oldmanriver, Some people have had good results doing the negotiations with the creditor companies themselves. One needs to have a good idea of what one wants before starting, and lots of reasons why that's the route to go. Remember - they don't want you to declare bankruptcy. You don't, either, unless you owe buckets of money, for the expenses involved in going bankrupt are substantial. And you lose almost all of your possessions. Plus - you have a bad credit history for many years. Which may not matter too much - if you don't want to ask for credit for some time. However, as I was a newly arrived tenant recently, the fuel company wanted a deposit from me before they delivered fuel. Had they checked my credit history and found a bankruptcy, quite likely it would have been somewhat higher. Whether you make arrangments with your creditors yourself or use the non-profit Credit Counselling, make sure that you can live with the arrangement, and make sure to follow through on the agreemeents that you make: don't default, even once. Forget the "minimum required monthly payment" issue - pay off as quickly as possible. But make sure that the monthly amount that you promise to pay is an amount that you can manage. Then make those payments, for sure - but pay extra when possible. Try to pay off all of the creditors as fast as you can - making additional payments above the amount that you agreed to, when possible. Cut your spending to the bone, for a while, until at least the major portion of your debt is paid. If some of the creditors insist on maintaining a substantial interest rate, do you have collateral that you could use to obtain a loan from a credit union or bank, or would they agree to a loan at lower than the rate your current creditor is charging, so that you could pay that loan off? Good wishes. Keep us posted on how things are going. We want to see you get free of debt. And that as soon as possible. ole joyful

When there is fraud against the account, they will immediately close the existing account and reopen it with a new account number. They will then transfer any existing balances over to the new card number. If your last statement on the old card number did not show a transfer of $60, then their computers already redirected it to the new account. That could be a problem if the card number was already being abused, but it could have been something that didn't trigger their fraud department to investigate it (was it a repeat transaction or a pattern of spending in your account, etc...). Just because you do not 'activate' the new cards doesn't mean that the account is closed. Activation allows you to use the cards at PoS terminals through the credit clearing houses. So the disconnect was that when they changed your account number, they transfered your desire *not* to have statements sent through the mail... but by you not attaching the card number to your account at Citi, you would not have any notion that their was activity on your card. Citi was generous to refund you the fees I think. I hope they are able to amend your credit reports in time. So the moral of the story is: Never assume the business relationship is over unless you have a letter in your hand stating that your account has been closed either by Citi or by yourself.

Has happened to me, too. One time I ordered something from a small store in another state. I have a feeling they were not sophisticated enough to protect their database of credit card numbers. It was shortly after that that I found that two laptop computers had been ordered using my card. Another time my son found a $15,000 charge on his card. He just happened to check his account online. He called the credit card company but they said there was nothing they could do about the purchase, although he would not be responsible for the cost. The charge has been made to a large lighting company in another state. My son, out of the goodness of his heart, called the company and informed them of the scam. They were so grateful! The order was sitting n their loading dock waiting to be picked up and they were able to stop it from leaving the warehouse. They would have been stuck with the cost. What a world we live in. I'd call the police and let them know about the spa, although, who knows, maybe there is some rotten apple at the credit card company.

We've had credit cards flagged for various reasons, but all have been understandable. Only one involved actual fraud (and we got a call immediately on our home phone as well as my mobile). We had to cancel and reissue that card, The rest were flagged for suspicious activity, usually when DD (who has one of may cards because she does upkeep on our vacation house (out of area) and I was on the road using the same account out of area. Another time when DH tried to use the card at three service stations within an hour out of area (he filled up DD's carat one place, his at another place, and then stopped by. A mechanic to get something checked out. These are easily fixed by calling the customer service number on the card. But it is also the reason we always have at least two cards. Lately, we have just had to up our monitoring due to IRS fraud. Apparently someone filed a return in our name in Februrary. Fortunately the IRS caught it, didn't pay the requested refund, and wrote us and told is they had held up the refund (good) until they could verify that it was us. We called the number given and told them we hadn't filed yet and were pretty sure we would not be due a refund. Our accountant said he had several other clients in the same boat. Not long after we did file (showing we owed almost another six figures on top of the estimates which we had already paid) we got another letter from the IRS asking if we had filed that one. I kind if thought that was silly -- I really don't think many theives actually file a fraudulent return stating that taxes were owed and then pay that amount. Still getting duplicate letters from the IRS about twice a month, no demands, but advising us to get a taxpayer PIN, file police reports, and reports with the FTC, and increase credit monitoring. We've followed every item to a T, with the exception of the PIN However, when you call to get the PIN your are on hold for over an hour only to be told that they don't have the procedure in place yet. We have, however, received confirmation that our taxes were properly credited. We've also sent everything to our accountant so he has a full file on this mess. He said that best he could tell, the theives appeared to be targeting professionals with primarily K-1 income. We also had our credit reports checked and all was good there. The other piece of advice the IRS gave was to file as early as possible, but that doesn't work for us because we are still getting K-1s and 1099s well into March each year.