My card has been used without my knowledge, what can I do?

Question

I applied for a River Island credit store card in store in July 2009, the card was sent to my house and I received it a couple of weeks later.On the card there was an instruction to activate the card saying 'Help Prevent Fraud, this card cannot be used until it is activated by the main cardholder, the main cardholder should call ..........'. I am the main cardholder and I didn't call them to activate the card. Recently I could not find the card so I called them up and told them I want to block it even though its not been activated. I was told no purchase had been made on the card which to me was a relief, I even took the person's name down for reference purposes - I was also asked if I want a replacement in which I said no. Now I have a bill of £296 and I believe it is not my fault and is the company's because I didn't activate the card. I spoke to someone and they put it down to fraud which can't be because if a card is activated security questions need to be asked such as D.O.B, address etc. What can I do because I am certainly not paying for River Island's carelessness. Another point is that just imagine I never received the card in the post and it went to someone else' address the person could have used it.

Answer 1

Calls like the one you made to the credit company are generally recorded. Depending on when you spoke to them, your telephone conversation is likely still to be on tape. If you told them you didn't want to activate the card and have the name of the person you spoke to it should be quite straightforward for them to check your story.



You'd be surprised how easy it is to commit card fraud. I've had it done to me. The people who do it are very clever. Once you've proved that you asked the credit company to cancel the card the problem is theirs, not yours. They may try to pressurise you (they were quite sniffy with me too), but stick to your guns and don't give them a penny that you did not spend.

Answer 2

Hey,



Unfortunately this is happening at ever increasing rates.



It sucks that you've been taken advantage of in this way.



I would suggest that once you get this taken care of (stick to your guns and if necessary get a lawyer involved), keep informed regarding your credit. Have a third party like equifax or transunion monitor your credit and inform you if there is ever a request to pull your credit report. Your request will show up, but those trying to access your credit without your knowledge will aslo be brought to your attention and you can then do something about it as soon as possible.



Good luck

Answer 3

You can usually file a complaint either with your bank or the credit card company directly. They will probably give you the run around but if you are persistent you should be able to get the charges dropped because that is not right.

Answer 4

sorry to hear about this annoying situation. You can't pay for a card you didn't activate. Cards companies are insured so you need to be firm with them. Ask them to release the 1st conversation you had with them and this should resolve this issue.