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     | Thursday, January 11, 2001 - 03:48 pm  I received a notice on my Providian bill that said in a nutshell that "monthly billables" such as a gym membership or junum.com membership (in my case) will continue to be processed for a card that has a balance even after you close it and that is the consumer's responsibility to concel directly with the merchant. Capital One is also using the same tactic, I canceled a junum.com membership a month ago and canceled the visa from Capital One they were billing only to find out last week that until the closed accounts balance is zero, the charges will continue to go through. This is complete and total bulls*** in my opinion. Shylock mentioned reporting the card stolen, but I was always led to believe that this lowered your scores. Any insight to solving this problem would be greatly appreciated. Click here to see the original conversation regarding this issue.
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| | Thursday, January 11, 2001 - 08:00 pm I can't believe that it would be LEGAL for them to accept these charges on a CLOSED account AGAINST your express instructions. Does anyone have an idea how to get some legal advice on this? What is the definition of "CLOSED" account???? Also, it is my understanding that the "Lost/stolen" notation DOES impact on scores negatively. Does anyone know for sure? I learned the hard way that when you request a new Visa DEBIT card from Compubank because it's demagnetized, you'll get a new account number and all recurring payments are rejected. While it caused me a lot of problems not knowing this, I'll now use this trick to stop those charges. I have a monthly charge of about $10 from Look.ca (ISP) that I can't stop. Wrote to Look to cancel, got no response. Wrote to Compubank, they advised they couldn't help. So I guess it's time to report another demagnetized Visa. Conincidentally, at some stores I can't get it to read at all anymore already again. It's only been less than a year .... Anyway, since it's not on the credit, it'll never cause a problem with scores. I find that it's a LOT easier to go this route then waste countless hours on trying to stop charges. I just have to make sure I notify the legit recurring chargers of the new number right away. Have to say that Compubank HAS been helpful with a $930 Ebay dispute which they credited back promptly subject to Visa's final decision (was in August, I haven't heard from Visa yet.) And, don't expect that PayPal will do a thing for you in case of fraud, neither will E-bay. I was very lucky I used the Compubank Visa debit card to charge the PayPal payment to. But I sure can't understand why Compubank won't stop the recurring charges. It makes little sense to me that I have to get a new card with a new number to get this accomplished. Where can we get the LAW on these recurring charges?
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| | Thursday, January 11, 2001 - 09:40 pm I'm sure the CC company probably doesn't consider the account really closed until the balance has been completely paid off. I doubt they are in violation of the law. The merchants who don't stop billing you on the other hand...
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| | Friday, January 12, 2001 - 05:22 pm CHRISTINE: Look.ca, eh? Sound's like this impolite Canadian company is shafting you for the 10.00 monthly tab. I DID hear this week, however, that they are fast running out of money and ways to refinance, so they will be SOL (so to speak) very soon. Look is a high-speed antenna-based TV and internet provider with a poor business concept, s l o w customer service and big ugly rooftop antennas that will make good future lawn-sale ornaments this summer. Unfortunately, you are investing in futures for Canadian-based rubbish, so demangetizing your Visa so that it no longer attracts charges is a good idea.
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| | Saturday, January 13, 2001 - 08:44 am You are likely correct Erik that they are not breaking any laws since technically the account is not paid off, therefore not closed. However, it seems a little fishy to me that when I closed the account the next bill I received said zero credit available and a request that all cards be destroyed. If I were to use the number to buy something tomorrow, the charge would be declined. I tried this yesterday for a pidly internet purchase just for yucks. If I can't use the number, why should any other merchant who classifies it as a monthy charge be permitted to? I asked Capital One on the phone this morning if I had a demagnatized card, what could they do for me? They would reissue a new card with the same account number so Christine's idea is perfect for Compubank but it won't help in all cases. Also, Capital One won't proactively stop charges from a merchant, I can only challenge them everytime I receive them on a statement. Hypothetically, this could go on for years.
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| | Saturday, January 13, 2001 - 08:50 am And on another point, I find it reprehensible that companies make it near impossible to cancel their services. I know Kristi is a huge fan of junum.com but the fact is that they have no interest in allowing me to peacefully cancel my membership with them. Cross Country pulls this crap with their customers all the time when they try to cancel their credit cards. I had an ISP recurring bill that had to be challenged every month for three months after cancellation recently too. Frank, in the original post, had the same problem with Lexington. It is complete nonsense. They have already lost you as a customer so prompt customer service is no longer important and if they can continue to charge you, they will. It just seems like the credit card companies and the merchants are looking out for their bottom line not the consumer's interest.
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| | Saturday, January 13, 2001 - 10:18 am Patricia, if I were you, I would go to Small Claims Court and sue both Junum and Capitol One and every one else who continued to charge after you cancelled their service. When you have a CLOSED account NOBODY should be able to charge. I really would like to see the LAW that states that a bank may continue to accept charges to an account CLOSED by the CONSUMER. They most certainly would NOT accept those charges had THEY closed the account. I would expect that any judge would order Capitol One to refund ALL charges incurred after you closed the account. And I also was surprised that CompuBank changes the account number for a demagnetized card, it never happened before with any of my other banks. I'd say that for all practical purposes a FREE CompuBank checking with that Visa debit card is a great way to PREVENT those problems. It's a great alternative for people who can't get American Express (been recommend here for good dispute policies) and/or can't get a checking account at all due to ChexSystems. Also, you can report ANY debit card lost to end charges and it won't go on your credit. Unfortunately one has to go through intricate planning to try to stay ahead of the corporate scum.
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| | Saturday, January 13, 2001 - 10:59 am Zachary, all I know about look.ca is what you just posted, interesting. I was actually quite happy with their service, no busies or disconnects. The first of couple times they continued to charge I did "something" like write to them, or to Compubank. Lately I just noted the charge, it's just not enough money to waste a lot of time on. I did just order my new debit card, CompuBank says they'll leave the old card active until I request cancellation. We'll see how that goes.
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| | Saturday, January 13, 2001 - 11:03 am Did anyone NOT notice that this is another fine example of the US banking system screwing poor people ONLY because they can? The "well-to-do" obviously have enough cash to pay off their balance, and no further charges will ever be made. Why is that? THOSE people would sue Capitol One and Providian, and not just in Small Claims.
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