Happy

Citi card. I just called Citi to tell them it wasn't authorized. It issued temp credit. Then I called WSJ to chew them up. They issued credit. It took 10 days for WSJ credit to show up. Once it showed up I called Citi to inform them the merchant had resolved the issue. Citi reversed the temp credit. Case closed.

No, I did not vehemently dispute it, simply told them I did not authorize this charge as I knew it wasn't a case of stolent information.

BTW, fraudulent charges do not equate to ID Theft, but people (and the Media) tend to confuse the two. Your personal data do not get compromised in a credit card fraudulent charge case, only the card itself is compromised.

ID Theft would be like someone got your personal data and then use it to apply for loan, mortgage, etc.

thebat

You handled it very calmly. It was obviously an attempt to defraud you since they wormed their way into your NEW CC number. When you caught them, it was "opps, sorry."
I admire your ability to remain unruffled by this dishonesty. I sometimes lose my temper too easily. I am trying to change.

Happy

WSJ does not have the new card number. It billed on the old card which was consolidated to another card. Citi was not at fault in this case.

Someone at WSJ did not carry thru the instruction of "this account is not subject to automatic renewal" or in that nature. I chewed up WSJ because I got an email before to guarantee me there would be no automatic renewal as a condition for me to take a trial subscription.

EIPremier

Had a fraudulent charge on my AS Visa Signature back in June. BofA had denied the charge, but still notified me via email, and placed an immediate lock on my account preventing any use of the card until I could log in to my account and attest to whether or not the charge was fradulent. I filled out an online form identifying the fradulent charge(took 5 min max), and then they sent me a new card which showed up in about 3 or 4 business days. The whole process went very smoothly, and I was appreciative that BofA had these fraud prevention mechanisms in place. So I just wanted to strongly disagree with what the other poster said about BofA not monitoring for fraud. And I didn't sign up for one of their add-on monitoring services either.

fttc

In theory, CC companies let the charges go through after you cancel a card because you may have charged it legitimately a few days ago, but it hasn't posted. But why can't they set an expiration limit such as 1-2 weeks after which all charges including pre-approvals have to be declined?

In practice, they let the charges through because people are more likely to forget it once they thought it's cancelled. There is a higher chance to hit people with late fees and finance charges. In some cases, they hit you with other penalties claiming you knowingly charge against a canceled card.

So it's another sleazy way to make money for them. They are there to protect you only when they will otherwise come out on the losing end themselves.

l etoile

I'm afraid it is true with pre-approved recurring charges. You must notify the vendor to get it to stop. Canceling the card does not end the charges, or the misc. fees, as noted in the post above. By allowing the charges to continue, you are breaking the terms of your credit card agreement, which requires you to immediately stop all charges to the card when you close the account. You'll find the information on this in your cc agreement.

As someone else mentioned, it's a good idea to never agree to recurring charges.

USAFAN

Here is the link:

http://www.fpl.com/customer/paycard.shtml?id=alias

For private accounts the fee is low. For company accounts they just increased the fee.

Happy

I thought I mentioned that paying FPL by credit card, you have to go thru 3rd party and incur fee. My question therefore, really was, Had FPL now changed to allow Credit Card payment just like AT&T, Comcast and other utilities, that you can pay online with CC , no fee?

The answer is NO. FPL continues to direct you to use Western Union (the 3rd party) to make CC payment, and the fee seems to be 3% on the amount as the fee shown is exactly 3% of my light bill.

So, why use a CC to pay when you incur a 3% fee?! essentially you are paying dearly to "buy" the miles or points. I can understand someone may need a quick top up for account and resort to use this mechanism. However, it would be a very dumb way to gain miles / points doing this.

Jaimito Cartero

I had a 800 number service, the company based in Canada, that was a monthly recurring charge. I canceled 3 years ago. After a few months, I noticed some small charges still coming through from the company. I called them up directly, and they said they'd refund the money.

Nothing happened. I called them up a couple of months later, and they again said they'd stop it. A few more months went by. I called up the credit card, and disputed all the previous charges. They took them off. Every month, the small ($1.50-$3 each) came through. Then they increased to $6 each. After disputing a few times, I was sick of it. I ended up just canceling the card, and getting a new number issued.

To this day, the company still sends me monthly invoices. Talk about a dumb company.

USAFAN

We have pretty high electric bills in Florida.
On my last bill I paid 1.3% .... that's OK for me

Happy

Interesting, we are at the opposite side of you in Florida - if FPL's fee is a fixed amount, then it would mean our electricity bill is about 1/2 of yours. With aircon, TV & computer running from morning till late night, I thought our electricity bill was high. The only reason I could attribute this to, we live in a Condo with the big balcony facing North - therefore no direct sun year-round. I only wish our condo maintenance fee can be paid by credit card as well.

Broward County does allow CC payment for property tax, again, with a 3% fee.