Bank Cards With No
Protection!
By David Playfair*
Christmas turned into Halloween this year
with a little trick played on December 23rd.
We didn’t notice the trick until two weeks
later when we were checking our corporate
bank account because of a discrepancy in
balancing, as we preparing for a real estate
transaction requiring all the money
available in that account.
We were shocked to find a withdrawal from
our account for USD $ 14,782.30 and a
surprising correlation to an existing vendor
that takes out about $ 25.00 a month. We
didn’t realize until after our first fit of
outrage, that the regular automated payment
corresponded to about 14,782 colones.
After contacting the vendor through a very
intensely written email, then through our
architect for our project (since my rage
eliminated any possibility of verbal
communication in Spanish), they assured us
that they knew of the problem and that it
was a mistake by the bank.
The vendor then put us in touch with a
company that handles credit/debit card
transactions here in Costa Rica (Credomatic),
who then assured me by telephone that they
were very sorry for the mistake and it would
be corrected the next day in the afternoon.
He very specifically said it would be late
afternoon (on a Friday).
Unfortunately, the afternoon on that Friday,
January 8th, progressed with no action in
our bank account whatsoever and we contacted
him again. The story changed slightly to the
supposed fact that the money had been
credited back to the bank via the card on
January 5th, three days earlier. However
strange it seemed that he made us wait until
Friday afternoon to tell us this, we
contacted the bank through two channels,
both resulting in a dead end.
The bank told us that there was no record of
any credit to the account and that we should
bring in whatever documents we have for
proof of this. I asked what kind of
documents the bank required to prove that
the money had been credited back to us and
we were met with stunned silence and then
the phrase, “whatever documents they gave
you”.
I tried to reason with the bank
representative by telling her that they had
indeed just sent us two documents that
seemingly showed their internal system
crediting back over 8 million colones, but I
asked how that was going to prove anything
to the bank? I reasoned, if they couldn’t
find any money now why would someone else’s
documents somehow miraculously allow them to
find the money then? She had no answer for
this, so I continued with the possibility of
emailing these documents to her and her
supervisor, to which she responded that we
could indeed do that.
Of course, they may not get to it for a
week, she said, but I took it that she
thought it couldn’t hurt. She mentioned that
it was late on Friday afternoon, so there
was little she could do.
Feeling dizzy by the run-around we appeared
to be getting down every path, I emailed
Credomatic again with this news and they
responded with a name and number at the bank
who apparently was aware of the situation.
Why, again, he chose to hold this
information until that point we’ll never
know. We called that number late on Friday,
not expecting any answer at that point, but
assuming that we could leave a message. It
rang busy. It rang busy all the next day as
well and we gave up, finally figuring out
that the number was incorrect.
During this little adventure, we made the
decision to bring our lawyer into the
matter, so we arranged with him to meet us
at the bank on Monday morning with the
documents Credomatic supplied us.
I joined our lawyer at one of the branches
and went through the paces of explaining the
situation, showing them the documents from
Credomatic and having the representative
make some phone calls. She then assured us
that the money would be in the account “mañana”.
Further, she said that the fellow in charge
of this was making an “exception” and would
get this done by tomorrow, as if giving our
money back was some great favour.
Apparently, the credit wasn’t going to be
applied until the following Friday.
Now, knowing Costa Rica the way I do I
didn’t have a lot of faith in the idea that
their version of “mañana” and my version of
tomorrow were in agreement; however, we left
giving the bank the benefit of the doubt.
What is funny is that I didn’t even bother
asking for the interest I should have earned
on that money for the 3 weeks, or any other
reparation that I’m quite certain I would
have asked for and received in Canada or the
US. My expectations were lowered to simply
getting the money back – sometime in the
future – and making certain this could not
happen again!
“Mañana” came and went. No money appeared in
the account.
The day after, the money finally arrived in
our account and we were overcome with glee.
Exactly three weeks, many phone calls, and a
visit to the bank with my lawyer was all it
took to fix a banking error.
Of course, there are many issues with this
scenario that concerns us now and in the
future while banking in Costa Rica, but
there are some precautions that can be taken
as well.
The issues are as follows:
1) The vendor that received over 8 million
colones just before Christmas should have
notified us of this situation, but decided
it was best to avoid it until we contacted
them over two weeks later.
2) The credit/debit processing company,
Credomatic, could have also contacted us
since they have accepted responsibility for
the mistake citing “Por un error en nuestros
sistemas”, but again, they decided not to
bother.
3) The bank, apparently clueless to the
situation, let over $14,000 leave our
account without any question or holdback.
Given this was a regular transaction for
about $25 to the same vendor every month,
you would think that there may be some
checks and balances for this sort of thing.
For example, we were travelling in another
city in the US recently and made a couple
purchases, only to have the last one (for a
measly $600) stopped and verified by phone
by the credit card company. You would think
that the bank would do the same thing, but
no.
It would seem that they would have released
every dime in that account if a transaction
went through for that amount. Further, this
bank seemed unconcerned about the issue and
certainly didn’t show any motivation to fix
it. What strikes me as ironic is the fact
that interbank transfers within Costa Rica (SINPE)
are highly scrutinized and have a limit of
around $3000. Apparently, no such scrutiny
is applied to credit/debit card
transactions.
4) The recourse has been to discuss this
issue with multiple parties, have assurances
given to us, only to find that nothing
happens and we are without the money
indefinitely. The resolution finally came
after bringing our lawyer to the bank with
us – for a banking transaction error!
Some precautions that could be taken in
the future:
1) Do not leave a great deal of money in an
account attached to a bank card, or do not
give out that bank card number. Instead,
keep a minimal amount in any account
attached to a bank card/visa/mastercard that
you use in Costa Rica and transfer money
from another account when needed.
Of course, you must ensure that the accounts
are not connected, as banks in Costa Rica
will simply remove money from another
account, if the first account is to be
overdrawn. They will only reject the
transaction if they can’t find any money in
the account or accounts.
2) Ask that a limit is set on the amount
that can be withdrawn from a given bank
account, but don’t rely on it.
3) Keep all your money under your mattress.
(Just kidding.)
*Dave Playfair is President & CEO of EcoVida
Holdings Corporation S.A.
Email:
[email protected]
If you have stories like Dave's, send
them to:
[email protected] |
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