Credit cards & unauthorized re-billing

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by mizlaplan

If I could offer my own advice.
Don't go anywhere near ccbill.
Bastards.
I got scammed a few years ago but cancelled my credit card pronto the second I discovered it so didn't lose much.
Best thing to do is cancel your card and get a new one.

It seems hit and miss, I've never had issues with ccbill and tend to go for sites that use it as an option. I always ensure I cancel a few weeks before the renewal date (you can check that on their site) and have always had an e-mail confirmation that my subscription will end on whatever date and that my card will not be re-billed. To date I have had no issues.

[yellowbandit]

I had something similar happen with a site (turned out to be chinese behind the scenes), where I signed up for a free trial for three days, and they tried to bill me instantly for three separate sites with no prior indication. My CC company actually blocked it themselves right away wondering why three charges from China would appear at the same second. They called me and asked if they were valid. I said No, they cancelled my current card and issued me one with a new number.

[Baranovich]

Originally Posted by kayfabe

I recently signed-up for a Site & it looks like it (and / or the billing Company) could be scammers. Whilst not absolutely sure yet, I'm trying to pre-empt any unauthorized payments from my card. Something similar happened a few years back & although the payments were refunded, it was hard work.

Would cancelling the card (or reporting it as 'lost'), ensure that no payments will go out, or would this just mean I'd have to get a new card & online payments could still be deducted?

Almost universally when you cancel a card, whether it's credit or debit, it will immediately prevent any future payments being taken from your account. This is for the simple reason that that card number is the only link to performing transactions to your account. Once that number has been cancelled, there is no way that old number can be used to access funds in your account. When you are issued a new card and therefore a new number, you have eliminated access to your account by anyone with the old number.

In 2011, my checking account was hacked online by someone in Europe. Despite having pretty extensive anti-virus software running, he keylogged me when I was using my card online, and tried to use my debit card to buy about $1,000 worth of power tools. The hacker's transaction was traced to Europe, and my bank called me as soon as the transaction took place. With my bank, any time there is a suspicious transaction they put a hold on it until they confirm whether or not it's legitimate. I told them that I had not made the purchases, and they immediately cancelled the transactions and issued me a new card with a new number.

One of the vulnerabilities of today's digital world is also one of its strengths. Yes, we are all susceptible to having our information and personal ID stolen, but because everything is digital, a bank or other institution can just as quickly freeze suspicious activity and transactions before they actually are finalized.

[Baranovich]

Originally Posted by blondifan

Used to be that way in Oz too.
Just recently I tried cancelling an ongoing credit card debit for a service I repeatedly unsubscribed from.
I then tried ringing the bank that issued the credit card (not the one I originally had as R.Branson sold out to them).
After trying two or more times, with endless phone cues and stupid voice recognition menus I gave up and tried online. An email I received a few days later informed me they couldn't stop payment and suggested I send them a written letter. (To a facebook related site with no 'contact us' option, let alone a mailing address.)

Ended with me having to visit the bank personally and cancelling the credit card.

THIS!

Exactly! He's quite right.

The reality is that it's much easier to stop having payments taken out of your account by just cancelling the card than it is trying to call and have the debits stopped.

Once you commit to authorizing an auto-payment of any kind to a website, it can be VERY, VERY difficult to get your bank or credit card company to stop the debits. And if you want to get reimbursed? Forget it, that can take months or years, it's like pulling teeth embedded in cement.

Now, don't misunderstand me, I'm not talking about cancelling your card COMPLETELY! I'm not talking about closing a checking account or cancelling a credit card!

What I mean is, one of the best methods for getting auto-debit payments stopped or stop having your credit card auto-charged is to literally report the card as "lost" or "stolen". What will happen is, because they have to treat your card as potentially being in the hands of a stranger, they MUST cancel the card with the current number. Because of that, they issue a new card with a new number. At that point, whatever card number the website has on file, suddenly will no longer work because the number no longer exists.

Now, one distinction I SHOULD make here, because it's an important one. If you sign up for a site like Paypal or Amazon, you can link your online shopping and purchasing accounts to a debit or credit card, OR to your bank account itself, to pay for items that you buy.

NOW, if you sign up to a website that ends up being some kind of scam, and you signed up to make payments using a debit or credit card, then you can just cancel the card number and have a new number issued to stop the payments. BUT, if you signed up and gave them your CHECKING ACCOUNT number itself to debit against, you're screwed, you have no choice but to actually close the checking account and start up a new one, there's not much choice.

Just as a side-note, and I realize that this is kind of underhanded, but it can really get you out of a financial jam when you just need to reset and start fresh with something. If you have collection agencies after you, or if you have payments being debited out of a checking account automatically each month(i.e. the minimum monthly payment on a credit card, or the payment against a car or something), one of the best ways to stop those payments from continuing is to simply close the entire checking account and start up a new checking account. The old account number that your credit card company or collection agency has on file will suddenly be quite useless. Their access to your funds will be instantly cut off.

I'm not saying this is a great way to handle your life financially. I'm not advocating defaulting on credit cards or defaulting on car loans. I'm just saying when it comes down to your survival and your money, you can take measures to make sure that they can't keep taking money out of your account. You need to eat and have a place to live and sleep first. Credit card payments and everything else are secondary.

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by Baranovich

Just as a side-note, and I realize that this is kind of underhanded, but it can really get you out of a financial jam when you just need to reset and start fresh with something. If you have collection agencies after you, or if you have payments being debited out of a checking account automatically each month(i.e. the minimum monthly payment or the payment against a car or something), one of the best ways to stop those payments from continuing is to simply close the entire checking account and start up a new checking account. The old account number that your credit card company or collection agency has on file will suddenly be quite useless. Their access to your funds will be instantly cut off.

I'm not saying this is a great way to handle your life financially. I'm not advocating defaulting on credit cards or defaulting on car loans. I'm just saying when it comes down to your survival and your money, you can take measures to make sure that they can't keep taking money out of your account. You need to eat and have a place to live and sleep first. Credit card payments and everything else are secondary.

In the US this won't work. If they are a legitimate collection agency they have your social security number and can find any bank account you open. If you do this to break a payment agreement with a collection agency that you made, they will come after you and your new accounts.

[Baranovich]

Originally Posted by DTravel

In the US this won't work. If they are a legitimate collection agency they have your social security number and can find any bank account you open. If you do this to break a payment agreement with a collection agency that you made, they will come after you and your new accounts.

True, they can come after you and pursue it, but the nitty gritty is that in most cases they can't actually start up actually debiting against your account again without your authorization to do so. And namely, THAT means they need access to your new checking account number. A debit transaction cannot take place unless they can enter that new number and withdraw the amount in question. A collection agency cannot simply walk into your bank and say, "one of your customers owes us money, we want his new checking account number", no way! I.E., they cannot bypass you and force the bank to authorize new payments on their own, without the courts being involved. I am pretty sure that is illegal to do that, without a court approving it, and even then it's an iffy thing.

Unless your paycheck at work is being attached, which is something that your employer has to abide by because it's ordered by a court.

If you enter into a payment agreement with a collection agency, and then break it, their only recourse is to pursue a small claims case with the courts. And then, all the court can do is mandate that you pay them so much per week or per month, and it's all right back where it started.