Help - Credit Card Claiming Fraud

[Davidca]

What is the name of your state? California

I have declared chapter 7. About 4 months before declaring, I charged a catering function to try to promote my sole proprietorship and another business expense, together totaling $8800, on my Amex. They have written me a letter saying that these charges were out of pattern with prior use and that given my income, I could not have reasonably expected to pay for this and so they are claiming fraud.

If they make written claim of objection, what are my options to counteract their claims?

 

[Barto]

Sorry, this is not advice. But, their logic if flawed - if, given your income, you could not have reasonably expected to pay this off, then they would not have given you the credit limit that allowed you to charge $8,800.

 

[racer72]

Sorry, this is not advice. But, their logic if flawed

Your response is flawed too. Amex does not have limits like Visa and MC.


To the OP, this is something you need to discuss with your attorney.

 

[Davidca]

I cant discuss it with an attorney. I filed on my own which is why I am asking the question here.

 

[racer72]

I cant discuss it with an attorney. I filed on my own which is why I am asking the question here.

Now you do need an attorney.

 

[Davidca]

I cant afford one. Can you answer my question?

 

[Davidca]

Does anyone know how to deal with this situation?

 

[Nguyen27]

hmm the same thing happened to my brother when he filed for bankruptcy. He filed with through an attorney though...and it's not that costly. He took out a cash advance of 5,000 and a few weeks later declared bankruptcy. The credit card company said it was fraud...we showed the letter to the attorney and he said ignore it because he's dealing with them. After that we never heard from them again. You can call an attorney and ask for advice...some of them have free phone consultations

 

[Davidca]

Can you ask that attorney what he did? The attorneys around here say they dont want to talk to me since I already filed without them.

 

[Ezlpo]

It is probably a scare tactic by AmEx, but you will likely need to show what you used that $5000 for before you filed. The trustee is going to very, very interested in your response to that question. Be prepared with receipts. Better hope none of them are for Hooters.

 

[bigun]

All I can suggest is having recepits showing the cost of the event. Do you have a guest/prospect list of attendees and did you follow up with phone calls and letters? In other words, you need something to show that you were trying your best to drum up business . Was your business incorp. or some sort of formal partnership? Did you file sales tax reports with the state and local government? Did you file corp. taxes?
Bottom line, have proof that you were operating a business.