Open Forum → Charging Expired Credit Card

Company has my credit card number on file but the one that they have expired 4/2014. I have a new card, with the same number and it expires 4/2017. This company charged the credit card they have on file (with the expiration of 4/2014) today. Do you think this is a valid charge?

Just a note... so what the merchant would have done is moved the expiration date forward 3 years so as this is the normal time frame for the card company to extend the expiration. While I'm sure it's done by many merchants, I'm wondering if this really amounts to fraud (as they are lying about the credit card info given by the customer).

Nope, your terms with the CC company allows this, happens all the time ... you will have to file a claim for authorized charge and hope you didn't sign something with the merchant allowing these charges

I'm finding it difficult to believe that my agreement is that a third party can use an expired credit card. If this is allowed, why would a credit card have an expiration date.

I have never seen a merchant that automatically moves an expiration date forward. I either get a notification from them in advance telling that the card on file will expire for me to update the information or get a notification from the merchant that the charge was declined due to expired card.

I think the more reputale ones would do this... and I've had that happen to me as well. I think its a matter of fact that the merchant changed the expiration date and then submitted this to the credit card company. While I'm sure companies do this (from that I've seen on the Internet) I think it's also fraud as they are lying about the credit card information given to them. They are trying to use an expired card by lying about the expiration date. The only reason it can be done is because the credit card company does not change the number and always bumps the expiration date by 3 years.

Addition: Or.... is the expiration date the date the physical card expires and not the actual account. I've now read several sites that mention the expiration date is for two reasons... as a security measure (as the expiration date is another thing needed for authorization) and because the mag strip wears out. However, a card can't be used that is expired so this would seem to indicate that the card _information_ cannot be used, period. It's still a fact that the merchant would then need to lie about the expiration date. I'd still say this technically would be fraud.

The account does not expire of course, and the bank typically sends the replacement about one month ahead of the expiration date - usually that's the way I find my cards are about to expire. I think it is just an authentication measure because it usually requires physical possession of the card for you to provide that information to a merchant. Same thing with the verification code in the back of the card. Many online merchants also use the billing address as an additional form of authentication. You must provide a billing address and it must match the one in the credit card account.

Do you have an auto-renew contract with the merchant? If you do, you can be the one perceived as acting fraudulently by trying to avoid a payment you agreed to by not providing updated payment information. If you do not have an auto-renew contract with the merchant and are being billed, then call your cc company and inform them.

The account is reoccuring so I understand that they have a right to bill me for the services rendered. I have paid this company so how did I commit fraud? If the merchant could not bill my credit card (as it was expired) then they were welcome to send me a bill for payment. If I did not pay they then they are welcome to discontinue the service and seek payment on the account. But again, this company has been paid (so it's not fraud right now) and they could still send me a bill requesting payment as required (which, IMHO, would have been the correct way to handle this situation... not lie to the credit card company about the expiration date on the credit card).

As mentioned earlier, a reputable company will inform you that the card has expired and ask you to update your information, we recently had this happen with Amazon.com. On the other hand shyster companies were only in business to make money and don't care about their customers will charge a card whether it's expired or not without notifying you. We recently had this happen with ancestry.com! We cancel the service but they continue to keep charging our expired card until we put a stop to it through the credit card company.

This is an assumption on your part and not necessarily true. Recurring charges on a card with an expired date are allowed and not unusual. See the previous discussion here on charging closed accounts.

It's not fraud if the credit card companies allow this practice, especially for recurring charges. Vendors are very aware of this "loophole" and they do not hesitate to use it, as you've found out.

I don't think it's a case of them knowing and allowing as if the merchant lied about the expiration date then the card vendor does not know it's not the old card being used. If they required the number from the back then they would know.

Believe me, the credit card companies are well aware of this practice of changing expiration dates. In fact, there are loopholes in credit card regulations which allow vendors to acquire new credit card information.

On a personal note, I had a company (a health club) in another state who I had never done business with push through a charge on a credit card that had fraudulent activity in years past. The card had been cancelled and a new card had been issued with a completely different number. I got it taken care of, but it shows that things like this can and do happen, often with the blessings of the credit card issuer.

Continuing subscriptions are handled differently than individual transactions. If the merchant has coded the transaction as a recurring type of payment, they can continue to charge the account without obtaining new authorizations and expiration dates from the customer.

All this discussion shows that your mileage may vary with individual merchants. I have a recurring payment in one of my cards. More than once I have received notification from them that my credit card has expired and they could not process the payment. I quickly update the information and notify them to try again.

At my last job, one of a few things would happen when a credit card expired:

1) The credit card would stop working immediately.
2) The credit card would stop working a short time after its expiry.
3) The credit card would continue to work, using the old expiry date.
4) The credit card would work with any random expiry date.

I could never predict which of the above would happen. I didn't keep track, but I guess it depended on the issuers' policies.

In the case of 3) and 4) we would never know the card expired. Our system only notified us when a transaction was declined.

Mastercard, Visa, Amex and Discover all have reoccurring payment plans available for merchants that will automatically update any expiration dates and if your card is reported lost/stolen.

Here is MasterCard's data on there program: »www.mastercard.com/us/me ··· heet.pdf

Your thinking is logical and pro-consumer, when the agreement you have with your credit card company that allows them to do what you're complaining about has nothing to do with common sense or protecting the customer; it was written to protect the bank.

Once a few customers have success with an argument like yours, they always update the customer agreement to keep the bank from continuing to lose out. This battle was fought years ago.