If anyone can tell me how I could have gotten unauthorized charges from anyone other than an employee from Chase please enlighten me because I have been going over it again and again trying to figure this out.

My story:

I opened a credit card with Chase because of a balance transfer offer they sent me. It was a fixed rate of 0% for 1 year but there was a balance transfer fee of 3%. So I transfered $1000 to this new line of credit and intended to pay it off within a year or less. I never intended to use it for purchases so when I received the cards in the mail I immediately locked them up in my personal safe at home. I didn't even show them to my husband or activate the cards. Then I continued to make $100 payments through the mail (not online) until it was paid off 10 months later. It was wonderful and I had saved money. Super!

Then about 2 years later I received a credit card bill in the mail with what looked to be website charges and since I had never activated the credit cards to begin with I thought it was really odd. So I called Chase to let them know that I had unauthorized charges on my card. They were helpful and reversed the charges and sent me some papers to sign and gave me a new account number and sent new cards. On the phone, I mentioned that I had never used the card for any purchases whatsoever or registered my credit card number anywhere online so I thought it was strange that someone had gotten my credit card info. All they said was "well, we will be investigating where these charges came from and you don't have to worry because you won't be held accountable for any fraudulent charges." When I received my new cards I again put them in my safe because I wasn't going to use them and I still thought something smelled fishy but I just went on with my life. Now it has been about a year and a half and I got fraudulent charges again (February 2009) from some wu-yi tea source website. Again I am baffled at how anyone could have gotten my credit card number. Based on my process of elimination the only people who have my credit card number is Chase and any of the employees who work with my account. So I decided to write this complaint and see if someone else can figure this out. I don't know how they hire their employees over at Chase but this time I told them that I don't even want any cards sent to me and I want to close my account. This time when I called about my fradulent charges the woman actually listened to what I said. She helped me reverse the charges, sent me paperwork to sign, gave me a new account number and then told me my case was "very suspect." I asked her what she meant by "suspect" and she said "hold on let me transfer you over to the fraud department." Now this first woman was clearly qualified to help me with my unauthorized charges so why did she send me to another fraud department? And why didn't she answer my question? (The first time I called 1.5 years ago only one person helped me with everything.) The second guy she transferred me to didn't even know what was going on he just answered "How can I help you today?" like I was a brand new caller who hadn't been helped yet. So then I had to explain everything again and he asked for permission to pull up my account blah, blah same thing again! Then he tells me "well it looks like your account is already closed and you have a new account number." So I tell him, yes someone already helped me with that and she transferred me to you because my charges were "very suspect." I explained again how I keep my cards in my safe and never used it online or anywhere etc, and all he said was "okay thank-you I will make a note of that on your account and is there anything else I can help you with today?" I said no and we hung up. It is very, very fishy. Although both times they were very helpful and always reversed the charges, I still think this company is fishy. If anyone has credit cards with Chase that they are not using, it might be wise to close the account because it appears that Chase's security has been compromised.

Michelle in Hawaii

I have had a promotional billing rate for two years and I have closely monitored the date when my promotional period ends, with the intention to pay the full balance before the promotional no-interest term expires. The expiration date for the promotional period has been 9/29/08 for nearly two years. However, just as the promotional rate is ending, this month the promotional date expiration on my Chase billing statement has suddenly changed to 10/8/08. However, I have nothing to cause this change to my account.

Today I contacted Chase's customer service line to request assistance in clarifying this discrepancy. The first representative recognized that it was a mistake but could not explain the discrepancy. He simply suggested that I pay by 9/29/08, despite recognizing that my statement inaccurately reflects the promotional date ending on 10/8/08.

When I asked to speak with a supervisor, after a long hold, a woman who would only identify herself as "Anna in the Texas location" recognized that Chase made a mistake on my statement, but she still could not explain why the error occurred. I found my conversation with her frustrating because it took quite a while for her to grasp my concern, while instead she launched into an explanation of my promotional interest rate percentage, and even mistakenly said that my promotional rate ended in June, 2008. She did not strike me as wonderfully competent, and inspired no confidence in her abilities. When I asked to speak with her superior, he said that a "Ms. Booth in Texas" would contact me within 72 business hours, but that Ms. Booth would not take my call.

I felt is was important to follow up with Chase because, as an attorney, I find it negligent that Chase is sending out statements with inaccurate promotional expiration dates. For many consumers this could mean the difference in several hundred (or in my case, over $1000) in undue charges that would be added to accounts based upon a mistake on Chase's part. If I had followed the promotional expiration date indicated on my current statement (rather than the accurate expiration date indicated on previous statements), then I would have been charged significantly more that I owed to Chase for paying off my balance too late.

Stated otherwise, the difference between my accurate promotional expiration date of 9/29/08 and the inaccurate expiration date reflected on my current Chase statement of 10/8/08 could have cost me over $1000 in undue interest fees. Indeed, this assessment of undue fees may be happening to many others of Chase's customers.

I wrote to Chase's Chief Legal Officer, CEO and head of HR to explain the situation and offer evidence to support my claims. If I don't receive a response, I may well refer this to the FTC. The moral of this story is to closely monitor your statements from Chase because if they make mistakes on your bill, this onus is on YOU to prove their error. And if you don't catch their mistake, you could pay hundreds in unnecessary interest fees. Beware!

Chase Credit Cards
www.chase.com

Sometime in July, 2007, Chase made a mistake in closing my credit card account without notifying me. I sent in a payment of about $500 towards a balance of about $1200. I discovered that the card didn't work when it was getting rejected while trying to charge a phone card. I called Chase. They said they closed my account because I filed for bankruptcy. I told them that not only had I NOT filed for bankruptcy, but NEVER even dreamed about it. They said they would investigate & that I should call back in 5 to 7 days. The more I thought about it the angrier I grew. I called back the next day, & was told the same thing. I asked why they couldn't call ME back when they fixed their errors. Over the course of the next month I called & spoke with an endless stream of idiots, including some that claimed to be supervisors. During this time period, I received a letter from my Discover card in which they INCREASED my credit limit and also discovered that Citibank DECREASED my limit from over $10,000 to just $750!!! I got ahold of my credit reports and discovered that Chase had reported that credit card account as 'included in bankruptcy'. Now, about a week ago Chase sent me a check for the amount of my last payment!!! Since I was unable to speak with anyone at Chase with any real brainpower on the telephone to resolve this issue I have now had to write them a letter on my attorney's advice. If they do not correct their error, report their mistake to the credit bureaus & clear my name with the bureaus my attorney is going to file a lawsuit against them.