What to Do if You Suspect that a Charge is Fraudulent

A. With U.S. Bank

1. If you are a Reviewer, ask the Cardholder if the suspicious charge is legitimate.

2. If the Cardholder confirms that the charge is fraudulent, the Cardholder must first attempt to contact and resolve the problem with the merchant. For example, perhaps the merchant issued a double billing for a legitimate purchase or accidentally charged your account number for someone else’s purchase.

3. If the Cardholder is able to resolve the problem with the merchant, then no further action is needed. Credits issued by the merchant should appear in the FlexCard Allocation Module within the next several days; at most, within the next monthly billing cycle.

4. If the Cardholder is not able to resolve the problem with the merchant because the charge is in fact fraudulent, then the Cardholder must IMMEDIATELY contact the Fraud Division of U.S. Bank at (800) 523-9078 to report the fraud.

5. Upon receiving the telephone call, U.S. Bank changes the status of the FlexCard account to “Lost/Stolen”. The FlexCard account is closed, a new account is opened and a new FlexCard is mailed to UCSB FlexCard Program Administration. When the new FlexCard arrives (generally within 2 business days), FlexCard Program Administration contacts the Cardholder to make arrangements for pick-up.

6. Any previous balance and legitimate transactions are rolled over to the new FlexCard account number.

7. A Statement of Fraud is mailed to the Cardholder for review and signature. The Statement must be returned to U.S. Bank.

8. A provisional credit is issued to the new account number (the actual fraudulent charge is also passed to the new account so the two can offset each other).

9. A U.S. Bank Fraud Representative determines the validity of each transaction within the fraud claim.

10. The provisional credit becomes permanent upon receipt of the Statement of Fraud AND once the charges are determined to be fraudulent.

Be patient. It may take 30 to 60 days for the fraud resolution process to be completed and for all provisional credits to be transformed into permanent credits.

 

B. At UCSB

1. After having contacted U.S. Bank, the Cardholder informs his or her Department Administrator of the fraudulent activity.

2. The Department Administrator logs onto the FlexCard Management Module, clicks MANAGE CARDHOLDERS and, when the submenu appears, clicks REPORT A REPLACEMENT CARD. When the Department Administrator completes and submits the report, an email notifies FlexCard Program Administration of the fraudulent activity and the fact that U.S. Bank is mailing a replacement FlexCard.

3. The Cardholder cuts the canceled FlexCard in half and discards it.

4. Both Cardholder and Reviewer monitor the Allocation Module for any further fraudulent charges that may have been made before the FlexCard was canceled. The Cardholder may need to contact U.S. Bank to report additional fraudulent charges that were not evident at the time of the initial telephone call.

All fraudulent charges that appear in the FlexCard Allocation Module must be allocated to the appropriate LAFSO (it is recommended that you use the default LAFSO for fraudulent charges).

As fraudulent charges are resolved, credits issued by U.S. Bank will be received in the FlexCard Allocation Module. When allocated to the appropriate LAFSO, the credits will zero out the initial fraudulent charges.

5. The Cardholder must retain a copy of the Statement of Fraud and all documentation and correspondence related to the fraudulent activity and its resolution with U.S. Bank.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the canceled FlexCard was being used to pay for monthly charges such as Arrowhead Bottled Water, the Cardholder must contact the merchant and have the merchant account switched over to the new FlexCard account number; otherwise, monthly billings on the old account number will be declined and billing problems will occur.

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DISPUTES

A disputed charge is generally not the same as a fraudulent charge. Whereas fraud usually involves a deliberate action on the part of an often-unknown third-party, disputes normally arise out of billing problems with a merchant with which the Cardholder has done legitimate business.

Some examples of billing problems include: double billing, over-billing, billing for goods not yet received, billing for a complete shipment when only partial shipment was made, and problems with issuing credits.

A. With U.S. Bank

1. If there is a billing problem, the Cardholder or another department representative (as appropriate) contacts the merchant and attempts to correct the problem. Most billing problems are easily resolved in this manner. Credits issued by the merchant should appear in the FlexCard Allocation Module within the next several days; at most, within the next monthly billing cycle.

2. If the billing problem cannot be resolved by working directly with a merchant, the Cardholder can enlist U.S. Bank’s assistance by calling Customer Service at (800) 344-5696 and filing a DISPUTE.

NOTE: CARDHOLDERS NEED TO PRESERVE THEIR DISPUTE RIGHTS BY NOTIFYING U.S. BANK WITHIN 60 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE FIRST STATEMENT ON WHICH THE DISPUTED TRANSACTION APPEARS.

3. The Cardholder is briefly interviewed to determine the specifics of the dispute. In most cases, the phone interview is all that is required to successfully resolve the problem.

NOTE: If the Cardholder has not first attempted to resolve the problem with the merchant, U.S. Bank can refuse to begin the interview process.

4. If the dispute cannot be resolved during the phone interview, Customer Service informs the Cardholder of any additional documentation that needs to be sent to U.S. Bank.

5. Customer Services issues a case number and the case is assigned to a Dispute Representative, who identifies VISA regulations that govern the transaction and may request additional documentation, from both the Cardholder and merchant.

Note: It may take up to 35 days for documentation to be received from the merchant.

6. After all documentation is reviewed, the Dispute Representative determines if recourse is available through VISA.

7. If no recourse is available, if additional cardholder documentation is not received by the requested date, or if the dispute is resolved in favor of the merchant, the dispute is closed and the Cardholder is notified via mail.

8. If recourse is available and the dispute is resolved in favor of the Cardholder, a credit is issued and the Cardholder is notified, again via mail.

Note: At this point, the merchant is still able to file a rebuttal and the case may remain open, as U.S. Bank continues to work with the Cardholder and merchant. If there is a rebuttal, the dispute process can take up to 90 days to complete.

 

B. At UCSB

1. After having contacted U.S. Bank, the Cardholder informs his or her Department Administrator or Reviewer of the disputed transaction.

2. If it is department policy, the Cardholder logs onto the FlexCard Allocation Module, selects the disputed transaction and adds a Dispute Comment. The transaction is flagged via red, underlined text.

3. All disputed charges that appear in the FlexCard Allocation Module must be allocated to the appropriate LAFSO.

If disputed charges are resolved in the Cardholder’s favor, credits issued by U.S. Bank will be received in the FlexCard Allocation Module. When allocated to the appropriate LAFSO, the credits will zero out the initial disputed charges.

4. The Cardholder must retain copies of any documentation related to the dispute, including any additional documentation sent to U.S. Bank.