Trouble with WaMu, They Are Out of Business, They Say I Owe Them

SaM5246 · #1 10-19-2008, 02:10 AM

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: IL DuPage County

Here is the situation:

My debit card was skimmed and used to withdraw cash in the amount of $1,500 from ATM's. I called in to WaMu and made a claim. They credited my account with the money I had lost. Then later on they decided to take the money back out. I did not fill my account so they could take the money back leaving me with a negative balance of -$1500.

They sold off the debt to a collector and the collector is asking for a copy of the police report. Does it favor me to present the police report to the collector? They said they want to "add it to their file".

The problem is if they go to sue me they would then have a copy of the police report as evidence. They have already reported to Experian credit bureau. Completely unfair!

Also I wanted to sue WaMu for not covering the unauthorized withdrawals. But of course they are out of business now (owned by chase). One of the reasons they reversed the credit to my account is because they made so many bad mortgage loans that they were strapped for cash. They needed every little bit to stay solvent, but of course those crooks got what was coming to them.

What can I do about this and the collector? Please advise.

LawResearcherMissy · #2 10-20-2008, 08:32 AM

Why would you not want to give the CA a copy of the police report?

What was WaMu's determination with your account? What reason did they give for reversing the credit?

SaM5246 · #3 10-20-2008, 09:10 AM

Quoting LawResearcherMissy

Why would you not want to give the CA a copy of the police report?

What was WaMu's determination with your account? What reason did they give for reversing the credit?

They said it was not skimmed because the person who skimmed the card would not know your PIN. That is not true there are many card scams where criminals decode your PIN. They made this decision because they are crooks and they knew they were about to go under. In trying to maintain solvency they decided not to cover me for the unauthorized use.

If I give the collection agency a copy of the report then they have evidence that it happened. It goes into their file. Plus if they ever go to court they would have that report to prove that the debt is mine and that they have the legal right to collect on it. I have no intention of paying back money that was stolen from my account, first from the crook at the atm then again from WaMu by trying to reverse the credit.

JessicaLevin27 · #4 10-25-2008, 10:10 PM

WaMu is not "out of business" - they were just bought by Chase. As far as I know, if Chase bought your bank account they are now liable for maintaining it, and they need to follow up on your issue, even though it began before they bought WaMu.

If you filed a police report, it's a matter of public record and they could get it from your local police department if they wanted to. I don't see the harm in sending it to them - as far as I can tell, if you filed a report at the time, it would support your version of events - that your account was skimmed by a criminal.

gigirle · #5 10-26-2008, 05:45 AM

Quoting SaM5246

They said it was not skimmed because the person who skimmed the card would not know your PIN. That is not true there are many card scams where criminals decode your PIN. They made this decision because they are crooks and they knew they were about to go under. In trying to maintain solvency they decided not to cover me for the unauthorized use.

If I give the collection agency a copy of the report then they have evidence that it happened. It goes into their file. Plus if they ever go to court they would have that report to prove that the debt is mine and that they have the legal right to collect on it. I have no intention of paying back money that was stolen from my account, first from the crook at the atm then again from WaMu by trying to reverse the credit.

It comes down to this...IF your cc was indeed stolen and this was not an attempt to commit fraud on your part, in order for you to get the credit that you believe you deserve, you have to follow up with a police report. Its theft! If you were really a victim here, you wouldn't have a problem filing a police report to protect yourself. Read the fine print in your agreement. If you fail to do so, don't be surprised when you get stuck holding the bill. Just bc you don't believe you owe the bill, doesn't make it true. Hence the collection! You will also get a judgement against you. That is of course, unless you don't want to be arrested for filing a false police report on top of the potential fraud.
WaMu OR ANY OTHER CCC will give he same advice. File a police report. Its theft!! Why is it that you believe the ccc should just credit it based on your word? And what does any of this have to do with who owned or owns the ccc? Nothing! Fraud is fraud. If your unwilling to protect yourself, don't complain that the ccc does the same thing.

Betty3 · #6 10-26-2008, 03:38 PM

You do need to give the credit card co. a copy of the police report so they have PROOF that your card was stolen & used.

SaM5246 · #7 10-30-2008, 03:20 PM

Quoting gigirle

It comes down to this...IF your cc was indeed stolen and this was not an attempt to commit fraud on your part, in order for you to get the credit that you believe you deserve, you have to follow up with a police report. Its theft! If you were really a victim here, you wouldn't have a problem filing a police report to protect yourself. Read the fine print in your agreement. If you fail to do so, don't be surprised when you get stuck holding the bill. Just bc you don't believe you owe the bill, doesn't make it true. Hence the collection! You will also get a judgement against you. That is of course, unless you don't want to be arrested for filing a false police report on top of the potential fraud.
WaMu OR ANY OTHER CCC will give he same advice. File a police report. Its theft!! Why is it that you believe the ccc should just credit it based on your word? And what does any of this have to do with who owned or owns the ccc? Nothing! Fraud is fraud. If your unwilling to protect yourself, don't complain that the ccc does the same thing.

I did file a police report. I don't wish to give them a copy of the police report because it is the collection agency that is asking for it. If they receive it they won't say "oh we're sorry this happened to you, we forgive you debt and will send you roses". They are going to put it in the file and now they have concrete evidence that I do owe the money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if they decide to persue the case in court they would use that as evidence.

SaM5246 · #8 10-30-2008, 03:24 PM

Quoting Betty3

You do need to give the credit card co. a copy of the police report so they have PROOF that your card was stolen & used.

I'm not talking about the credit card company, they sold the account because they knew they were going bankrupt. I'm talking about the collection agency, they want a copy of the police report. Like I said in my previous post they are not going to say "oh we're sorry this happened to you, we forgive your debt, and we are sending roses to your house". The only reason they want it is to add to the evidence. Think about it, why else would they want it?

gigirle · #9 10-30-2008, 04:54 PM

Quoting SaM5246

I did file a police report. I don't wish to give them a copy of the police report because it is the collection agency that is asking for it. If they receive it they won't say "oh we're sorry this happened to you, we forgive you debt and will send you roses". They are going to put it in the file and now they have concrete evidence that I do owe the money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if they decide to persue the case in court they would use that as evidence.

I'm lost as to what your trying to say here. If the CCC sent the bill to a collection agency, what the CCC is essentially saying is that they don't believe you as far as the card being stolen for whatever reason and they are going after you for their money.

Quote:

They are going to put it in the file and now they have concrete evidence that I do owe the money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if they decide to persue the case in court they would use that as evidence

Explain to me how filing a report regarding theft is proof that YOU owe the money? It's Proof that you don't. You have this *ss backwards

SaM5246 · #10 10-30-2008, 05:14 PM

Quoting gigirle

I'm lost as to what your trying to say here. If the CCC sent the bill to a collection agency, what the CCC is essentially saying is that they don't believe you as far as the card being stolen for whatever reason and they are going after you for their money.

Explain to me how filing a report regarding theft is proof that YOU owe the money? It's Proof that you don't. You have this *ss backwards

Yes they reversed the credit to my account. They were short on cash and they deliberately were defrauding customers by not honoring their policies...but that's a different story. They say that I do owe the money.

Quote:

Explain to me how filing a report regarding theft is proof that YOU owe the money? It's Proof that you don't. You have this *ss backwards

You make a good point

But I don't think they see it that way, it up to them now to try and collect on it, not to try and distinguish whether the original creditor was wrong in reversing the credit and saying that I owe the money. Do you understand what I'm saying here? The police report once it becomes part of this file proves that the account was mine, that the events actually happened, etc etc etc. So if they go to court they can just site the police report as evidence that the account was mine and that I do owe the money.

Like I said, when they receive the police report from me they aren't going to send flowers and candy to my house to say sorry this happened to you we'll just forget this whole thing.