Trying to recover active but unused credit card account

[Remedios]

@SUPERSQUID no one charged anything, this is about alleged refund to the card 

[FinStar]

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@SUPERSQUID wrote:

Thanks Finstar,

Playing devils advocate here, have you ever had an insurance policy that you paid every several years? This story is definitely perplexing. I have several insurance policies for different reasons. One pulls the monthly premium from my checking account. One i pay quarterly, and the last i pay twice a year.

I never saw an insurance policy of any kind that can suddenly pop up out of years of dormancy to charge a credit card or debit a card.

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I have.

Not a charge, but a refund. USAA had a class action settlement last year in which some funds were disbursed to an account that I hardly used (and forgot), but was stored in my USAA account portal. The settlement was from 2016 (paid out in 2021). Easy for me to check because I could recognize the payment method used. So refund was in order.

But, I keep track of where/how things are funded and a handy-dandy database keeps things in check so that if for any reason I don't recognize an older account (back from the stone age or even when things traveled by stagecoach), I perform a query and ta-da...account number found. Granted, I doubt others have a similar system, but I digress.

As far as policy premiums, yes I have several and not all with the same company -- some are autopay others are not. That said, whenever I've called to make a payment or submit it through a website, none of my bank info is confirmed in the context of which bank is used (especially when using a CC), all the IVR or website/app confirms is the account number, expiration date, CVV/CID, zip code, the amount and that's it. It doesn't get chatty and says "oh looks like you're using your super duper Citi CC today, Mr so and so" 😁 

But, to @Remedios and the OP's post, it's a refund, not a charge.

[krit]

If your reports have all but the last four numbers of the account and you do have the last four, try putting them together and see if they work. 🤷 

Also, when I call the toll-free number for a few of my cards, they ask for the last four of the account # OR the last four of my SS#. If you can get the last four of your SS to work, you may be put through to a representative. Surely they have a way of verifying your identity once the system has matched your SS#.

If they won't cooperate, try closing the account, then hopefully they'll mail you a check for any credit in the account. 

[krit]

P.S. Long shot: have you ever had this account registered for auto-pay through a different bank? If so, the full number might be listed there. 

[collics]

Try working backwards in identifying the cards on your report that you are aware of.

Whichever is left that you don't recognize/cant match to your current card accounts, that may be it. 

[K-in-Boston]

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@collics wrote:

Try working backwards in identifying the cards on your report that you are aware of.

Whichever is left that you don't recognize/cant match to your current card accounts, that may be it. 

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+1 that was the reason so many of us suggested getting your reports.

[SoCalGardener]

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@krit wrote:

If your reports have all but the last four numbers of the account and you do have the last four, try putting them together and see if they work. 🤷 

Also, when I call the toll-free number for a few of my cards, they ask for the last four of the account # OR the last four of my SS#. If you can get the last four of your SS to work, you may be put through to a representative. Surely they have a way of verifying your identity once the system has matched your SS#.

If they won't cooperate, try closing the account, then hopefully they'll mail you a check for any credit in the account. 

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But *who* would the OP attempt this with? They don't know which card it is, hence they don't know who the card's issuer is, hence they don't know which bank to call. It could be some obscure bank no one would ever think of, so just starting with an A-Z list of credit card issuers and calling each one probably wouldn't be fun. I don't see how this will work for them since they don't know which card they're dealing with.

[Remedios]

Suggestion to look at credit report has been made multiple times. It's the only solution to OPs problem, and yet, it's something they aren't willing to do. 

Then here  they stated issuer cannot help them, and the only reason why someone would make such a statement is if they know who issuer is and have contacted them. If they contacted them, one would think that's the end of that story. 

If they didn't contact them, I have no idea how to interpret "issuer cannot help me" 

In any case, refund from the issuer will be mailed via check, it's just going to take a while. 

There is absolutely nothing about this thread that I understand at this point. 

[GatorGuy]

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@Remedios wrote:

Suggestion to look at credit report has been made multiple times. It's the only solution to OPs problem, and yet, it's something they aren't willing to do. 

Then here  they stated issuer cannot help them, and the only reason why someone would make such a statement is if they know who issuer is and have contacted them. If they contacted them, one would think that's the end of that story. 

If they didn't contact them, I have no idea how to interpret "issuer cannot help me" 

In any case, refund from the issuer will be mailed via check, it's just going to take a while. 

There is absolutely nothing about this thread that I understand at this point. 

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 I read his comment to mean his insurance company who issued the credit could not tell him about what card it went to. 

[SoCalGardener]

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@Remedios wrote:

Suggestion to look at credit report has been made multiple times. It's the only solution to OPs problem, and yet, it's something they aren't willing to do. 

Then here  they stated issuer cannot help them, and the only reason why someone would make such a statement is if they know who issuer is and have contacted them. If they contacted them, one would think that's the end of that story. 

If they didn't contact them, I have no idea how to interpret "issuer cannot help me" 

That's not how I interpreted what they said. They said: "The issuer of the credit is unable to tell me!" That would be the insurance company, right? Not the issuer of the credit card.