Discover Credit Card Fraud

A Credit Article Contributed by Mark Mcclelland

Want to Discover Some Credit Card Fraud Do You?

Are you on the prowl to discover a bit a credit card fraud because you've just had it up to here with those arrogant, abusive credit card issuers? Well, either you check your indignation at the door or you'd better have a whole closet full of attorneys at your beck and call.

If, on the other hand, you've actually had your rights infringed (rather than your feelings hurt), you have every right - no pun intended - to file complaints and / or pursue other legal action. But this course is a slippery slope and you're going uphill, so be careful.

Did You Discover a Bit of Credit Card Fraud - Really?

Be very careful when accusing someone of fraud, especially credit card issuers - they have LOTS of attorneys. The general understanding of fraud is that it is an intentional misrepresentation of "material existing fact" made by someone who knows that the facts were misrepresented, and that this misrepresentation was made in order to make someone else take some action, with the result being that the person taking action suffered injury or damage.

Fraud can also be considered to be the omission or intentional failure to state "material facts", when the failure to disclose those facts makes other statements misleading. While the foregoing is a paraphrasing of the generally accepted legal definition of fraud, you can bet that each and every word of the actual definition means something specific.... for example, the phrase "material existing facts" has a specific meaning that's hard to describe in less than 200 pages.... so be careful.

Unless you really understand all the nuances of the legal language, you're likely to be wrong in your interpretations of them.

And just to make doubly sure that we're clear on this, if you think you've managed to discover some fraudulent behavior on the part of a credit card issuer because of something they did, or didn't, do, make sure you're not simply misunderstanding your - and their - rights (those corporations have rights too you know). For example the following common situations, although used as grounds for many complaints, might not constitute fraudulent activity:

* The card issuer wouldn't give you a refund for a product you think is of poor quality: a product of poor quality is not the same as a defective product.

* The card issuer wouldn't investigate your claims of unauthorized charges against your credit card as thoroughly as you wanted: regulations only require that the card issuer conduct a "reasonable" investigation, and fair or not, what constitutes a "reasonable" investigation is left largely up to them.

* The card issuer is requiring that you pay for items on your bill that you're disputing: the only time you don't have to pay for disputed items is when the dispute is actually under investigation. If the card issuer decides, upon reasonable investigation that there wasn't any mistake or error, you have to pay.... even if you continue to dispute the items.

* The card issuer can't charge you a fee if you're disputing an error they made but they did anyway: right in line with the previous item, if the issuer decides that there was no error, they can charge you a fee. Whether they do or not is another matter altogether.

And be careful here. If the credit card issuers decide or discover that you're disputing items on your bill with simply the apparent intent to harass, well, you can bet that hearing from them about it is probably just a stone's skip away.

Don't Forget to Discover Your own Credit Cards Rights As Well

While you may think that the system's rigged, the place to go is to the FTC web site. The FTC is a great source of information of all types for those who feel their rights have been trampled. And if, after reading the material therein, and consulting with a lawyer, you discover that they have, you can file a complaint against the card issuer with the FTC. But should you? Well, that depends. Understand that when you do file a complaint, it's official, and formal, and all that.

While that may be just what you wanted - to give those bums a taste of their own medicine - it'd behoove you to make sure your rights were really infringed upon, and it wasn't just your feelings that were hurt by that surly telephone attendant that you thought was going to help resolve your complaint. The feds are busy, and don't take frivolous complaints lightly.

All that being said, you can go right to the page for a description of your rights according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act here:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/2summary.htm

or to the FTC homepage here:

http://www.ftc.gov/