My mom's bank account was wiped out - questions
 

My mom is going through a really lousy situation with her now ex-boyfriend.

She had given him the PIN for her ATM card along with permission to use it for day to day expenses like gas, groceries, etc. Recently he wiped it out by making several withdrawals totalling several thousand dollars and disappeared.

Does anyone know if she has any recourse against him? His name is not on the account, but from what I've read the "$0 liability" touted by most banks does not include cases where you voluntarily provide someone with your account info. I doubt she would be willing to lie and claim she never gave him the PIN or authorized him to access the account--and rightly so, it's not the bank's fault she made such a boneheaded move, to be blunt.

Would anyone with banking experience be able to provide insight as to how cases like this are handled?

does she know where he is?

She can call the police because he has stolen her money. She authorized him to take out gas/grocery money, not everything.


She can also sue.

Sounds like shes screwed. She gave him her account/PIN number... Not sure if she has a chance in getting the money back :(

Small claims court. That's a big one, but she could argue and go for the money, up to $5k in most states.

And the good thing is, if the other guy skips out on the court date, she automatically wins.

You'll have no recourse with the bank, since he did have permission. You'll have to go the civil route or try filing a police report/filing a warrant.

Definitely file a police report. Then talk to the bank. Civil court is the most likely option but you should do both of the above (as well as changing accounts and PIN).

I'll bet she won't be doing that again any time soon.

Thanks for the advice everybody. I'm thinking that small claims is the best idea (the amount involved is just under $5000).

Obviously if the guy skipped town, getting payment might be difficult. However, if he ever gets pulled over for a speeding ticket or whatever, would the outstanding judgment against him show up when the cop runs his license?

I don't want to sound like a crook.But if you want that money back I would tell her to lie and let the bank find him and let them get their money back from him,and the bank pays you back right away.Atleast that's the way I think it works.

It would only show up if a warrant was issued for failure to pay the judgement amount. Warrants are usually issued for pick up only within the state of issue, so, unless the judge who signed the warrant wanted him picked up anywhere in the U.S, you are out of luck.

I think I read in a recent statement regarding my visa that you are allowed to authorize certain purchases on your card with other people, but if they overstep what you verbally agreed to then they can be charged. I'm not POSITIVE, but I'll try to find the paper and verify.