How I got my money back from a stolen gift card that was past the 120 day dispute window

Introduction

I bought a $500 US Bank Mastercard gift card back in February of 2015.  About a week after I bought it, when I went to go use it, the card got declined.  I then went online to www.mygiftcardsite.com and saw that the card had been drained at a Walmart in California (not where I live.)  I then called (866) 952-5653 and told them that the gift card had been hacked and fraudulently used.  I actually reported 5 hacked gift cards on the same call – 3 were hacked and 2 were frozen.  After a month, I got affidavits for only 2 of the hacked cards.  Then 4 months later, they mailed me the replacements for the 2 hacked cards.  The 3rd hacked card was in limbo.

 

Reporting the fraud again

So I called them in July to report the 3rd hacked card.  They then sent me a letter a couple of weeks later saying sorry, I was past the 120 day dispute threshold.  At this point, I knew calling would lead nowhere.  I essentially gave up on the $500.

 

CFPB to the rescue

When Barclays closed my account in December and I filed my CFPB complaint against them, I figured I’ll file my CFPB complaint against US Bank as well.  Once again, I’m not going to circles and arrows you a CFPB complaint because if you’re serious enough to send a complaint to a company, then you should be serious enough to come up with your own answers.  You wouldn’t ask me to write your wedding vows would you?  Actually, I may add it to my list of services since I’m clearly pimping myself out these days.  Oh look at that, I already wrote a blog post about how to write a good speech.

Anyway, here’s the timeline:

• Day 1 – filed a CFPB complaint
• Day 7 – complaint is forwarded to US Bank
• Day 12 – complain is forwarded to US Bank gift cards
• Day 21 – US Bank gift card responds
• Day 30 – I receive replacement $500 gift card + a $25 inconvenience gift card

I think my complaint was initially sent to US Bank the bank versus the prepaid division.  I’m pretty sure I put the bank down as ‘US Bank gift cards’ as the bank on the CFPB complaint, and CFPB wasn’t sure so they sent it to US Bank the bank.  The bank then kicked it back and CFPB forwarded over to the correct division/company.

 

$5.95 short on replacement gift cards

So CFPB will email you status updates, but I was too lazy to actually log in and check.  Then this past weekend, I opened my mail and saw the gift cards.  I couldn’t remember what it was for until I realized it must have been from the CFPB complaint.  When I went to call and activate the first card, it said I had a balance of $19.05.  I thought that was an odd amount.  When I activated the second one, the balance came out to $494.05.  That’s when I realized USBank gift cards took off $5.95 upon activation.  I then called back the activation number and spoke to a rep, who waived the $5.95 fee on both cards.  I now had a $500 gift card and a $25 gift card.  The cool thing about the replacement cards is that it has your name on it.

 

Lessons Learned

If you have a hacked gift card, make sure you call to report the hacked card ASAP.  Don’t procrastinate.  Also don’t hesitate to call and follow up after a month.  Do not let it go past the 120 day window like it did for me.  Then as a last resort, file a CFPB complaint to get your money back.  I only filed the CFPB because in my mind, US Bank dropped the ball (how do you lose 2 claims in a fax that had 5 claims.)  

I haven’t filed a complaint for the one that I lost although I’ve called them twice about it already.  I may just call them a 3rd time.  They seem to keep losing claims, and that’s what my CFPB would be about.  If they responded and said, “Sorry, your lost card was used 2 days after you lost it and you reported it 5 days after you lost it,” then I wouldn’t file a CFPB.  It’s the lack of response that annoys me.

I had written up most of this post already, and lo and behold, this came in the mail yesterday (almost a week after the gift cards came in the mail).  You can read in the letter that this wasn’t a generic response.  The person did the research on all 5 gift cards and knew about the 90 day dispute rule.  Sorry for all the white-outs.  You guys know I’m afraid of the Cardinals watching.