A little help - I found a USBank visa card in a restaurant parking lot

While going out to dinner, I found a USBank Visa credit card in the parking lot of a restaurant.

Being an honest person, I want to reassure the cardholder that the card is not being misused.

I didn't feel comfortable turning it in to the restaurant . . . wayyy too many stories about abuse at restaurants.

So, I wait until I get home to report its being found to the credit card company.

I call the number on the back. Automated. Asks for credit card number. Fine. Asks to enter the zip code. How the hell should I know? Stymied.

I look up the phone number of the person, it's relatively local (long distance charges). I've tried three times so far to get an answer (no machine to leave a message on). Stymied again.

I go onto the USBank web site. Do you realize that there is no way to report a FOUND credit card there? You can report a stolen credit card, but you have to have info about it. Stymied, but left an e-mail outlining my predicament, without getting more specific than giving my name and phone number and that I've tried to contact them.

Tried one of their phone numbers from the website. You need the PIN number. Stymied yet again. Getting pretty pissed off. I'm trying to be good about this.

I have yet to talk to a human.

Any ideas?

.

They'll know what to do.

This has happened to me many times.

Go to the nearest local USBank and give it to them. They will contact the card holder.

all is well.

Give them your name and number and be done with it.

I've tried . . . I went to their website to do so . . . nothing.

Let me know if it works

you could notify the restaurant that you found the card, and give your phone # and if the person comes in or calls them they can refer him/her to you.

Did you try NOT entering the card number? Usually, if you either sit there and don't enter anything (or sometimes enter 0 or * or #), you'll get routed to a real human being. I'd give that a try a few more times to see if you can get to an operator, and I'm sure they'll be happy to help reunite the card with its owner.

Yay to you for caring and taking the trouble!

I finally got a human, after listening to the machine asking for the credit card number.

I stated the number (they wanted voice input). Got the request for zip code again.

I kept hitting 0 (zero). Finally, the machine gave up and connected me with a human.

Here's the deal.

They will put a hold on the card, and try to contact the cardholder.

They also took my name and phone # (along with info on where I found it at) in case the person wanted me contacted.

Will find out what to do next. I will also try to contact the person on the credit card.

If you exasperate the computer enough, it'll eventually surrender!

Glad it worked.

Mail it.

Or you could turn it over to the police.

they fill out a form and write in my name, where I found it, etc

cheers

that leave you, honest citizen or alibi maker?

I've lost my credit card before and that's usually the first place I check.

I certainly would.

Keep it and keep trying for a few days, then just cut it up.

If the card was previously stolen and used, the company now has an incoming call on that card number coming from your house. That's bad.

Moreover, if the card owner is unscrupulous, he or she could state that somebody else made a slew of recent charges (say, Thanksgiving weekend shopping?). This may not work, since there will be cameras and signatures, but still. Bring it to a police station and let them deal with it. You've connected yourself to it too much already.

PS: I once worked as a credit card fraud investigator for a major cc company.

And run run run to the police station. Do Not, under any circumstance, cut up the card. I never thought of it, but yep, you are totally connected to the card and I hope nobody had stolen it and dropped it before you found it.

(The peep above I mean)

Call the toll-free number again, but this time press 0.

You might get lucky and get an operator.

If not, cut the card up since the cardholder will most likely report the card lost and get another one in the mail with a new account number.

This is probably what the operator will tell you anyway.

I've lost them and had them stolen and gotten replacements in two days.

(edited for common sense.)

Sometimes hitting 0 during phone mail hell will get you a person. Even if that option isn't offered to you.

Otherwise, is there a bricks and mortar bank associated with it? If the owner has a branch, you can call the branch, and maybe they can contact the person.

this guy's website http://www.paulenglish.com/ivr/info.html. Maybe some of the things he recommends will get you in touch with a human.

It's been reported lost anyway and cancelled. No need to return it or take any other action.

Dialing 800-US BANKS and then pressing four zeros...

http://paulenglish.com/ivr/

reported it lost or stolen by now anyway.

Maybe the person works a lot and isn't home often enough and doesn't realize it's missing yet. Maybe you could go to the restaurant and tell them the situation and maybe they could look it up on the computer and give you the address to mail them the card? :shrug:

Bad idea to mail a live card.

will still try to contact the cardholder.

I simply placed it in the night deposit box at the bank.

I've heard a lot of good responses.

I would suggest trying to get a hold of a USBank customer service rep (from going through the posts I think you already have). The customer service rep will put a hold on the card. Give the rep detailed info about where you found the card and at what time. They'll either tell you to destroy it or turn it in at a branch. Most thieves would not do this so I doubt you'll hear any flack about it.

The reason why I don't suggest taking it into a Branch is that there is no paper trail and that Banker now has the card. Depending on the bank they may be able to get the pin and use it. I've never heard of this happening at the bank I work at but these things happen. A lot of banks are moving away from allowing back office or bankers to have access to pins.

I read that someone talked about taking left cards out of machines. This also ties to the other case. You hope that whoever works the drop box will also do what they should. There is now no paper trail of the card being left in the machine and now you are on camera removing the card. My advice would be to stand back away from the machine until the ATM sucks it in. Most machines do this after 30 secs. The ATM makes a note of it and the bank tracks whether the card was returned to the customer or destroyed in the branch.

Not long ago, got a phone call from the person on the card.

I told her that I would meet her at the restaurant.

Sat in the waiting area of the restaurant, with card in view.

Not long after I got there, two women entered the restaurant. One saw me sitting there and called my name.

To wrap it up, the card was returned to its rightful owner.

End of story.

Presumably, the stars of this story will live happily ever after.

And I hope that I am not indicted for credit card fraud . . .

the bank associated with the card first.