Bank cards are used for electronic commerce (with magnetic stripe readers or via Internet) and for banking transactions through automatic teller machines (ATMs). Two main types of bank cards are credit cards (which allow drawing of funds up to an approved credit limit) and debit cards (which allow drawing of funds up to the available balance in cardholder’s account).

Credit and debit cards are handy tools for payment. They can be used online or in person, and it is easy to use somebody else’s card. In fact, cards often get passed around, stolen, or otherwise used in ways that were not intended .But credit cards are printed with an authorised cardholder’s name. If anybody else uses the card, the card user or cardholder faces serious problems.

Unauthorised use

Fraudulent or unauthorised use is obviously a problem. If your card gets used without your permission:Report the problem to your card issuer immediately. Your card issuer is the company that you applied for the card with. If you have a debit card, you can contact your bank. Notifying the card issuer should prevent things from getting worse, and it maximises your protection under the law. The longer you wait, the more your liability increases.

 

Using a card with permission

What happens when you use somebody else’s card with permission (or you allow somebody to use your card)? Even with permission, this is against the card issuer’s rules, so the account holder is breaking the agreement they signed with the issue.Most of the time, nobody will notice or care, but you should be aware that it is technically against the rules. When you consider how easy it is to make self-service payments at gas pumps or online stores, it is not surprising that cards are often used by friends, spouses, employees, and others.If your bank or credit card company finds out that you are lending out your card, there is a chance that your account will be closed.

Unexpected charges

Lending out your card is risky. There is no guarantee that the card will only be used in the way you intended. It is hard to recover funds if you let somebody use your card because the usage was not unauthorised. Banks won’t reimburse you if somebody drains your account at an ATM after you give them permission to use your card and the PIN.

Risk for borrowers

Using somebody else’s card is risky. Nobody really knows if you got permission ahead of time, so the default assumption may be that you are committing fraud. If a merchant asks for identification and you can’t provide it, things might get complicated—the card might be taken away, the police might get involved, and so on. What is more, the person who gave you the card can later claim that you took it without permission (if you spend too much, for example, or if your relationship sours). In many cases, transaction records and store surveillance video can be used to bring charges against you.

Get permission in writing

If you must use somebody else’s card, which you simply should not do, at least get a signed note from the cardholder saying you have permission to do so. Keep the note tucked away unless you really need it. If you use the card at a store, the merchant does not want to know that you have somebody else’s card—they are risking a chargeback, and stores stand to lose money unless the authorised cardholder made the purchase.

Get Authorised

Instead of using somebody else’s credit card or lending out your card, take advantage of “authorised users.” At an account holder’s request, credit card issuers will provide additional cards with somebody else’s name. The account still belongs to the primary cardholder, who is responsible for the payment, but the authorised user is allowed to use the account. If that user is asked for identification, everything will match correctly.

Using cards without permission?

When permission is not given, using somebody else’s debit or credit card is a form of identity theft. The laws are broadening definitions of what constitutes ID theft, and penalties for those activities are getting more severe.In many cases, possession of somebody else’s card is illegal. Possession of multiple cards—or other financial tools can easily bring the crime into felony territory (if it was not already a felony). In addition to criminal charges, you may have to pay restitution to account holders and other victims.

Beyond cards

Debit and credit cards are not the only way to trigger identity theft charges. Many places outlaw the unauthorised possession of any “financial transaction device,” such as:Prepaid cards, Bank account numbers and routing information, Personal identification numbers (PINs).Finally, it is generally illegal to possess tools for financial identity theft, such as card skimmers and similar equipment.

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Source: TSB.com.ng