Debit Card Compromise

I consider myself a smart person. I shred everything. When this happened to me I was extremely angry. I recently bought some books for my grandson from a very popular childrens book club. His school informed the parents that they could create an account and pay for the books online and they would be shipped to the school. I trusted the website it was a secure sight. I had no reason not to it is an extremely popular club.

On Friday I placed my order. I used my debit card. On Sunday I received a phone call from my banks fraud unit asking me if I just used my debit card to make a $740.00 withdrawal through Western Union. I informed them that I did not and they placed a hold on my card.

I was so stressed because I did not have enough money in my account to even come close to covering this amount. I did not know what my credit union was going to say on Monday. When Monday came I went to the bank and they informed me that the would reimburse me the full amount including any overdraft fees that I incurred. This was going to take about 2 weeks. They also cut up my card and I applied for another card. This was the easy part. The hard part is that I have no money now. I am disabled and get my social security check on the 3rd of every month. This is 10th of the month.

I then went to the police department to file a report. What I found out is that it took 3 days for the funds to come out of my account. There was a hold on my account for the $740.00. This really upset me because all my funds were held up. I just couldn't understand why the bank wouldn't put a stop payment on this withdrawal. The police officer taking my statement was just as confused as I was. Technically the crime did not happen yet. He also informed me that I was lucky because there are some banks that would not refund my account.

My advice to everyone is do not trust even secure sights. It seems that my information was compromised through the book club and I was not hacked into. I doubt the criminal will be caught. All this took place in Montana not in my home state which will make it harder to track.

It is worth checking with your financial institute what their procedure is in a case like mine. Will they cover the amount? Will they cover your insufficient funds? It is worth checking into.