I would guess that CSC is a company that is set up to sell you something. Think about it.....no matter who orders credit reports...a bank, a credit card company, a finance company or whomever, they have to pay anywhere from $3 to $12 for each report from each of the 3 major companies. Why would any company go to the expense of paying thousands of dollars for these reports and then give them away "free". There are no free reports. Generally you can get "free" reports only if you sign up for some other service that is anything but free. So, if you haven't been contacted by CSC to sell you something yet, you will be before you get any "free" reports. Mark

Oakley: Was it a debit card? I wonder if debit cards have tighter rules. But then again, my ATM won't dispense more than a few hundred at a time. I'm sure the bank would say they don't want big spenders emptying them out and keeping other patrons from getting money. BLFenton: I get your point about building a credit record. But people can -- and do -- overdraft their accounts. Some people are responsible using them; others try to game the system. Banks have built-in mechanisms that allow them to permit the overdraft and then charge the user high fees to cover it. Some users don't even notice the charge part in their card agreement. (How can they not know they don't have enough funds to cover a purchase? One situation: similar to writing a check and thinking the bank has deposited your paycheck already when really it's on hold and hasn't 100% cleared.) Bank of America, not too long ago, settled a case about debit-card overdraft fees for $400million. Card issuers need to make money somehow on these debit cards, which are typically given to you for free with your bank account. Credit-card issuers, at least, can charge an annual fee. That's why Bank of America tried to start that $5 debit card fee.

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.

Cynic >This one has me confused though: "...my cell phone provider gouged me for 4 consecutive months of payments even though I was paying cash at their store." If you have auto-pay, why are you paying cash at the store? Something's missing or I'm not following something. I was paying my bill in cash at their store. I had already called the (cell phone provider) ahead of time and told them I would be doing this. Each month my bill would arrive, each month it kept reflecting an overpayment. I would call them and they said it would be corrected. This happened FOUR months in a row. I contacted the credit card company and told them to cancel the card. Same thing happened with them. They would say it would be canceled. The following month I would get a bill for the same incorrect amount. I finally spoke to someone at the CC co. who said until the cell phone provider notified them, I would continue to be responsible for the charges whether they were right or wrong. They never said ANYTHING about having to have a cancellation number. BOTH the cell phone provider and CC company neglected to inform me of this necessary requirement. I wonder why? Well the reason why, is because THEY were MAKING MONEY and didn't want it to stop. These companies do not make it easy. They don't fully inform you when you sign up, and they don't tell you what you really need to do in order to cancel this type of payment. I finally contacted a consumer newspaper reporter. She said she doesn't care for automatic payments for the same reason and gets many calls regarding this. She contacted the cell phone provider's publicity relations department. That worked. They must have called my CC company because everything was taken care of within the month and I didn't receive any more credit card bills. My cell phone bills are what they are supposed to be. I still pay in cash. I no longer have the credit card. They send me solicitations all the time. Thanks, but no thanks. Contacting the AG's office is a good idea. dadoes >dreamgarden probably thought if he/she paid cash, the autopay wouldn't trigger. That's not necessarily the case. I wonder what IS the case? Who at EITHER company, was supposed to tell me I needed a cancellation number in order to stop the autopay? Out of a total of seven calls, 4 to the cell phone provider and 3 to the CC company, not ONE person mentioned this. Don't they teach customer service reps this information? I no longer wanted auto-pay and told them this. I said I would be paying in cash from now on and to cancel auto-pay. I don't understand how I could have been any clearer. >I recall a couple cases where I work of customers having autopay set up through CheckFree. One fellow died, his wife had NO CLUE about any of their finances and the auto-pay kept coming, for MONTHS. She no longer wanted the service, but she didn't contact us or was even aware the service existed, so how are we to know that? "How are we to know that?". How did you find out that her husband died? How do you know the wife no longer wanted the service if she was never contacted? Was she on the account too? Doesn't your company have some policy regarding taking money from a deceased person's account? > The other case, the fellow changed his account services, but didn't change the monthly autopay amount. We contacted him, he still didn't change the amount. Built up a large credit that had to be refunded when he eventually closed the service. When the fellow called to change his account services, was he asked if the present autopay amount was ok? If he was changing his account services, this would seem to be a logical question to ask a customer. Was he notified by telephone or in writing? This is why I like to receive paper billing. Sometimes when a credit card company calls (and leaves a message), they don't always state the nature of their business. When I have called back, they try to sell me some service or item I'm not interested in. Now I don't return calls unless they leave a message telling me something is wrong, or needs to be corrected. I had them put this in my file. I don't want to be bothered with solicitations or irrelevant matters that aren't directly related to some kind of problem with my account. In my opinion the above examples are just more reason to pay as you go and not allow company's to have recurring access to your bank account.