cc company's screw up my fault?

[du_nomad]

California
Last July, I sent written notice to US Bank to close my credit card account due to repeated unauthorized charges appearing on my account. I have confirmation that they both received and reviewed those instructions (the letter addressed another issue in addition to the account closure, which was acted upon so I know it was looked at). They didn't close the account and continued allowing unauthorized charges to go through. I've been disputing the balance since then, and instructed them twice more to close the account and disallow any further charges . . . both times my instructions were ignored (again, I have confirmation of receipt). They finally closed the account in January, but reported it as "closed due to non-payment". They've put negative reports on my credit rating saying I pay late and are now threatening to report a charge off. All the while, I've been disputing the amounts but they've come up with one BS excuse after another (for example, they are most recently claiming it's beyond the 60 day limit even though my first contact was well within that time).

I've tried complaining to the FTC and State AG's Office, but got non-responses. I've written numerous letters to their CS, collections and fraud departments, but continue to get responses of "too bad, take it up with the merchant and pay us". I even wrote to the CEO, but all I got was a form letter response saying "we'll check into it". They're collections department continues to harass me, calling virtually every night.

The actual amount they claim I owe is less than $500, so it would cost more to hire a lawyer than it would to just give in. But can I sue in Small Claims court? I've heard that that will do nothing to clear my credit history, and am not sure that I can file against an out-of-state corporation. Thanks for any help!

 

[T-DESIGNER]

I am not an attorney, but

If you had initially reported your credit card as being stolen
to the credit card company, you probably would have had
the charges removed and a new credit card issued. Reporting
a stolen card normally requires only a telephone call, and
sometimes involves contacting a different department/division
in the credit card company than when disputing a charge.

You might contact the local police or FBI, and see if there is
some way of bringing criminal charges against the merchants
and credit card company; especially, if you were assessed late
charges, interest, etc. My point of view on this subject is: a
credit card company can steal your credit card number just
like any other computer thief, etc. Refusal on their part to
close the account means to me they were using your credit
card number and account without your authorization.

If you receive any more phone calls and/or letters, inform the
credit card company or collection agency that you are turning
the matter over to the police/FBI. At the same time, tell the
collection agency and/or credit card company to be prepared
to provide proof as to who made the purchases, because the
police/FBI will be needing this information.

But again, I am not an attorney.

 

[T-DESIGNER]

P.S. Some years ago, I had 2 or 3 unauthorized charges appear
on one of my credit cards for the month of December, where
the unauthorized charges were from different merchants.
Because I had made several catalog purchases for Christmas,
several charges were on my December's credit card bill, and I
almost overlooked the unauthorized charges.

If my memory serves me correctly, I contacted the merchants
and asked them for information concerning the purchases. It
turns out the purchaser had the same name and same city as
mine, but with a different street address. When I started
asking for more information as to how my credit card was
charged, the credit card company and/or merchants refused
to provide the information.

This may not be the case, but I suspected the credit card
company or merchants had some unpaid charges, and
they used a computer to find anyone with the same name
and city as mine, and the merchants and/or credit card
company posted the charges to my credit card. I believe
the charges were eventually removed from my account,
but I canceled my credit card because of the incident and
my suspicions. This was an automobile manufacturer
rebate credit card, where I had accumulated over a
thousand dollars toward the purchase of a new automobile