take up to 10 days".

More than 30 days. A couple of years actually
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
So print a copy of the regulation and visit the manager and discuss it with him/her.

Ask why they believe they don’t have to comply with the regulation and unless there is a valid justification, remind him that if they exceed 10 days they are required to offer a provisional credit.
 

ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
So print a copy of the regulation and visit the manager and discuss it with him/her.

Ask why they believe they don’t have to comply with the regulation and unless there is a valid justification, remind him that if they exceed 10 days they are required to offer a provisional credit.
I'll try that today. Last I spoke to him, he said that he had filed the papers and it was out of his hands from that point on. Will report back what occurs
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
I realize this qualifies as closing the barn door after the horses are gone, but this is the precise reason I use a credit card and not a debit card. When a credit card is misused, the thief is taking the bank's money. When a debit card is misused, the thief is taking the bank customer's money.

I prefer to put the bank's money at risk rather than my own.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
I realize this qualifies as closing the barn door after the horses are gone, but this is the precise reason I use a credit card and not a debit card. When a credit card is misused, the thief is taking the bank's money. When a debit card is misused, the thief is taking the bank customer's money.

I prefer to put the bank's money at risk rather than my own.
I have the same thoughts. I don’t have a debit card attached to any account I have.
 

ammcbrayer56

Junior Member
I have the same thoughts. I don’t have a debit card attached to any account I have.
I agree to a point. Having a debit card attached allows for quick cheap money withdrawal vs cash advance on credit which is costly. This particular account is generally used to pay my credit cards and rarely get used for debit transactions. The police officer who took the report actually suggested changing banks stating that because of the extreme out of ordinary activity, a red flag should have come up.

Most credit cards give good benefits attached to making purchases on items that most people don't realize or utilize like extending warranties and such. No matter how you do it, everyone is potentially a victim however. And our money should be protected according to law regardless of credit/debit. As said before, going without the funds for up to 10 days is no big deal to me. Going well past that is causing problems. I believe having to wait 3 months is ridiculous. My fiancee had his PayPal card compromised before and a provisional credit was issued immediately for the fraudulent purchases.
 
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