My mother gave me a verbal authorization to transfer the balances to her credit card and pay her back. My mother died 6 hours before on the same day I dialed up and spoke to the rep and gave my cc numbers for the bt. I love my mother and miss her terribly. But when my sister found out about the transfer she put a fraud alert on my mother's visa card and said I was going to jail. My conscience is clear. But other members of my family can point to the fact the transfer was made after my mother died. The bt already paid my cards last night. Do I pay back the amount on the bt immediately? Or would the bt checks be returned to my mother's account, overdrawing my own bank account? What do I do? Am I a criminal or going to jail? (gulp)
This may sound harsh, but I am looking at it from the other side. 6 hours after your mother died, and you were worried about your credit cards? How much money are you talking about? Generally, the moment your mother died those cc's became closed. Did you have a power of attorney on your mother that you used to issue those bt checks? If so, it usually ends at the moment of death, and was your responsibility to know that. What I am asking is by what authority were you allowed to access her credit cards? I would be looking for a good attorney for yourself. Sounds like your sister is pissed off enough that she put out a fraud alert, your mother's visa company is probably going to come looking for someone to pay them back.
If your mother was dying, what kind of child would do what you did- SHAME ON YOU. I hope your sister puts your sorry a$$ in jail.
Simple solution. The credit card issuer will have a record of EXACTLY when she called (date and time). If the time was before her death, there should be no problem. If the call was after her death, you have some trouble.
How were you able to do the transfer? Are you an authorized user on the card? If you are not, and you impersonated your mother, you'll have some explaining to do. The fact that your mother gave you permission to do the transfers will mean nothing if you called and impersonated her. If you are an authorized user, and the company permits auth user's to make balance transfers, you have nothing to worry about.
Even if they were an authorized user, if they used the card knowingly after the death of the financially responsible party...it could be a very dicey issue.
Re: Re: Urgent! Fraud on Balance Transfer? I got the impression that Voyager was blissfully unaware of Mom's untimely exit when she made the calls to the CC's ("my conscience is clear"). Granted Voyager has some questions to answer but I do wish we'd get our information straight before we tear someones head off and sh1t down their neck.
Re: Re: Urgent! Fraud on Balance Transfer? I did not know my mother had died. And I can pay the money back to her credit card, which I am obligated to pay anyway. What I am afraid of is paying off the bt balance, and then getting a charge back to my own credit cards. I can't afford to pay 10k twice. Thank you for your responses.
Re: Re: Re: Urgent! Fraud on Balance Transfer? Voyager, I'm sorry about your loss. I've worked for two different credit card issuers, and I never saw a balance transfer get charged back. I think you'll be safe it you make a payment to your mother's card. Also, it seems as if some people owe Voyager an apology.
Re: Re: Re: Urgent! Fraud on Balance Transfer? OK- I'm a little confused. How exactly did the BT get processed? Did your mother's CC company do this all over the phone? Did they already have permission from your mother to do this? If your mother's CC company refuses the checks, you'll still only owe your CC company (the balance would be reverted back). To be safe, I'd send YOUR cc company a payment large enough to cover your minimum and an overdraft/returned check fee right away just in case. Chances are, the transfer is going to eventually get denied. As for fraud, without knowing all the details I can't say. Your mom's CC company must have had some authorization on file from her to do allow you to do this, if I understand correctly that you did this all over the ohone. If so, I don't believe it could be considered fraudulent. But, like Jlynn said- your mother's death immediately closed out the account.
Re: Re: Re: Urgent! Fraud on Balance Transfer? Voyager, my condolences and apologies for the inappropriate responses made. I hope that all is resolved justly for you and may your Mother rest in peace.
