Reporting a questionable charge. Is this normal?
 

I want to question a charge on my Chase Ink card. I don't think it's fraudulent, but the merchant name is unfamiliar. Chase told me that the only way they could investigate is to change my card number and investigate it as a fraudulent charge. That makes it a real pain considering all of the autopayments tied to this card. I don't recall Amex doing this. Is this normal or specific to Chase? Thanks for your replies.

IME it’s normal and to be expected (and annoying and aggravating and often times infuriating).

Confusing. Seems that an unfamiliar merchant name would be suspicious.

I had a nearly identical experience with AmEx just a few weeks ago, and several with all card issuers over the past 30 years. Few weeks ago noticed an unexpected unfamiliar $16.73 charge on one of my several AmEx Biz Plats, easy to see as balances on all those accounts are usually $0.00. Called the number listed on the transaction information, some parking lot processing center, they investigated. I called again in 24 hours, was told “it’s one of our new facilities and they have several questionable charges, please report it to AmEx so they’ll investigate.” Called AmEx, card closed, new card with new # sent.

My most memorable bogus charge was 30-35 years ago, in the days of paper statements only so it was (like getting hit with 2x4) obvious to notice a statement with one exactly $300 charge from a NYC restaurant on a sock drawered card that I had used at that restaurant 9 months prior and not used again since. I suspect that some vendors process bogus charges periodically in the hope that some people will not notice and they’ll get the money.

Yup, a real pain. Consider it one of the costs of doing business playing the game (maximizing miles and points via credit cards).

Since Chase is on the hook for any fraudulent charges, why would they let you continue to use a compromised card number?

No card issuer would allow you to do this. Ever.

There is official business name and a DBA (doing business as) name; maybe that's why the name looks unfamiliar. I've seen a lot of charges posted under a completely different name. If the numbers are right you are most likely fine.

Thanks for the response Dr J. Called back and got another person at Chase that explained they could investigate without a cc number change if it was a purchase I recognized that was not fulfilled or ohad incorrect charges, but if I didn't know the merchant, it goes to the fraud department and a new card needs to be issued. I googled the merchant and only came up with a site where others reported the same merchant and this site ranked the merchant as questionable. The good news is when Chase created a new credit card number, my card in my Apple wallet was updated immediately and was usable.

So many times the merchant listing on the cc bears little resemblance to the actual merchant's name. This month I had a merchant listed as just a bunch of numbers. Turned out it was local movie theater. As a result there are often transactions we don't recognize that are legitimate. Each time we question a charge should not necessarily mean changing the card number.

Sometimes it's as simple as looking at the date - hmmm, where was I and what was I doing that day? Had an obscure small charge when I was flying one day - turned out it was an airport vending machine. Nothing in the name indicated that, but just remembering where I was helped solve it.

You’re welcome. There’s something to be said for the old fashioned way of doing things. I try to obtain a hard copy paper receipt for EVERY credit card transaction, try to jot down every Lyft/Uber and other digital receipts. Keep them until I receive my hard copy paper monthly statement at which time I check off every charge and discard the paper receipt.

Legitimate unfamiliar merchant names and charges can always be quickly reconciled by comparing dates and amounts. For me to have a possible fraudulent charge, the name and date and amount would all have to be unfamiliar (or completely mismatched as with my $300 example above).

In this case, the name of the merchant was AP Borderless SIngapore. Searching brought up a company with a similar name, but using chat they said others have compained but they are a payment company (like PayPal) and don't use credit cards. Another search result was a site that that takes scam complaints and had several complaints for this company. (I also checked the validity of that site and it was listed as a reputable site.). I also searched my email around the date of the transaction and checked my calendar, but neither helped identify it.

With all due respect, WAY too much time and energy. Balancing a checkbook (if that’s still a thing) and reconciling a monthly credit card statement should NOT take so much time. Check the receipt for date and amount, confirm vendor if name unfamiliar, 2-3 seconds. If that doesn’t result in recognition of a valid charge and it’s not a known automatic/recurring charge, DONE. Dispute charge by call or online, let the issuer do all the work.

I don’t know the statistics, but it’s reasonable to expect that if YOU see a bogus charge it’s probably the tip of an iceberg, the dishonest vendor is probably processing MANY other bogus charges, only way they’re going to make any money. Although I’m also unsure of the issuer’s threshold for disputes for individual vendors.

YOU shouldn’t have to waste YOUR time because someone else is corrupt and/or dishonest, that’s the issuer’s job and part of the reason the issuer gets paid. It’s inappropriate when someone else’s mistake creates more work for another person (they should fix their own mistakes), it’s completely unreasonable when someone else’s malicious behavior wastes another person’s time and energy (I’m actually very good at wasting my own time and energy :D).

Very true. But in all cases it's hard to avoid spending extra time. You either spend lots of time keeping and reconciling paper reciepts or deal just with the unknown charges as they occur and then spend time changing your cc number with your payment accounts. I'd like to see the banks require merchants to provide contact information in their name. Or at least an accurate description of who they are.

I've recently made a couple of charges where the merchant actually said "this will appear on your statement as Blah Blah blah company", which was not the name you'd be expecting, and which was very helpful.

With all due respect, WAY too much work. :D

I gave up reconciling my credit card statements with paper receipts or other records a long, long time ago. My CSR alone had nearly 500 transactions last year. My CFU had over 200.

I look at my primary credit card transactions online on a regular basis to look for unknown charges (and new Chase/Amex offers). There is a good chance that I would not notice an extra Starbucks (or other small value/frequent merchant) charge I didn’t make, but it’s quite unlikely that they would charge me for something I didn’t authorize. A truly fraudulent charge tends to stick out like a swore thumb. And is pretty rare. Occasionally (especially on foreign trips) I come across merchant names that don’t ring a bell at all. But since I am looking at it a day or two after the transaction, I can usually work out what the charge was for.

Guess it all depends on what the meaning of the word “is” “WAY” is ;).

(Quoting Rocky 3) “ain’t so bad”, only 42 or 17 transactions per month, shouldn’t take more than a minute or 2.

To each their own, different strokes for different folks … but my way is (depending on what the meaning of the word “is” is) WAY better :D!

(BTW, like me if you’re old enough to have given something up “a long, long time ago”, then perhaps you also understand the LIAR Professor's interpretation of “with all due respect”. :D)

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