Wife fell for Phishing scam, Chase closed my accounts

[flyingmd]

Im confused too. From the description sounds like OP’s wife a new AU and her first 2 charges were 500$ gift cards, which the OP alerted the bank that it was a fraudulent charge. Chase closed acct. whole thing is a-little suspicious or we aren't getting all the information. But under the senecio i just laid out, Chase isnt gonna reopen.

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Here's what happened.

1. Wife receives email from the owner of the company she works for asking her to go out and buy gift cards (google play) the owner needs as awards for clients. She does so.

2. Wife receives another email asking for the same thing, and does so.

3. These requests are typical of the owner of the company.

4. card used was AU card, it's first use, sadly.

5. Next day, wife is informed that these requests were not from the company but were spoofed Phishing emails and we were burned.

6. I called the CC company because I thought they should be informed, so I guess that was a mistake. Not reported as fraud on the wife, but that we were burned and I understand that I need to pay. (I am not sure today why I thought that was a good idea...)

7. A week later my cards does not work.

8. Call Chase, they closed 2 CC accounts upon finding the charges on a "routine" review, ( large number $500, round number)

9. I explained what happened, they said oh, OK we found the transactions and have decided to terminate our relationship (really their side, but it's ok) we will review, it will take 10 days.

My question is, if those 2 cards, which are 50% of my available credit remain closed:

1. How will that show up on my credit report

2. How badly will it affect my credit

3. Will other banks see that and follow suit as now Chase sees me as a bad risk.

Sorry for the lack of detail earlier.

Thank you.

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All,

Here's what happened.

1. Wife receives email from the owner of the company she works for asking her to go out and buy gift cards (google play) the owner needs as awards for clients. She does so.

2. Wife receives another email asking for the same thing, and does so.

3. These requests are typical of the owner of the company.

4. card used was AU card, it's first use, sadly.

5. Next day, wife is informed that these requests were not from the company but were spoofed Phishing emails and we were burned.

6. I called the CC company because I thought they should be informed, so I guess that was a mistake. Not reported as fraud on the wife, but that we were burned and I understand that I need to pay. (I am not sure today why I thought that was a good idea...)

7. A week later my cards does not work.

8. Call Chase, they closed 2 CC accounts upon finding the charges on a "routine" review, ( large number $500, round number)

9. I explained what happened, they said oh, OK we found the transactions and have decided to terminate our relationship (really their side, but it's ok) we will review, it will take 10 days.

My question is, if those 2 cards, which are 50% of my available credit remain closed:

1. How will that show up on my credit report

2. How badly will it affect my credit

3. Will other banks see that and follow suit as now Chase sees me as a bad risk.

Sorry for the lack of detail earlier.

Thank you.

---

Thank for detail but still kind of confusing.

So, okay, (1) since these type of transactions were routine from the owner of the company, what card was wife using before she became an AU. And (2), I'm not understanding why owner didn't have DW as an AU on his corporate CC. But that aside, let me anwer your questions. I'm no expert, so this is JMO.

My question is, if those 2 cards, which are 50% of my available credit remain closed:

1. How will that show up on my credit report -- It will show as closed by grantor with $0 available credit and whatever the outstanding balance is. 

2. How badly will it affect my credit  IMO, you will see a sizable drop if these were your only 2 CCs; but UT has no memory, so each time you get it below one of the thresholds (<48.9%, <28.9%,  <8.9%), you will start regaining points lost.

3. Will other banks see that and follow suit as now Chase sees me as a bad risk. I think it would depend on your overall credit profile. If you have other CCs with low UT, low inquiries, and decent scores, I think you'll be okay as far as other lenders are concerned. YMMV. But, if Chase closes the cards, you'll probably never get back in with them again due to bad prior relationship. 

GL2U

[bourgogne]

I am not going suggest getting a new wife because I am sure she is great but you have to be kidding me, she gets emails or texts from her employer to get gift cards?  sorry this happened but I am of the most conservative nature about card use; swipe the card, get the bill and give the lender their money back in full the next day.  20/20 but you wanted to keep the account open you should have eaten the $1K, you own the charges. 

[DaveInAZ]

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@bourgogne wrote:

I am not going suggest getting a new wife because I am sure she is great but you have to be kidding me, she gets emails or texts from her employer to get gift cards?  sorry this happened but I am of the most conservative nature about card use; swipe the card, get the bill and give the lender their money back in full the next day.  20/20 but you wanted to keep the account open you should have eaten the $1K, you own the charges. 

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Read the first post: "Found out the next day she was scammed, I immediately alerted Chase this was the case and said I would, of course, pay Chase for the charges".

Yes, a number of mistakes were made here, and my first reaction was "Why would you call Chase to tell them there were charges on the card that resulted in fraud but the charges are legitimate as you wife made them you will pay them? If you had just kept quiet and paid them all would have been fine." But what's done is done and myresourcenet isn't asking for personal advice, he's asking for financial advice as to how Chase closing the accounts will affect his credit. And to that end:

1. How will that show up on my credit report

- They will show up with a comment "Closed by credit grantor". That's not the end of the world, most creditors will not notice that or be especially concerned about that. closed by credit grantor happens all the time for a variety of reasons.

2. How badly will it affect my credit

- Well, that depends on several things. Do you have balances on your other cards? If so the loss of the Chase credit limits will drive up your utilization if you have balances on other cards. But if you pay in full all cards monthly you should be OK. If you open new cards to replace the Chase cards the new inquiries & accounts will lower your credit score.

3. Will other banks see that and follow suit as now Chase sees me as a bad risk.

- Unlikely.

@Anonymous  Sorry this happened to you & your wife but relax, I'm sure everything will be fine and we all learn from our mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, everyone for the quick and informative replies!

[Anonymous]

Well, what's done is done, can't fix the past. But perhaps if you explained to chase more percise, that your intention wasn't to get out of paying by filing a fraud case. That you just thought you were required by law to inform them of such instances. I definitely don't know anything about their iron door closures for this type of issue. But any type of good will and well laid out expalnation of the events can't hurt?

If Chase was 50% of you CL, and you curerntly haev balances with them and others. Your score will take a hit for sure, though is only temporary if you can pay off soon. However, if other creditors see closed accounts and a fraud case opened. I'm not sure if Chase would include notes for the reason other than the standard closed by grantor in this instance. 

[red259]

Sounds like you have a thin file. That coupled with an AU making large gift card purchases and then you calling on top if talking about fraud I'm thinking Chase doesn't want to deal with you going forward. I don't know how much you were spending on your chase cards but if the AU cards were seeing larger charges than your chase cards that is a significant red flag for lenders. No idea if that was going on with you. If that was the case its possible that you would have run into a problem even if you did not call in. Having a thick file and established history with chase may have smoothed this over, but the whole thing just looks sketchy to Chase and its easier for them to refuse to do business with you than take the risk. For general knowledge this is not an uncommon scam apparently. Really employers should have policies in place saying purchases like this should be verified via phone call or in person. https://blog.knowbe4.com/scam-of-the-week-the-boss-needs-itunes-gift-cards-for-customers...-now  You can't change what has happened, so don't beat yourself up about it too much. You should also look into making FTC reports re: the scam and following up with google. https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/2952493 I dunno if google will reverse the charges or whatever but I'd look into it all to see. Your wife was a victim of a crime. I wouldn't have been soo quick to agree to pay for anything until I looked into it. 

[CreditInspired]

Oh WOW.

Thanks for sharing that link @red259. What an eyeopener!

[bourgogne]

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@bourgogne Sorry this happened to you & your wife but relax, I'm sure everything will be fine and we all learn from our mistakes.

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sorry, I have a wife?  again lol