Double trouble for ID theft victim

[ronjor]

-{ Quote: "The trouble began on Saturday, March 10, when Poor went to a cash machine near Boston and tried to withdraw money for the weekend. She was denied, and the machine indicated her account was overdrawn by nearly $350. She knew something was wrong. She ran home, looked at her balance online and spotted the bad news immediately. An identity thief had gone on a $466 shopping spree using her checking account the night before." }-Article (http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/05/id_thief_bounce.html)

[ccsito]

What I don't quite understand is why was the account allowed to remain OPEN after someone had improperly accessed it? It should have been IMMEDIATELY CLOSED, regardless of the current balance. Even if the account was used in auto debit payments, you can always notify the other payees to stop billing your closed account.

Once when an account number and bank routing numbers have been illegally used, you have to invalidate them IMMEDIATELY. You CANNOT depend on a bank (or anyone else) making claims about protection against fraudulent use or that someone will reimburse you for your lost money. Irregardless of the 30 or 60 day notice policy on your liability after reporting a fraud incident, I would not depend on any of those "guarantees of protection". Bottom line, YOU, not the bank, ultimately have to pay the price if you allow your compromised account to remain open.

[ccsito]

It appears that banks don't allow you to close accounts with negative balances. In that case, she should have stopped all credits and debits to that account right away and then work with the bank regarding the negative balance. However, I don't understand why the thief was allowed to continue to draw money out of the account when there was insufficient funds. There should have been something to stop that.

-{ Quote: "said it is not the bank's policy to tell consumers to leave their accounts open when identity theft occurs; instead, the bank works with consumers individually to develop the best course of action." }- Yeah right....