So I’m currently in the process of moving legallyheidi.com over to wordpress.org. I’m trying to make it all prettified before I send all my readers packing to the new pad but maaann for a girl who calls herself a quasi-tech/geek? I am absolutely CLUE to the LESS. Fret not freaders, I’ll let you know when the move is for realz0r.
But right now? That’s the least of my problems.
This morning I woke up to a happy email from Bank of America…god that bank is seriously the BANE of my existence.
Now for someone who’s generally careful about their bank card, and the like, this SUCKS! Granted, it could be a lot worse, but a couple charges came in online from overseas totaling about $43 which…in contrast to what other people go through? Isn’t…that bad, so I guess I’m kind of lucky. Lucky that someone didn’t entirely eff me over and take my wee savings and bank account balance that was supposed to pay for BILLS (jerkbag). I mean there are people who have their accounts taken for all their worth, thousands of dollars in the negative, having paychecks drained as soon as they’re deposited, with a bank who ignores their cries of fraud losing their money and their identity in the process. There are people who have their identities stolen who have loans for thousands of dollars, credit cards in their names that they don’t find out about until the accounts are defaulted on, until they have creditors banging at their doors with pitchforks. It’s sad really that with our advanced technology that we can’t identify someone who steals an identity that’s not theirs. Of course it’s a double sided sword because it’s that very technology that’s ALLOWING them to do so.
I mean, seriously, I hate that I’m such an optimist. I generally try to see the good in people which usually results in me getting repeatedly effed over by people I thought I could trust. I’ve gotten better about not being so trusting, but seriously? Why are there people who get kicks out of effing other people over. Didn’t they learn in like…preschool that it’s not nice to take what’s not yours? I mean if you know you’re doing something wrong, and that committing fraud is wrong, then why in God’s name would you do it??!!
It pains me to think of how some jerk-off over seas got my card number, especially with all the things online that I do. Should I watch out for my other account? Should I watch out for my credit cards? Should I watch out for my social security number? What if someone is stealing my identity? I’ve had that happen to friends, for as much as I’m an optimist I tend to be an even larger hypothetical worry-wort. The two? Don’t go hand in hand.
But again, at least I a. caught it early, b. didn’t have my entire account drained (although one day later and it could have been because I had that money to pay bills, thankfully I can pay those out of a different one) Still…scary and intimidating and nerve racking and unnecessary stress that I just…didn’t want to deal with today…or any day for that matter.
Have you ever been screwed over by John Doe or by [Insert shitty bank here]??
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
luckily my bank is pretty awesome about fraud protection and stoopping unauthorized charges. i also monitor credit online. most of the people i know that are with bank of america hate it and always have problems…along with changing to wordpress, you should switch to wachovia! they are the shit!
Hey! I came across your blog through a friend.. did you know that you can put a fraud alert on your credit report for free?? I did it once through Experian. Then they notify you anytime someone tries to open a line of credit in your name for a certain period of time. It might give you some peace of mind!
Those small charges are fraud people checking the account number to make sure it works. It’s almost like they just have a system that runs different combinations of numbers until one works. So cut that account off immediately and switch it. I hope nothing worse happens.
I hope the bank didn’t actually authorize those transactions? Several years ago my credit card account number was used to attempt to make purchases in TRANSYLVANIA. Yep, THAT Transylvania. There was (fortunately) no available credit on the account at the time and the bank called me and of course I said no, I didn’t authorize those transactions. It was a close call. I hope things work out okay for you.
I haven’t personally, but my cousin when he was 18 applied for his first credit card and was denied. Someone in Utah stole his identity and over 60,000 of charges on multiple cards and other forms a credit. They finally figured it out when the thief tried to apply for a home loan using my cousin’s SSN.
There are some CRAZY people out there!
Famous Daves had some shady servers at one time and one stole my debit card number and 60 other peoples – I was working the last inauguration and my bank called my cell phone and asked what my purchases were for the day. I told them just gas, they advised someone used my card number at Radio Shack down by Virginia Beach for 1000.00 plus on a new computer. I got my money back but went ahead of everything and used my tools and opened an investigation. Basically the guy and woman were taking peoples numbers and made a fake credit union credit card and put everyones numbers on the cards. He is in prison now – she is nowhere to be found.
Ugh, that sucks hard. I am so sorry.
Every time I withdraw from ANY other bank other than BofA, I always get that notice. It freaks me out every freakin’ time.
I got an alert like that once from BofA, cause someone was running test charges on my card. That’s what I like about them, the bank is really on top of that stuff.
i’ve had the same thing with BOA. as much as a despise the company they really did save my ass with the protection program they had. i had about 7 multiple charges that totalled under $200 but they really did a great job helping me out and warning me about it and also resolving the dispute and getting me my money back. i have no idea how these people got my card, just trial & error i guess but i was ticked because i googled the sites were people were using my info and they were gaming sites. some freaking techie geeks fucked me over just so they could play an online game for another 2 hours. that’s what pissed me off the most, oh and that these sites only require card # & expiration dates. no other sort of verifying info.
but like i said, BOA solved the problem and did a great job.
oh man that stinks. i hope it works out for you, i hate that scary feeling of other people using my money.
That’s crappy…I’m so sorry you have to wrestle with this! Banking is such a strange thing. We left our last bank because their statements never matched our checkbook. It would only be a few dollars here and there, but we couldn’t figure out where the mix-up was, and they couldn’t seem to explain it. After six months of this, we gave up, pulled out our money, and started over.
Hang in there!
Ugh! John/Jane Doe got my personal information last summer. As soon as I found out, I checked statements for all my accounts for the past year for irregular activity (I now do this every month, but was naive and figured if they were sending me a statement, it was just for my charges!) I, then, found charges that registered a web domain and a charge for a subscription to some porn site. Lovely. So, what’s a girl to do? Put the lockdown on the cards. I now pay for monitoring each month and am notified immediately of any irregular charges….and thank goodness I signed up for this because someone tried to use my card for nearly $2000 of electronics from Circuit City. Bottom line – there are some pathetic jerks out there. Hope you get your situation resolved and that it isn’t too much trouble for you!
You really have the worst luck? What’d you think of GG on Monday?
I hate Bank of America for so, so many reasons. One of them: I can’t use any ATMs in the District. Why? Because my account is a Washington State account. Hello, NATIONAL BANK. Virginia is no problem though, go figure. However, I cannot access my BofA-issued credit card statement or transactions online. It’s because (they tell me) the account was opened in Washington, but the credit card was opened in Virginia. Why? Why? “You could open an new account in Virginia,” they told me. Yeah, because that makes a lot of sense.
Good luck with the unauthorized charges. The bank probably has your back on this one, but you can put a fraud alert on your account if you’re worried. It’s easy and free; you can read about it (and other anti-ID theft stuff) at ftc.gov.
I have had major problems with BOA as well. One involved me getting so worked up on the phone with the 473rd manager I started to cry hysterically (from madness, not from sadness). He finally said “miss, I really want to help you, but I need you to calm down because I just can’t understand what you are saying”. I still did not switch banks. I think that officially makes me the moron.
Someone got hold of Torsten’s German credit card number once and spent $3K gambling online with it. Apparently it’s common for waitresses and whatnot to steal foreign CC numbers because American CCs are no longer accepted on gambling websites because it’s illegal here. It was a hassle but luckily we didn’t have to pay for the charges.
I hate TCF Bank. They screw me all the time. I want to move to Chase but TCF is literally a block from my house so the ATM is so convenient. Ick. They keep me for now.
Oh no, that sucks! Banks issues are SUCH a hassle. Whenever I talk to my bank’s customer service, I end up wanting to throw the phone into the wall.