Will fraudulent use of my credit card(s) impact my creditworthiness/score?

Question

I am currently in a predicament where I am living in France but most of my credit cards (the ones I don't really use) are back in the U.S. with my parents. I didn't take pictures of the front/back before I left - my mistake.

I am now getting mobile app notifications that purchases are being made on one of the cards that is in the U.S. with my parents. They are international purchases originating in Asia. Despite having reported this to my bank, my card was not frozen. I have to call the card company customer service, which I did, but they require the full card number and CVV number, which I don't have.

Long story short, I have to wait a few days for my parents to send me the card info (they are out of the house) so I can properly handle the fraud. These charges are resting for several days on my card with no dispute (yet).

Will taking a few days to report the fraud to the card merchant impact my credit score? Will any fraudulent use of my cards impact my score? I feel kind of helpless watching the notifications of charges on my card come in, knowing that I can't do anything for a few more days...

Answer 1

This article asserts that you have 60 days to dispute a charge under the Fair Credit Billing Act, and even longer in instances of unauthorized use.

The only way it would affect your credit score long-term is if as a result of unauthorized use you had delinquency/late-payments reported to the credit bureaus. Typically these unauthorized charges are resolved quickly, but if it drags on it might be best to make the minimum payment or make sure skipping payment while they investigate is acceptable to your card provider. Apparently, even in cases of fraud it can be a big hassle to undo the mess once it hits the credit bureaus.

In the short-term, unauthorized charges could ramp up your utilization ratio causing a dip in score, but the impact would be temporary.

There are people who still get paper statements, they can easily not spot unauthorized charges for several weeks after they happen, so you shouldn't be too worried about a couple of days. That said, I might call the issuer again and try to get elevated to a supervisor, stopping additional fraudulent charges is in their best interest. You could report the card missing/stolen if you want, they will not require the CVV for that.

Answer 2

First of all, I am surprised that your bank is acting this way. I call my banks all the time without knowing the CC number and they always have a way they can fully verify me without me providing the CC number, let alone the CVV code. But the shocking part is that you are informing them that your card is currently being fraudulently used, and they are not immediately putting a stop to it. You've done your part, and if they choose to make you jump through hoops such that more charges might happen in the next few days, then it's their loss, not yours. You are not going to be responsible for those fraudulent charges.

Your credit report would only ever be affected due to the extra charges if they end up on your statement AND if you don't pay the bill in time.

Note you'll probably be getting a new credit card number as a result of this, since your current one is obviously compromised.

Answer 3

Fraudulent use would only affect your credit score if it turns out that you were part of the fraud, and even then probably only indirectly because the bank close all accounts with you at minimum.

with the situation as described you have nothing to worry about - just make sure to follow up with the fraud report once you have the credit card number.