So verizon wireless charged my bank account

[AyashiKaibutsu]

So I check my balance today and I'm at -77 dollars wondering wtf happened I check my account history and discover VW charged me 300 dollars today that I didn't authorize. I haven't signed up for any sort of automatic bill paying. It's still pending, but I can't cancel it until the morning. I don't know if I should report an unauthorized transaction or wait until morning and just put a stop payment on it.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Did you recently cancel their service or something? That amount sounds like what they'd charge for early cancellation of a contract.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

No, I haven't although I'm behind on my bill. I assume that still doesn't give them the right to charge my bank account without permission.

Edit: In reponse to below, The charge was 300, which wouldn't cover my bill+cancelation fee so it's an odd amount.

 

[mugs]

What was the charge for?

 

[jackace]

Sounds like your automatic bill pay went through and they charged your account for the entire amount you owe them.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: jackace
Sounds like your automatic bill pay went through and they charged your account for the entire amount you owe them.

I don't have automatic bill pay...

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

If you put a stop payment doesn't your bank charge you $100? How far are you behind on your bill?

 

[jackace]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu

Originally posted by: jackace
Sounds like your automatic bill pay went through and they charged your account for the entire amount you owe them.

I don't have automatic bill pay...

How did they get your account number then? Did you give it to them some other way like a debit card or something?

 

[TXHokie]

Did you pay a bill with a check? My insurance company sent me a bill with some fine print which says that if I pay by check, they won't cash the check but actually will authorize a one time deduction directly from my checking using the account info on the check.

 

[jackace]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu
So I check my balance today and I'm at -77 dollars wondering wtf happened I check my account history and discover VW charged me 300 dollars today that I didn't authorize. I haven't signed up for any sort of automatic bill paying. It's still pending, but I can't cancel it until the morning. I don't know if I should report an unauthorized transaction or wait until morning and just put a stop payment on it.

Sorry about misunderstanding you about the automatic bill pay. I took the bold part to mean you had not had automatic bill pay enabled yet, and it was still pending authorization.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: jackace

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu
So I check my balance today and I'm at -77 dollars wondering wtf happened I check my account history and discover VW charged me 300 dollars today that I didn't authorize. I haven't signed up for any sort of automatic bill paying. It's still pending, but I can't cancel it until the morning. I don't know if I should report an unauthorized transaction or wait until morning and just put a stop payment on it.

Sorry about misunderstanding you about the automatic bill pay. I took the bold part to mean you had not had automatic bill pay enabled yet, and it was still pending authorization.

Yea, I meant the charge to my account is pending.

 

[jackace]

So how did they get your account info to charge the account to begin with? did you use a debit card or something to make payments before?

edit- I would call VW asap tomorrow and see what happened. Stopping payment with your bank is an option, but I'm not sure if you will incur any fees. In the future I would recommend a Credit Card for paying your wireless bill.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: jackace
So how did they get your account info to charge the account to begin with? did you use a debit card or something to make payments before?

edit- I would call VW asap tomorrow and see what happened. Stopping payment with your bank is an option, but I'm not sure if you will incur any fees. In the future I would recommend a Credit Card for paying your wireless bill.

Yea, I used it once before to pay my bill. I'm seriously tempted to report it as an unauthorized transaction though. I'm not sure if there's something sneaky in my contarct about being able to charge my account without warning, but I might have hassles with getting a new card or something; I don't know it works.

 

[Quasmo]

I just got a power bill for $500 for a place I kept my clothes and cats in, slept somewhere else every night.

 

[Platypus]

buy the ticket, take the ride

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu

Originally posted by: jackace
So how did they get your account info to charge the account to begin with? did you use a debit card or something to make payments before?

edit- I would call VW asap tomorrow and see what happened. Stopping payment with your bank is an option, but I'm not sure if you will incur any fees. In the future I would recommend a Credit Card for paying your wireless bill.

Yea, I used it once before to pay my bill. I'm seriously tempted to report it as an unauthorized transaction though. I'm not sure if there's something sneaky in my contarct about being able to charge my account without warning, but I might have hassles with getting a new card or something; I don't know it works.

Sounds like you might have accidentally set up automatic bill pay.

 

[Balt]

Things like that are why I'm still paranoid about automatic bill pay or any kind of debit transaction for bills. I like the idea of paperless billing, but I don't want to trust some random schmo with the ability to automatically deduct money from a bank account.

 

[Beattie]

Originally posted by: TXHokie
Did you pay a bill with a check? My insurance company sent me a bill with some fine print which says that if I pay by check, they won't cash the check but actually will authorize a one time deduction directly from my checking using the account info on the check.

This is legal whether or not they explicitly tell you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_21_Act

"The law allows the recipient of a paper check to create a digital version, thereby eliminating the need for further handling of the physical document."

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: Beattie

Originally posted by: TXHokie
Did you pay a bill with a check? My insurance company sent me a bill with some fine print which says that if I pay by check, they won't cash the check but actually will authorize a one time deduction directly from my checking using the account info on the check.

This is legal whether or not they explicitly tell you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_21_Act

"The law allows the recipient of a paper check to create a digital version, thereby eliminating the need for further handling of the physical document."

Check 21 was made to clear checks faster, not to eliminate them. All this law does is allow banks to send digital copies of checks as opposed to the actual copy itself (you still have to authorize the check). It has nothign to do with letting people gain unauthorized to an account.

 

[tw1164]

Originally posted by: Quasmo
I just got a power bill for $500 for a place I kept my clothes and cats in, slept somewhere else every night.

Were the cats making cheeseburgers?

 

[SearchMaster]

Originally posted by: tw1164

Originally posted by: Quasmo
I just got a power bill for $500 for a place I kept my clothes and cats in, slept somewhere else every night.

Were the cats making cheeseburgers?

Grow lamps....their indoor catnip farm is quite impressive.

 

[Modelworks]

This is one of the reasons I never pay bills by check anymore.
I had a finance company that I was in dispute with about the amount owed and they repeatedly kept charging my account with ACH type withdrawals.
I had never given them permission to do ach withdrawals but they got the numbers off a check.
The only thing I could do to stop it was close the account and open another.

 

[Triumph]

Good words of wisdom in this thread. I don't have automatic bill pay running, but I do use the online checking thing to have the bank write checks and mail them for me (I hate filling out checks). Either way, it makes me somewhat wary. Now, how do I go about unlinking my Paypal account from my main checking account? That one really worries me.

 

[Modelworks]

I use bill pay with my bank, but I had them show me one of the checks that they use for bill pay.
They send out checks from the banks own account that have none of my info on them except name and account number I am paying the bill to.

I set up a cheap prepaid bank account for online purchases.
Its not linked to my own bank account and the account only cost 10.00 to set up.
I can send money from my main bank account to the prepaid account free using direct deposit.
They charge 1.00 per transaction but its worth it knowing that if some online service screws up I can close the account in a second and have it not affect my main account.

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: SearchMaster

Originally posted by: tw1164

Originally posted by: Quasmo
I just got a power bill for $500 for a place I kept my clothes and cats in, slept somewhere else every night.

Were the cats making cheeseburgers?

Grow lamps....their indoor catnip farm is quite impressive.

Sorry to the OP didnt mean to thread hijack.

So I checked the meter this morning

The previous reading was 4518. What the bill says is 8058, the meter says 6203 and thats after a month and a half from the 4518 reading. So unless I used 8000kwh of power I dont know what is up. So now I have to file a dispute, and the account is in my roommates name (who doesn't even live here atm). How rediculous is that.