Lose your Chase Credit/Debt Card After Business Hours? You'll Have to Wait Until Morning to Cancel
Posted on August 29, 2006 by Him and tagged credit, customer_service
Last Friday we went out to dinner with a few friends from out of town. When we were waiting for our table I decided to run to the ATM and grab some cash to make things easier when the bill came.
That was the last time I remember seeing my ATM card.
Last night I opened up my wallet to put a coupon in it, and noticed that my card was missing. I looked around in the usual spots around the apartment to no avail, and then proceeded to backtrack my whole weekend. Turns out that I didn't buy anything all weekend (!), so I never cracked open my wallet. My ATM card had to still be in the machine. Luckily for us, no one had made any puchases using my card.
I grabbed Her credit/debt card and called the number on the back. I got a recorded message and navigated through the maze of menus to try and get connected directly to a Real Live Person (TM). Turns out that they only have people on staff from 7AM-9PM, local time; it was about midnight when I called, so I would guess that most call centers were closed (maybe not Hawaii?) Therefore, I could not report my card as missing or stolen!
Credit card holders though, get special treatment. A dedicated 24-hour number is available to report missing/stolen cards. I tried calling that number and told them my situation, but was promptly transferred to the original number that I called.
Him, meet run-around. Run-around, Him. Pleased to meet you.
I checked our account again this morning, and to my relief everything is still in order. I cancelled the card, but I made it a point to ask whether or not they had a 24-hour number for reporting lost or stolen ATM/Debit/Credit cards. The representative told me what I already knew about their hours of operation, but assured me that they [Chase] wouldn't leave me hanging if something did happen. Yeah, right.
According to the Chase Visa Check Card page, there is zero liability on unauthorized transactions when Chase is notified promptly.
I guess promptly means between the hours of 7AM-9PM. A lot can happen in the eight hours that they are closed for the day.
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Actually it depends on what kind of debit card it is. If it's a VISA debit card, the company issuing the card has to treat it as if it was a credit card and the debit card has the same protection as a creit card (This issue just came up on Mary Hunt's daily newsletter in the last week or two).
Still, if I was a Chase customer, this would make me hesitant to stay a Chase customer.
credit card owner | Mar 19, 2007
Even if your liability is only $50 it is still a pain in the neck prove that the charges were unauthorized because you your credit card was lost or stolen. And as for the 24-hour number, I guess most of the companies just claim they have one but they actually don't becuase it never works. I hope we can still count on 911 for 24-hour help.
Ravi | Aug 29, 2006
It's all about liability. With a credit card your maximum liability for unauthorized charges is $50, no matter how long you take to report it, so they have every incentive to make it easy for you to report your card lost or stolen (since they could be on the hook for lots of unauthorized charges).
With debit cards, your liability grows the longer it takes you to report the card lost or stolen. It starts at $50 for the first two business days after your loss, but grows to $500 after that and you risk unlimited loss if you don't report the transaction within 60 days of the mailing of a bank statement containing an unauthorized transaction. And since, on top of your liability, there's the potential for overdraft fees and the like, there are plenty of reasons not to go the extra mile to make it easy to report your debit card lost.
This is one of those reasons why credit cards can be better than debit cards (as long as you pay off your balance each month).
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