Fraudulent Transactions on Card - Paying while being investigated?

SlimJ_GBR

Hi Guys,

Last month my credit card (Cahoot) was used fraudulently for a number of transactions totalling approximately £1500, this credit card was stopped and the issue reported with the transactions refunded although my balance is still £1500 more than it should be (they explained this to me but the funds were still available to spend).

Now, this is all being investigated at the moment but I am due to make my monthly payment in the next day or so, I have my account set up to pay off the debt every month in full but as I'm due to pay out around £1800 including the fraudulent transactions I have stopped the payment being made in full, instead I'm just paying out the money I have actually spent which is around £300 for the past month - I'm mainly doing this as I don't have £1800 to spend in my current account!

I'm a bit confused by the situation the bank has put me in, they say the fraudulent amounts will not place any interest on my account although I can see my interest for next month is based on the £1800 I have to pay to clear my card. Also, why should I have to pay the £1500 when it is clear that the amounts have been refunded back to my account?!

Anyone have any advice?
Cheers
James

bert&ernie

The fraudulent transactions should have been marked as disputed. This should prevent them accruing interest, but they may still be included in balance calculations. The estimated interest may have been calculated to include the disputed transactions, but they shouldn't be included when the account actually bills.

They may also be including the disputed amount when calculating available credit etc - this would be to protect the issuer from additional credit risk while the dispute is investigate.

You may be inconvenienced by this, but you shouldn't loose out financially.

Moggles_2

During any dispute with any credit card company, it's advisable to keep up the minimum payments required, until its investigations are completed and your account returns to normal. Provided that you continue to meet at least the minimum payments, you're keeping within your Ts & Cs and your credit rating is not affected. You don't mention the total balance, but in paying £300, I would have thought you've more than covered the minimum due.

From feedback here, these issues are not resolved quickly, so whatever you do, don't withhold the minimum payment next month. You can always reclaim that amount afterwards if necessary.

SlimJ_GBR

Cheers guys, most helpful!

Total balance is about £1800 at the moment, I'm just clearing money that I have actually spent which is the £300 which more than covers the minimum due - this was only about £6.50 anyway so perhaps the minimum payment was not affected by the increased balance size.

Cheers
James