Pebbles wrote:cajungal wrote:Not true according to what happened to a co-worker of mine. She was at Wal-mart and she lost her debit card. She let the bank now immediatly as well as the police. The thief overdrew her checking acct. by $400. And my co-worker was taken to court and was forced to pay the $400. And the thief got away scott free.
There must be more to the story.. I am truly sorry for your co-worker... there are laws about this that a court has to uphold them. If she reported the card stolen in 48 hours of her losing it AND informed the bank of the purchases within 60 days she should of never been liable. Did she maybe not get all the paperwork to them in time? Luckily, to my surprise, I had no problems with my bank or credit card companies. Actually it took only a few phone calls, a trip to the bank to set up a new account and mailing in a copy of the police reports and some forms to all the company's involved to set things straight. (this woman did make purchases and also used my blank checks many months after the theft with another bank which the police contacted me about). I didn't lose even $50.
My purse now stays looped through my arm the WHOLE time I am out of the house now. Please ladies don't let go of your purse for an instant. I know we think no one will snatch them in front of our face usually.. but this woman grabbed it while i leaned over to grab a package of meat... one hand on the cart.. and followed the contour of the carseat my baby was in before placing it in her jacket. And did this as my 12 year old leaned over to look inside the main part of the cart. I was utterly shocked how she did this. And you can see she followed us for about 40 minutes through the store waiting for the right opportunity to snag it. Looking at shelves like she was picking out stuff which was how we didn't notice her. Even the manager was shaking her head in amazement watching the video. And I see women all the time putting their purses in the front of the cart...because they never leave/take their hand off the cart. Believe it or not she did it so well it took me a full 3 minutes to realize it was gone, plenty of time to walk quite calmly to the front of the store and exit.
This is a quote from The federal trade commission at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/atmcard.htmATM or Debit Card Loss or Fraudulent Transfers (EFTA). Your liability under federal law for unauthorized use of your ATM or debit card depends on how quickly you report the loss. If you report an ATM or debit card missing before it's used without your permission, the EFTA says the card issuer cannot hold you responsible for any unauthorized transfers. If unauthorized use occurs before you report it, your liability under federal law depends on how quickly you report the loss.
For example, if you report the loss within two business days after you realize your card is missing, you will not be responsible for more than $50 for unauthorized use. However, if you don't report the loss within two business days after you discover the loss, you could lose up to $500 because of an unauthorized transfer. You also risk unlimited loss if you fail to report an unauthorized transfer within 60 days after your bank statement containing unauthorized use is mailed to you. That means you could lose all the money in your bank account and the unused portion of your line of credit established for overdrafts. However, for unauthorized transfers involving only your debit card number (not the loss of the card), you are liable only for transfers that occur after 60 days following the mailing of your bank statement containing the unauthorized use and before you report the loss.
EDIT: If this happened to your friend before March of 2000, then more then likely she was liable as the same laws were not in place then
I also have a friend who has there debit card taken and they overdrafted his account by $350 the bank wanted him to go to jail and the judge and plus the state added another $1500 for a "state fee"because the judge said since it was a "debit CHECK card we can say it was a Bad check.At that time he was looking at 5 years in jail!!!!!!!!But he got a lawery and after going to court 3 more times and the lawery bills up to near $4000 and they caught the person.But here is the kicker the person that taken his card got only $500 fine and 1 year probation(sp).
