Charged For Unwanted Health Insurance

[StephenTN]

My question involves insurance law for the state of: California

A few months ago I was called by someone claiming to represent my bank trying to sell me health assurance. Thinking that this was a scam, I told them that they can have the bank mail me whatever information I needed to know and I hung up. A month or so later my credit card bill states that I was charged ~$20 for some health insurance. At the time I was charging my credit card for various things so I hadn't given it much notice, so I assumed it was from my gym.

I received a call a few days ago again regarding health insurance from my bank. This time I asked for a number to cancel for this supposed health insurance and was given a 1-800 number that I was told could cancel this. I had not given any sort of consent or information to the person on the other side of the phone, but I have a feeling that I will continue to be charged with these $20 fees until I somehow am able to stop this.

Supposing that I call this 1-800 number and tell them that I don't wish to be part of their program, what if they refuse? What are the steps I can take to stop the fees for this and to prevent possible identity theft? Thank you in advance.

[Betty3]

How did the bank get your credit card information or is this a credit card you have with your bank?

[StephenTN]

This is a credit card that I have with my bank.

[Betty3]

Did you call your bank or go to your bank to see what is going on & if they can help you with this? Was it actually your bank selling this insurance? Was it your bank who gave your this # to call to cancel?

[StephenTN]

Did you call your bank or go to your bank to see what is going on & if they can help you with this? Was it actually your bank selling this insurance? Was it your bank who gave your this # to call to cancel?

I have yet to talk to my bank about this issue. I am still a college student who is about to graduate and study for the LSAT, so I have been under a considerable amount of stress. However, I do understand that making sure that I'm not a victim of identity theft or fraud is EXTREMELY important.

The 1-800 number was given to me by the person trying to sell my health insurance telling me that if I wanted more information or anything I should call this number. Anyway I called the 1-800 number and the machine told me that it was an AIG affiliate of Wells Fargo. I waited on the line and finally got an operator who told me that to cancel my insurance I would just have to tell them my account number (for the insurance, not bank) and they would cancel it for me. I also checked my information via Experian and I was relieved to find that there had been no new accounts or anything opened in my name.

Due to the call I previously received by the guy selling the insurance and the $20 charges on my CC I was very paranoid and on edge at first. However, hopefully I am being paranoid for nothing and that this issue will be resolved once and for all. One of the main things that led to my paranoia was inputting the 1-800 number into the Google search engine and finding out that other people had received these calls, but I suppose they were smart enough to not stay on the line for more than a second. One of the sites I went to does cite this number to Wells Fargo, so hopefully it is a legitimate number and my information isn't being compromised.

[StephenTN]

Update:

I called the fraud department of my bank and they told me that they would not do something like this, so they told me it may have been a telemarketer trying to sell me insurance. I told the banker on the other line that I had not given out any information regarding my bank information, but I did note that the telemarketer seemed to know a lot of my personal information.

The banker referred me to Experian for a free fraud alert and I have taken the steps given to me in order to protect myself from this. The banker also told me additionally to the alert I signed up for that if I don't receive a letter in the mail on how to cancel this insurance or if I am charged for things that I never consented to I could call them up again to dispute the charges on my credit card.

Hopefully this has resolved the issue.