credit card debits legal rights do we have them?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My bank that I keep just for DEBIT card purchases both on and offline. This account is in a bank in Montana(I used to live there).
My Bank authorized a credit card debit from my account without my authorization. I had rented a U-Haul truck I used my credit card as required at the time of the lease and informed the Uhaul I would be paying cash when I returned with the truck. the per day rental was 15 dollars locally plus whatever gas the vehicle needed replaced brought back. I picked up the truck at 4 pm and was to return it the next day at 4 pm, however I kept the truck for 1 day and a half It was suppose to be for one day only but I had not completed my moving so I called and extended for 1 more day, The truck was brought back 6 hours early on the 2nd day at 12pm. When I went to pay for the truck which I had added the fees up it should have come to 30.00 dollars for 2 days plus the gas of 25 dollars making it a total of 55.00 dollars. When I went to pay the bill the man behind the counter added it up and said it would 200.00 because I had kept it an extra day, naturally I was surprised and angry sense I had called and nothing was said to me about a charge that would be 20 times more than what their advertised rates were. An argument ensued and I said I would not pay that absorbinant over charging. I offered to pay the amount per day plus the gas in cash and the manager refused my payment. I asked for a bill receipt and he would not give me one because I refused to sign it for 200 dollars so I told him that we can settle this in court. U-Haul proceeded to submit my debit credit card and tried to charge my account200 dollars, how ever all I had in it at the time was 125.00 so they resubmitted it in for 119.99 and my bank allowed them to take this money out of my account with out a signed receipt from me. This made me be overdrawn as I had other checks that had come in I was not aware Uhaul would proceed to debit my account sense we had a dispute about the charges. The bank also charged me $17 overdraw fee.

I protested and filed a dispute on the charge, after a month my bank came backs told that since this was a DEBIT/Credit card .and they had submitted it as a debit, sense they had given them my card they had the right to charge me whatever they wished that there was no protection available if a merchant sends it in as a debit. Every time I have used my card I have been asked to sign a receipt and show an ID. my question is this, if the bank does not need my authorization to debit my account, than what protection do I have against any one who may decide to take out of my account. I this legal??I am still trying to get this straightened out with them.

On another occasion I signed up with one of those internet phone companies where you pay a monthly fee for all the long distance you make per month($39.95 per month). For some reason the number I was supposed to dial never worked and I immediately cancelled this service(I NEVER made even one call with their service). This was four months ago and this company is STILL taking money out of my account in spite of my emailing them and also calling them to explain that I had cancelled long ago. I ALSO called my bank in Montana about this last month and deposited more money after it caused an overdraft of $6.25 yet again informed the bank I didn’t have this service and NOT to take any more money from my account. They still did the following month with between the Uhaul and the two months charges from this phone company it really screwed up my account I had covered the first Uhaul and the phone charge…in Sept…How ever sense I did not receive my statement until the end of Aug. I was not aware the second charge came which caused another over draft I was short 14.00 which cost me another 17.00 plus the prior months fee of 17.00 and by the time I had sent a deposit down to Montana they had charged me another late fee of 17.00 once again. then the one and only monthly 20.00 check that I have coming out of there was also deposited and again the they also are adding more and more overdraft fees because this account is overdrawn. At present there is around $123.00of overdraft charges alone on my account.

Needless to say I am NOT putting any more money in THIS account and am NEVER using it again. But this doesn’t get me my money back from before nor does it stop my bank from labeling me a deadbeat and possibly making it difficult to get any OTHER checking accounts in other banks.

Who can I contact about this? Are these all separate issues or can I unload all this on some agency with the responsibility to regulate banks? My card was a Visa Debit card…can I get Visa to do anything about this? I have contacted U-Haul both by calling them and emails and no response as yet(this was over 6 months ago)

A couple years ago I read my statement and discovered there were 10 porn charges on my account(monthly sites each charging around $29.95-34.95) I am the only one with access to my card and I KNOW I didn’t sign up for these things…I went to my bank(I was living in Colorado at this time where the bank is) and in less than 15 minutes had these charges removed and the money back in my account(I got back over $300). Nor did I have any trouble with this bank about anything until I left the state.

How can a bank get away with doing this…letting anyone anywhere just take money out of your account? Especially after being informed that the charges are being disputed? Is it all to get more overdraft charges and other sundry fees?

Can anyone make a suggestion on what to do next?

2

Can’t seem to get your stories straight. That is probably why you won’t get a response at either of the forums you have posted your tale of woe.

3

my friend posted this at another forum I had to redo it to be more specified on the facts

4

An answer to the U-Haul situation:

When you use your card to reserve the truck, U-haul does run the credit card number. They run the card for a certain amount (usually much more than the actual rental costs–just in case of accidents or whatnot) and get an authorization number. During a normal rental (no extra days, no damages to the vehicle), they keep the authorization on file until you return the vehicle and pay. Even if you pay with the same credit card, they will cancel the first authorization, then run the card for the actual amount. On a straight credit card, the authorization holds the funds out of the total available credit. With a debit card, sometimes it holds the funds, sometimes it doesn’t.

However, with any rental, if something doesn’t go according to the original terms of the rental, then they will use the original authorization and run the amount on the card. Even if you are disputing it, even without your permission. The company is just making sure they get paid.

From what you explained, the rental was to be X amount, plus gasoline. You originally agreed to one day. When you called and asked to keep the truck an additional day, that changed things. Sometimes companies will have promotions where if you reserve in advance, the cost is X amount; however, if you keep the truck even an hour longer, then they charge you the standard, no promotions involved rate. It is especially important that if you signed anything to rent or reserve the truck, that you read it and see if that clause is in there. If it is, there isn’t a whole lot you can do. I’m not a lawyer, but if you signed a contract, generally there isn’t a whole lot that you can do to get out of it (even if you didn’t read it, you still signed it agreeing to it).

You may be able to contact U-haul and explain what happened when they ran the charge and ask for a credit of the overdraft fee. Or a letter of explanation that you can forward to your bank to ask for a fee credit. Some companies will do that if you ask.

As far as the phone company charges–you reported those charges to your bank as unauthorized, and tried to contact the phone company to cancel any billing. You can contact the Better Business Bureau to file a complaint. Also, you can ask your bank to change the account number for possible fraud. (Especially with the porn charges from years ago–the debit card # may have been compromised in some way.) Talk to the bank.

And in regards to the overdraft fees: deposit the money to bring the account current. Not overdrawn. Make sure there is enough money to cover any checks or debits coming in. If those overdrafts aren’t paid, they will keep piling up. And the bank will expect them to be paid, even if you close out the account permenantly. If you close the account out for fraudulent activity, the bank will send you paperwork to fill out, and during their investigation will probably credit back the overdrafts (since they were caused by unauthorized phone charges). But until that happens, pay it.

5

Thank you for your reply
In as for the UHaul charge I did not sign anything and was not given
any paper work telling me the charges for the half day.also I have used Uhaul before and that was the same price per day as its been for the last 4 years.
as for the phone charges, I will be depositing yet again because if I do not I will not be able to open another account, i have written that I will be reporting the phone company to the FTC if they do not get back to me and filing for a dispute again.What a headache this has become.