Can we sue my girlfriend's bank?

[slugg]

On Friday, May 1st, her debit card was reported stolen. Her balance was roughly $1700. She got a new debit card in person and her old one was canceled. On Saturday, May 2nd, we went out of town on vacation together to Texas. On Monday, her debit card was denied at a couple places. On Wednesday, we checked her account balance - it was in the negative $3000 range. She called her bank, they said they'd reinstate her account and cancel her old, stolen debit card (again). After 48 hours, the account now had a negative $300 balance and only some charges were removed from the account. She just got off the phone with the bank just now and they're supposed to have fixed everything now, but it'll only reflect in her account after 24 to 48 hours (what they said before).

We leave on Saturday. End result - our vacation was completely ruined. We couldn't go out, we could barely afford anything since we didn't have our primary funds, and we spent hours upon hours on the phone disputing with the bank.

They told her they canceled the old, stolen card. They didn't. Isn't this negligence on their behalf?

So we spent many hundreds of dollars to come here to Texas and we couldn't even do anything because the bank royally screwed us. Now what? Does the bank just get away with it? I can't even pay for anything anymore since I've pretty much diminished my own debit account! All we have left is our boarding passes for our plane ride back...

Help me ATOT, you're my only hope.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Neither one of you have a credit card?

Vacation would not have been ruined if you had a back-up funding source.

 

[spidey07]

I don't see how, you weren't really harmed in any way. This should also be a lesson, don't rely on just one means of payment when on vacation. If something fishy like that happened to me on friday I would have pulled out a decent chunk of it in travelers checks.

 

[Vette73]

So this 1 debit card was your only source of money?

Sorry but that is not their fault. And as long as they are making good, all be it slow, on what they said anylawsuit would probable lose and/or cost more then you even get.

 

[guyver01]

If the bank refunds the money back to the account, and removes all the overdraft fees..

What more do you want? That's all they can do.


Good luck suing a bank, getting a lawyer, and going thru the legal process for YEARS (yes years... banks can keep you tied up in litigation) ... if losing $1700 screws you... financially you cant afford to sue.

 

[BeauJangles]

Yes, sue them for emotional hardship.

 

[Newbian]

Debit cards have a similar protection to credit cards so if they did not do their part it's their fault and not yours.

But only relying on one money source is kind of a failure on your part and can't really blame them on that but you should get your money that was in the bank back.

 

[Zenmervolt]

What, you expect their fraud department to react instantaneously? Bad timing, but I can guarantee that there is a time window of several business days built into the bank's fraud resolution agreement. What you are asking for (instantaneous correction of all fraudulent charges) is ridiculous.

ZV

 

[BoomerD]

No.
While this is America where you can sue anyone for anything, this would not go anywhere.

The fail is on you for not having this stuff dealt with properly before you went on vacation and depended on funds in an account that was being watched for fraudulent usage.
While you SHOULD be able to believe what the bank told you the first time, taking a vacation and depending on those funds is irresponsible...and borders on stupid.

 

[slugg]

They said 24 to 48 hours... it'll be over a week now until her account is reinstated...

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Newbian
Debit cards have a similar protection to credit cards so if they did not do their part it's their fault and not yours.

But only relying on one money source is kind of a failure on your part and can't really blame them on that but you should get your money that was in the bank back.

That "protection" means that if you report fraudulent activity, the bank will cancel those charges. It does NOT mean that the reversal of those charges will be instantaneous and it does NOT mean that the bank will stop fraudulent charges before they occur.

ZV

 

[CRXican]

too bad, so sad

 

[waggy]

how is it the banks fault ti was stolen? how is this the banks fault you don't have any CC's or other funds?

but yes you can sue. will you win? no.

 

[MrWizzard]

This is just sad. Is OP for real?

EDIT: OP yes you can, but you will not win.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: slugg
They said 24 to 48 hours... it'll be over a week now until her account is reinstated...

whaaambulance!

 

[Fritzo]

Not really the bank's fault. Most banks make you file paperwork and get your money back in 4-6 weeks. Sounds like they're working pretty fast.

 

[compman25]

Shouldn't have went to Texas for a vacation. Your bank is punishing you.

 

[slugg]

Well, the bank did fail to cancel the card when it was stolen, and they said they had already canceled the card, but it wasn't. Not only that, but they didn't even reverse all the charges. Her account is still useless...

Had they truly canceled the card like they said they did AND as they were supposed to, this wouldn't have happened. That's what we're wondering about.

As of now, they are refunding all the charges, but keeping all the overdraft fees on her account. WTF?

 

[JS80]

what bank

 

[spidey07]

It takes a while to undo all this stuff, it's not going to be instant. Just work with them and demand the overdraft fees are taken off. It's only been barely 5 business days. Calm down.

 

[slugg]

Bank of America, if you were wondering...

 

[leftyman]

lol @ suing. If you feel this strongly after you get everything sorted out, withdraw all your funds and close the account and move on.

 

[Pepsei]

i like credit cards more..because i don't care how long it takes for them to fix fraudulent charges... with debit cards, you can't access your funds until they fix it.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: spidey07
I don't see how, you weren't really harmed in any way. This should also be a lesson, don't rely on just one means of payment when on vacation. If something fishy like that happened to me on friday I would have pulled out a decent chunk of it in travelers checks.

This is what anyone would have done. Why would you pull out NO cash or travelers checks knowing that the account is compromised? ESPECIALLY if you're going out of town the next day? The lack of common sense boggles the mind.

OP should sue himself.

 

[CRXican]

how did her card get "stolen"