Credit Card Misuse - theft !

Caz1234_2

My friend at work recently received a credit card bill for £6000.00. All of which were cash withdrawals made during a 6 week period - she did not make any of them.

She had split up with her boyfriend of 9 years in Feb 2006 and all financial ties were cut then when he moved out.

She had had him named as a secondary card holder on one of her credit cards when they were together and he used this occasionally with her authorisation.

She recently borrowed against her house to pay off all credit card bills and set herself straight again and all her credit cards were at zero. So you can imagine her surprise when she receives this £6000 bill that "someone" has run up.

So far as she was concerned her ex no longer had access to any of her money or accounts.

We have to assume that it was him that has taken all this cash out using his old card - or the card has been stolen and used by somebody else (the card has been used a number of times at a cash point near his mothers house - which is where she belives him to be staying).

She seems resigned to the fact that she will have to somehow find the money to pay off the £6000 and that there is nothing else she can do about it.

I have told her its theft - she doesnt know who has taken the money and it certainly wasnt withdrawn with her authorisation. She needs to contact the police and tell the credit card company to have their fraud department investigate.

I want to know how someone has been able to with draw £6000 in cash over a period of five weeks without any of the banks security / fraud protection kicking in. Whenever I spend an unusually large amount on my card I get a call from the bank checking that it was me that spent it.

My friend has never withdrawn cash using a credit card and yet the bank failed to contact her when "someone" started withdrawing £250 a day over a 5 week period ! Surely this is negligence on the banks behalf?

If there is erratic behaviour on any other of my accounts I always get a phone call to clarify that it is me spending on the card and to authorise any out of the ordinary transactions.

I have told her to ask the bank for a list of the withdrawals made and with times, dates and locations of the withdrawals. As she will be able to prove she was elsewhere at the time the transactions were made.

My friend is a single mother, who has very little money, she is quite a mild mannered person who unfortunately tends to get walked all over by other people and was treated particularly badly by her ex partner. I was so incensed when she told me what had happened that I felt I had to try and help her.

She has already made two payments on this £6000 debt and has approached her mortgage lender to borrow against her property again in order to clear the debt.

I dont think she should have to do this as the money was not withdrawn by her but has been stolen by someone else.

Can anybody please make any suggestions and tell me where she stands.

Thanks

Caz

NickX

Unfortunately this is not theft and what your friend's ex-partner has done is legal.

With Credit Cards, all debts are the sole responsibility of the Primary Card Holder. The Secondary Card Holder is not liable for debts run up even if the Primary Card Holder is unaware of transactions made by the Secondary Card Holder.

I'm afraid neither the Credit Card Company nor the police will entertain this as theft or fraud unless it was NOT your friend's ex-partner that has run up the debt. However, as the card was used in cash machine's near where his mother lives, I think this is highly unlikely.

I would recommend that your friend confronts the ex-partner (and perhaps takes you along as backup) and makes him see how unfair his actions are and insists that he repays the money that he has borrowed. He is not legally obliged to do so, but perhaps he will feel morally obliged.

Oh, and make sure she cancels this account completely as soon as possible.

Caz1234_2

Hi Nick

Thanks for the reply.

I dont think confronting the ex partner is an option - he was quite an agressive, nasty piece of work and the last thing my friend wants is to go anywhere near him again. He doesn't have a moral bone in his body by the sounds of it!

She has cancelled the account now.

If the bank cant prove it was her ex partner - surely they will have to accept that the card was stolen? I think its worth a try.

I think Im more cross than she is about it!

Thanks again,

Caz

exel1966

I sympathise with your friends predicament, but this doesn't appear to be a case of fraud or possibly even theft as she, by making him an additional cardholder has granted authorisation to use the account, but she is solely responsible for any debt occurred on it.

Now if the card had been stolen by somebody else, then yes, theft/fraud would have occurred without question, but this is different.

I don't believe you'll get much joy from the card company either. The only way possibly to proceed with this is to take out a civil claim against the ex- through the courts, but obviously due process takes time.

I would put pressure on him by visiting his mother and explaining what's happened. She may well be able to give him a kick up the backside to get his finger out and repay the money. If that doesn't work then start to get more devious !!!

NickX

Caz1234 wrote: »

If the bank cant prove it was her ex partner - surely they will have to accept that the card was stolen? I think its worth a try.

No, I know its a horrible situation, but this isn't the case.

If it is proven to be your friend's ex-partner, then the bank will deem your friend to have OK'd the withdrawals because she made her ex-partner a Secondary Card Holder. They will say she is liable for the debt.

However, if it can be proven that either her card or her ex-partner's cards have been stolen or fraudulently used then that is a different matter and she can dispute the transactions.

I am sorry to be an old cynic, but when you said the withdrawals were at ATMs near his mother's house this was evidence enough for me that he had done it.

I know its no use to her now, but knowing what he was like, she should really have cancelled the account when they split.

Sorry, I do feel sorry for her, but legally I don't think theres much that can be done.

PAULUK08

I would also speak to the police for advice - its worth a shot.

JimmyTheWig

Caz1234 wrote: »

If the bank cant prove it was her ex partner - surely they will have to accept that the card was stolen? I think its worth a try.

I would have thought that it was your friend and her ex's job to prove that it _wasn't_ him rather than the bank's job to prove that it was.

Incisor

NickX wrote: »

... I'm afraid neither the Credit Card Company nor the police will entertain this as theft or fraud unless it was NOT your friend's ex-partner that has run up the debt. However, as the card was used in cash machine's near where his mother lives, I think this is highly unlikely.

I would recommend that your friend confronts the ex-partner (and perhaps takes you along as backup) and makes him see how unfair his actions are and insists that he repays the money that he has borrowed. He is not legally obliged to do so, but perhaps he will feel morally obliged.

Clarification. He may not have committed a criminal act, but a visit to the small claims court would show that he is legally obliged, if it can be proved that he took the money.

Caz1234_2

Thanks for all your replies.

I will tell her to try the police anyway. Its worth a shot.

She feels very stupid for not cancelling the account - but I think she forgot there was another card on the account. Lesson learned!

Hopefully, what goes around comes around and he will get his come uppance one day.

To top it all off, myself and my friend were put on redundancy notice last week ! So it really isn't her month !

Thanks again all - will up date you if she has any joy.

NickX

Incisor wrote: »

Clarification. He may not have committed a criminal act, but a visit to the small claims court would show that he is legally obliged, if it can be proved that he took the money.

I don't agree I'm afraid.

In applying for an additional card in his name the OPs friend is effectively authorizing him to take the money.

I don't think a visit to the small claims court would change this legal fact unless there are circumstances that we are not aware of - for instance if the ex-partner used threatening behaviour to force her to make him an additional card holder.

NickX

Caz1234 wrote: »

Thanks again all - will up date you if she has any joy.

Good Luck with it and sorry to hear about the redundancy notices on top of this.

Do let us know how you get on.

Thanks :beer: