Fraud dept of my bank called when I was charged for "free-trial" day I signed up

[Ginnamary]

Riddle me this....

Sign up for free trial.  Instant credit.  Instant credit never comes...oh well.  Now cut to 2 days later.  Find message on my machine from fraud dept of my bank saying someone charged my account $50.  which they declined as fraudulent until I could comfirm. Okay so I'm horrified...figure someone got my ifo off the net.  Bank only had "make money on-line" as name of company.  Googled it.....there's only like 6000 listings to sift thru and no "make money on-line.com"  Needless to say took all the cash out of my account and continued freaking out until I finally checked fusion acct and realized it was the same day I had signed up for free trial with a company I assure you was not called 'make-money-on-line.com'.  Same amt of $ too (that you are SUPPOSED to be charges at the END of the trial......is there something I'm not getting here?"

So what now?  I guess they still expect me to cancel the "free" trial on time which I had not one muinute to look at while playing Sherlock Holmes with my bank account.  I'm sure I won't be recieving my credit either AS IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE "INSTANT" I guess since my bank would not release my money for this "freebie"...no freebie.  I am furious.  Huge waste of my time.  Was very excited about all this survey stuff.  It was fun.  Not fun anymore.

Where do they tell you that they will charge your debit card the day you sign up?  Are they checking to see if u have the $?
If that was a problem why wouldn't  be notified by the company, or some part of the bank other than the fraud department

[Kymberli0529]

All I can say is make sure you always read the TOS of each site you sign up for.  Sometimes there is a lot more fine print than you'd think.

I hope you can get everything fixed.

[MarieRW2]

Find message on my machine from fraud dept of my bank saying someone charged my account $50.  which they declined as fraudulent until I could comfirm.

Your bank declined to accept the charge because they suspected fraud, so why are they holding the money?

[Ginnamary]

No, I guess I wasn't clear.  Nobody's holding my money.  I took it all out.  BUT I finally found out which company it was and they said they had no record of me at all.  obviously BECAUSE the bank declined the charge.  But the question is WHY did the charge come in the very day I signed up for the "free trial" anyway.  I was supposed to be charged AFTER the trial period.  I was told by the manager that, and I LOVE this...that they do immediately charge your account but do not actually TAKE the money untill the 7 days are over.  In the meantime it is considered "pending" and your money is as good as gone anyway as it is frozen untill they know if they can get their grubby little hands on it.

I really don't like this.  brings up a host of questions.  If that money was not available to me and I wrote a check would it have been an overdraft complete with fees etc. 

I don't get it and no longer care to

[MarieRW2]

Many companies do this, including very respectable ones such as Netflix and even gas stations. I once had a gas station put a $70.00 hold on my Paypal debit card for an entire week. It sucks, but they're just making sure you have the money to back up what you're purchasing/thinking about purchasing.

If the company was completely legit, they would have released your money as soon as you canceled your trial, or completed the transaction if you didn't.

However, it is odd that they didn't have a record of you.

[Kymberli0529]

Yeah, I've had gas stations especially hold money.  Netflix held back a dollar for a week. 

[klkwid]

This is point and case why I never give out a credit card or debit card number without knowing exactly what I'm getting for it!!

[Administrator]

The authorization charge isn't usually a big deal if you have a credit card, since it reduces your available balance.  But if you have a debit card with a Mastercard or Visa logo (i.e. a debit card that can be used as a credit card), those authorization charges result in a real debit to your bank account while the funds are "on hold".  That can cause overdraft charges and other problems.

If you think that your bank is overcharging you (most do!), then VOTE with your WALLET and take your business elsewhere.  I recommend credit unions, as they have all the same insurance and protection as banks but they are not-for-profit organizations.  Any excess money the bank has gets paid back to you as dividends!  Find one here: http://www.creditunionsonline.com/

If a credit union is not an option, consider a bank like ING Direct which is online and does not charge NSF or overdraft fees: http://home.ingdirect.com/faqs/faqs.asp?s=ElectricOrange

If you overdraw on that ING account, they will loan you the money at 7.25% APR and charge NO fee.  So if you overdraw $50 and don't put more money in the account for 5 days, you pay just the 5 cents in interest that accrues!

[kimmers5558]

 
   What I did to avoid any kind of fraud in my bank account-  I set up another account that only has $25.00 in it at a time. This way I can still have fun doing the surveys and never worry about any real money being lost.

Good Luck!

[mrisha]

The issue of if the "free Trial" company was legit wasn't addressed.  Why not?

Does FC Investigate these companies before accepting them?  This is why you never use your cc or debit card for these free trials.  Yesterday, I did a survey for Access Credit-$1.00-guess what it came back as "there's no free lunch-credit .25 cents.

User beware!!!!

[janell07]

that is why I don't do the offers I have to give my credit cards on.

[LittleDebbieG]

You and I must be at the same bank. For some reason, whenever I use my card over the internet, they end up calling me and verifying the charge before letting it process through. It's quite a hassle... but sometimes it's nice knowing that the bank is overprotective of my money.

As for the charge of $50, a lot of places do this sort of thing. For instance, there was a gas station I went to once that didn't charge me based on what I actually pumped ($16 or so), but actually held $50 on my card for about a week before releasing $34 and keeping the real transaction amount. I was absolutely livid, as there was no warning at all beforehand. If I'd known, I would have paid in cash.

[Administrator]

The issue of if the "free Trial" company was legit wasn't addressed.  Why not?

Does FC Investigate these companies before accepting them?  This is why you never use your cc or debit card for these free trials.  Yesterday, I did a survey for Access Credit-$1.00-guess what it came back as "there's no free lunch-credit .25 cents.

User beware!!!!

We do check out partners before their offers go live.  In this case, it's an unfortunate side effect of the merchant trying to prevent fraud.  They authorize cards for the full amount of their product to ensure that you can pay for it.  When you use a debit card, that reduces your available funds. 

[prettymonsterkitty]

this is a lil off topic, but my bank teller told me that I should open up a second checking account just for online use! in order helps eliminate some risks

[LittleDebbieG]

I used to have a credit card that allowed me to create a pseudo-card for online and phone usage. I could specify the limit and the expiration date as well. I found it quite useful... but alas, I cut that card up after I recieved a "the economy is bad, so we're upping your rates so we can make more money" letter.