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I wish the regulators for financial institutions would mandate this. One of the reasons I left, years ago, the much-beloved-for-reasons-I-do-not-understand Pac

I wish the regulators for financial institutions would mandate this. One of the reasons I left, years ago, the much-beloved-for-reasons-I-do-not-understand Pacific Northwest darling credit union BECU is because I got griped at by their customer service rep who called me to ostensibly tell me about fraud on my credit card. When the rep asked me "identity verification" questions, they got most upset when I replied that they should have this information and how do I know I'm actually talking to BECU. "Sir, I'm just trying to help prevent fraud on your account and I need to know that it's actually you who answered the phone." (Yes, there legitimately was fraud but I had no way to know it at the time. I closed the account about a month later after another issue.)

jbverschoor 6y ago
Same with my bank. They should be fined for this, because they will refund 0 if you fall for this, and they’re encouraging this behavior
jdofaz 6y ago
I got a credit card fraud alert sms text once that asked me to call a number that was different than the phone number on my credit card. I called the card number instead and the alert was legit but they still should have used an easily verified phone number.
neltnerb 6y ago
Hospitals are even worse. They would periodically call me with random information about appointments or prescriptions and whatnot and would always start off by asking me my birth date and PII to identify myself to them! They're the ones calling me! I told them as much and after a few years they finally started sending me secure emails asking me to call them. Certainly I wouldn't trust "call back at..." messages claiming to be from a medical provider, even though they're indistinguishable from the real thing because that's the same thing the doctor's office does. It's bizarre considering how security conscious they have to be.
verelo 6y ago
I recently missed a bill due to an error on behalf of my utility company. It ended up at a debt collector, who when calling me insisted i share my date of birth, address and full name before they'd tell me what the call was regarding. I refused, they got mad and acted as if I was trying to avoid paying the bill. I assumed the call was fraud. I found it was in fact not fraud when my credit monitoring service informed me that someone reported I refused to pay a bill. One call to the utility company later, it was resolved...unfortunately i'm still trying to fix the credit report.
- RandomBacon 6y ago
  If anyone else runs into this, I've heard that you can say you'll pay only if they remove their claim from your credit report. Suposedly it's not legal for them to offer (I guess extorsion), but as far as I know, it's legal for you to ask. It sounds like that option has passed for the parent comment, but you did just try disputing it right? Force them to come up with the proof.
  - verelo 6y ago
    Presently in dispute, no outcome yet. I didn’t actually know it was going to hit my record as i paid through the service provider and no one threatened that. As someone that’s never not paid a bill, i guess i just needed to learn this lesson.
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  Did they mail you anything in writing? Not that a letter is worth anything by itself, but if it's asking you for a debt you recognise and asks to call a number that does indeed map back to a debt collection agency (on Google, etc) it's probably legit. I am not sure whether it's even legal for them to mark you as refusing to pay without making a formal payment demand by mail.

jbverschoor 6y ago

Same with my bank. They should be fined for this, because they will refund 0 if you fall for this, and they’re encouraging this behavior

jdofaz 6y ago

I got a credit card fraud alert sms text once that asked me to call a number that was different than the phone number on my credit card. I called the card number instead and the alert was legit but they still should have used an easily verified phone number.

neltnerb 6y ago

Hospitals are even worse. They would periodically call me with random information about appointments or prescriptions and whatnot and would always start off by asking me my birth date and PII to identify myself to them! They're the ones calling me! I told them as much and after a few years they finally started sending me secure emails asking me to call them. Certainly I wouldn't trust "call back at..." messages claiming to be from a medical provider, even though they're indistinguishable from the real thing because that's the same thing the doctor's office does. It's bizarre considering how security conscious they have to be.

verelo 6y ago

I recently missed a bill due to an error on behalf of my utility company. It ended up at a debt collector, who when calling me insisted i share my date of birth, address and full name before they'd tell me what the call was regarding. I refused, they got mad and acted as if I was trying to avoid paying the bill. I assumed the call was fraud. I found it was in fact not fraud when my credit monitoring service informed me that someone reported I refused to pay a bill. One call to the utility company later, it was resolved...unfortunately i'm still trying to fix the credit report.

RandomBacon 6y ago
If anyone else runs into this, I've heard that you can say you'll pay only if they remove their claim from your credit report. Suposedly it's not legal for them to offer (I guess extorsion), but as far as I know, it's legal for you to ask. It sounds like that option has passed for the parent comment, but you did just try disputing it right? Force them to come up with the proof.
- verelo 6y ago
  Presently in dispute, no outcome yet. I didn’t actually know it was going to hit my record as i paid through the service provider and no one threatened that. As someone that’s never not paid a bill, i guess i just needed to learn this lesson.
Nextgrid 6y ago
Did they mail you anything in writing? Not that a letter is worth anything by itself, but if it's asking you for a debt you recognise and asks to call a number that does indeed map back to a debt collection agency (on Google, etc) it's probably legit. I am not sure whether it's even legal for them to mark you as refusing to pay without making a formal payment demand by mail.