Brandon writes:“In January 2007, I was traveling in Mexico and was mugged, having my wallet and passport stolen. By the time I got back to the hotel and began calling my credit card companies to cancel, the criminal had charged close to $3,000 on my CHASE Circuit City Visa card. I explained to CHASE that the charges were fraud, and they sent me a fraudulent charge affidavit to complete and have notarized. As I couldn’t take care of this until I returned from my trip, and had more important things like a passport to worry about, I waited a few weeks before completing the paperwork and during those weeks received about 2 calls a day from CHASE urging me to send the documents.”

I completed it and sent it certified mail along with a copy of the police report, the certified mail was delivered and signed for but the calls continued, apparently they never received it. About a month later when I finally had time, I made copies and resent everything to CHASE, finally the calls stopped.

I took this to mean that the documents had been received and that everything was taken care of, hardly the case.

I canceled the card as I never use it, so I no longer had access to the online payment system and could not check up on the balance, and so I let it go figuring everything had finally gone right.

About 3 months later I begin getting the same 2-3 calls a day from CHASE, this time demanding that I pay the $3,000 plus over $100.00 in interest and that my account is very past due.. The messages say to reach Norm at so-and-so extension as he is handling my case. I call, get voicemail, leave a message and never hear back about 3 times.

The calls keep coming and I finally give up, not having time to deal with the situation I begin hanging up every time I see the number on my caller ID.

Shortly after that, my account was referred to CCS collection agency for breach of contract, I was contacted by CCS agent Terry Orr who was actually very nice, explained the whole situation, listened to what I had to say, and told me to fax his office the same documents that I had mailed to CHASE months prior. After receiving the documents, I received a very friendly follow-up call saying that they had determined that the balance was fraud and would refer the case back to CHASE and they had no control over what chase would do with that ruling.

It has now been about two weeks and the 2-3x a day calls have resumed from CHASE again, what can I do in this situation, this is bordering on harassment as far as I’m concerned, haven’t a met a decent enough burden of proof that the charges were fraud.

Thank You,

Brendon L.

That just makes no sense. You called and reported the fraud the day of, and yet they’re still trying to collect. Under federal law, you have no responsibility for unauthorized charges after reporting loss or theft of a credit card. That you waited a few weeks to send in the papers doesn’t matter. Worst case scenario, your maximum liability is $50.

Have you sent them a “drop-dead” letter? Or a letter of dispute? Include the information in the preceding paragraph in your letter.

You could also try kicking it up to Chase executive customer service:

1-888-622-7547 – extension 4350
or
847-488-6833, or 888-622-7547 x 6833 – Jessica Pozehl

(Photo: Getty)

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