Bank card mysteriously appeared at 18-year-old address; should we worry?
March 14, 2023 3:42 PM Subscribe
An un-requested replacement credit card was sent to a very out-of-date address; does anyone have an explanation or know of any scams to be looking out for?
My mother’s credit (I think, maybe debit) card stopped working, so she called her bank. The bank rep said that it was frozen because they got a call from the resident of an address that mom moved out of 18 years ago, saying that they’d received a replacement card for [mom’s name] in the mail and didn’t know anything about it.
Mom asked the bank to reactivate her current card; they said that they could but that they recommended getting a new-new card in case there was some kind of fraud afoot. They didn’t say anything about having gotten a request for a replacement card to begin with. She has gotten several replacement cards at her current address during the years since they sold the old house.
Is this likely to be a fraud attempt? Employee error? A computer system hiccup? Any other explanations?
One additional piece of information that may or may not be relevant is that her husband/joint account holder passed away last month; the bank hasn’t been officially notified of this yet, and the cards in question were in mom’s name.
My mother’s credit (I think, maybe debit) card stopped working, so she called her bank. The bank rep said that it was frozen because they got a call from the resident of an address that mom moved out of 18 years ago, saying that they’d received a replacement card for [mom’s name] in the mail and didn’t know anything about it.
Mom asked the bank to reactivate her current card; they said that they could but that they recommended getting a new-new card in case there was some kind of fraud afoot. They didn’t say anything about having gotten a request for a replacement card to begin with. She has gotten several replacement cards at her current address during the years since they sold the old house.
Is this likely to be a fraud attempt? Employee error? A computer system hiccup? Any other explanations?
One additional piece of information that may or may not be relevant is that her husband/joint account holder passed away last month; the bank hasn’t been officially notified of this yet, and the cards in question were in mom’s name.
Is she "due" for a replacement card, or did the bank experience something that would cause them to issue new cards?
posted by kschang at 4:13 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by kschang at 4:13 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
They didn’t say anything about having gotten a request for a replacement card to begin with.
Did she ask specifically about that, and about whether they actually sent a card at all? If they actually sent the card, there ought to be some record of what triggered it.
posted by trig at 4:58 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Did she ask specifically about that, and about whether they actually sent a card at all? If they actually sent the card, there ought to be some record of what triggered it.
posted by trig at 4:58 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Updates with more info, but still no clear explanation:
-credit card, not debit card (issued at the same bank as their checking account)
-it was not anywhere near expiration, and there wasn’t any other reason for the bank to send a new card
-credit report looks fine, but she’ll keep an eye on it - thank you for suggesting that!
-bank rep didn’t say whether they had a record of getting a request for or sending a new card
And finally, she looked at the most recent statement online, and it has the old address, and only her name rather than both hers and my father’s. It also doesn’t show the history of rewards points prior to that month.
Our current speculation is that there’s some process that got triggered by my father’s passing (without my mother notifying the bank) to remove him from the account, and the address accidentally got reset in the process. Or maybe that a fraudster saw the obituary and called the bank with the old address to try to intercept the card or something - but that seems less likely, since they’d have to either know what bank, or call around to several banks. Or possibly my mom called and forgot, which would be very unusual for her, but it’s been an unusually stressful month!
posted by songs about trains at 7:30 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
-credit card, not debit card (issued at the same bank as their checking account)
-it was not anywhere near expiration, and there wasn’t any other reason for the bank to send a new card
-credit report looks fine, but she’ll keep an eye on it - thank you for suggesting that!
-bank rep didn’t say whether they had a record of getting a request for or sending a new card
And finally, she looked at the most recent statement online, and it has the old address, and only her name rather than both hers and my father’s. It also doesn’t show the history of rewards points prior to that month.
Our current speculation is that there’s some process that got triggered by my father’s passing (without my mother notifying the bank) to remove him from the account, and the address accidentally got reset in the process. Or maybe that a fraudster saw the obituary and called the bank with the old address to try to intercept the card or something - but that seems less likely, since they’d have to either know what bank, or call around to several banks. Or possibly my mom called and forgot, which would be very unusual for her, but it’s been an unusually stressful month!
posted by songs about trains at 7:30 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I honestly would suspect it was a system malfunction of the bank than anything else—like you said, something was triggered by your father's passing somehow. You'd be surprised at how many banks have internally imperfect systems that are held together by duct tape (exaggerating a bit), so it's possible the old address was resurrected somehow.
I'd recommend keeping an eye on her credit for a while, and making sure the bank has everything 100% up to date.
And, sorry for your loss as well.
posted by dubious_dude at 5:38 PM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'd recommend keeping an eye on her credit for a while, and making sure the bank has everything 100% up to date.
And, sorry for your loss as well.
posted by dubious_dude at 5:38 PM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Alensin at 4:13 PM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]