Allowing Co.s to make monthly charges on Credit card.

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I say this so to warn of the dangers, But do what you will.
I allowed my trash collector to make monthly charges on my Visa. It was $29/month. It's that little box you check. All was well, until there was an $800 charge on Visa from the trash Co. I called them-no answer. Drove by-nobody there. They left town. I called Visa to get rid of that charge. Now, here's the bad part. I was told that it was already paid. And by agreeing to monthly charges, I agreed that they could charge any amount at any time-AND IT WOULD BE PAID.
To this day, I will not allow any Co. to make automated withdrawals via credit card. I do not want a repeat of the $800 fiasco. And if hackers can break into super secure sites, a hacker can get into John, The Trash Guy's site. The site, with my Visa authorization information.

BTW A family member, who was a lawyer, talked the escaped trash Co. guys into giving up the cash. They defrauded a whole bunch of people, and they faced decades in prison. So I got my money back. But no way am I leaving myself open ever again.
 

Wow Fuzzbuddy....that sucks! I allow monthly payments to be deducted by several different companies I deal with, but they are well established ones. Some I use a virtual credit card number and others I use my actual card number. A virtual card number is a number generated by my credit card company that connects to my account but no part of my real credit card number is included. I can generate as many virtual numbers as I need and set the amounts I'll need for each. They can only be used online or by phone. Each number can only be used with one company. This is particularly useful for when I place online orders with companies I have not dealt with before or those that ask for three payments and may sneakily try to keep charging the account beyond those three payments. My utility bill gets deducted automatically from my checking account, but that company has been THEE company for electric and gas in my area since I was little and probably before that. What most of these companies have in common is that their website allows customers to set the maximum they can deduct from their accounts each month. I hear your warning though. And it's a good one especially when dealing with small businesses and/or new businesses. Too bad you couldn't get your money back!!
 

fuzzybuddy said:
I say this so to warn of the dangers, But do what you will.
I allowed my trash collector to make monthly charges on my Visa. It was $29/month. It's that little box you check. All was well, until there was an $800 charge on Visa from the trash Co. I called them-no answer. Drove by-nobody there. They left town. I called Visa to get rid of that charge. Now, here's the bad part. I was told that it was already paid. And by agreeing to monthly charges, I agreed that they could charge any amount at any time-AND IT WOULD BE PAID.
To this day, I will not allow any Co. to make automated withdrawals via credit card. I do not want a repeat of the $800 fiasco. And if hackers can break into super secure sites, a hacker can get into John, The Trash Guy's site. The site, with my Visa authorization information.

BTW A family member, who was a lawyer, talked the escaped trash Co. guys into giving up the cash. They defrauded a whole bunch of people, and they faced decades in prison. So I got my money back. But no way am I leaving myself open ever again.
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I have never seen the need to do that when I can just set up an automatic electronic payment from my checking account each month through my bank, an automatic payment that I have full control over and can change or terminate as I need to.
 
Yup, dwspringer, that's a good way to pay bills. Just be sure to look at each bill.

I used to work in a billing dept for a major company and sometimes there were changes and the monthly amount had lowered, yet the bank kept paying the same original amount each month!

I was surprised at how many people didn't realize because they didn't look at their bills, then wondered why they were getting refund checks.
 
I have auto payments set up only on Netflix monthly and yearly for my dog's microchip service. I always check and stay on top of these two, so if there was something out of the ordinary, I'd catch it while the cost was small. I've only done this with a credit card, I don't use any debit cards or allow anyone to withdraw funds from my bank accounts.
 
On a similar subject, how many of you have ATM cards that are also debit cards? I don't and the reasons I don't is I use credit cards instead because of their protections and if somehow fraudulent charges are made against a debit card that money is gone from your checking account until you can recover it, if you can recover it. You can have an ATM card that is not a debit card, I had to insist on having it that way at my bank and put up with them initially telling me it couldn't be done.
 
dpwspringer said:
On a similar subject, how many of you have ATM cards that are also debit cards? I don't and the reasons I don't is I use credit cards instead because of their protections and if somehow fraudulent charges are made against a debit card that money is gone from your checking account until you can recover it, if you can recover it. You can have an ATM card that is not a debit card, I had to insist on having it that way at my bank and put up with them initially telling me it couldn't be done.
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My debit card is also a Visa card, and my bank provides the same protection to the debit card use as it does to the credit card use. I watch the card carefully.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I say this so to warn of the dangers, But do what you will.
I allowed my trash collector to make monthly charges on my Visa. It was $29/month. It's that little box you check. All was well, until there was an $800 charge on Visa from the trash Co. I called them-no answer. Drove by-nobody there. They left town. I called Visa to get rid of that charge. Now, here's the bad part. I was told that it was already paid. And by agreeing to monthly charges, I agreed that they could charge any amount at any time-AND IT WOULD BE PAID.
To this day, I will not allow any Co. to make automated withdrawals via credit card. I do not want a repeat of the $800 fiasco. And if hackers can break into super secure sites, a hacker can get into John, The Trash Guy's site. The site, with my Visa authorization information.

BTW A family member, who was a lawyer, talked the escaped trash Co. guys into giving up the cash. They defrauded a whole bunch of people, and they faced decades in prison. So I got my money back. But no way am I leaving myself open ever again.
Click to expand...

I don't do automatic bill pay. My netflix is the only one, and they get paid from a credit card account, which is only authorized to pay the set monthly fee.
 
Butterfly said:
My debit card is also a Visa card, and my bank provides the same protection to the debit card use as it does to the credit card use. I watch the card carefully.
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The big difference is that with a credit card you get sent a bill which you can dispute and hopefully get resolved. With a debit card the money is taken from your checking account and then you try to get it resolved. The other difference is in the worse case the limit is the card limit and in the other case it is all you have in you checking account. Because I feel I have more security with a credit card, I just don't see the need in having a debit card or want one.
 
dpwspringer said:
.... if somehow fraudulent charges are made against a debit card that money is gone from your checking account until you can recover it, if you can recover it.
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Almost all major banks now offer zero consumer liability on ATM/debit cards. All you need do is check with your bank or credit union re their policy. Note that there is a time limit on making a fraud claim, whether credit or debit card - always make sure you know the specific policy of your issuing bank.
 
Lethe200 said:
Almost all major banks now offer zero consumer liability on ATM/debit cards. All you need do is check with your bank or credit union re their policy. Note that there is a time limit on making a fraud claim, whether credit or debit card - always make sure you know the specific policy of your issuing bank.
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That's what my bank does, so I keep a very frequent watch on my bank account online to be sure all is kosher.
 
Lethe200 said:
Almost all major banks now offer zero consumer liability on ATM/debit cards. All you need do is check with your bank or credit union re their policy. Note that there is a time limit on making a fraud claim, whether credit or debit card - always make sure you know the specific policy of your issuing bank.
Click to expand...
I read somewhere not too long ago where someone claimed they had a charge on their credit card that they didn't make. Their credit card company investigated and told them they found it to be a legitimate charge and the charge stood. It is not always a slam dunk and whether it gets resolved in your favor or not, it is still less of an issue and less stressful to deal with getting a bogus bill than trying to recover money stolen from your checking account... at least that's how I figure it. And I don't see what I need a debit card for when I have credit cards with higher limits than I will ever need.

What is fundamental difference between a credit card and a debit card... in one case you get to use the banks money for a while, in the other case it is always your money in play. And I get a little bonus for using their money, 1, 2, 3, or 5% depending on a few things.
 
We have all of our bills on auto payment. But we are still working and live overseas while we have kept our home in Texas. So it would be impossible to take care of all bills and utilities while overseas 10 months per year.

OP's issue and concerns regarding auto payment and fraud are real. We monitor our CC's regularly, or to be accurate, my DW does. Our CC providers also know our situation and will put a hold on our accounts for any unusual activity. This is a good thing, but can be abit frustrating when we come to the USA as they almost always put our cards on hold due to the activity of us being in the states and using the cards.
We just have to call them repeatedly and tell them it is OK. But we are glad they are so vigilant as we have many illegitimate charges and our cards have been compromised many times over the years.

We are looking forward to retirement and not having to deal with international issues.....Sooner the better ! :playful:
 

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