Please keep us posted if you hear more!

Simple way to prevent this in the future, pay online. Why does anyone mail card payments today?

nycefarm-"If you think that online transactions can't get just as screwed up you are sadly mistaken."

I agree with nycefarm. I only use two credit cards and I pay these with a money order. I don't need my credit card provider to have my checking account info, nor do I need their employees to either.

Plus, online transactions can get screwed up and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) doesn't insure against online theft.

"In the online banking world, the risks are a little bit different" than in bricks-and-mortar banking, says Ron Teixeira, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit cosponsored by federal agencies and private donors, including computer security companies. "Unfortunately, the risks are a little bit closer to home [in virtual banking] because they exist on your computer."

Example: a computer virus or spyware attack could result in the transmission of account information or passwords to a would-be thief anywhere in the world. Mr. Teixeira points to what happened to one man's online trading account during the summer of 2005. A fraudster, he says, used a virus to infect his computer (which didn't have up-to-date antivirus software), monitor his keystrokes, sell the man's stocks, and move funds to the fraudster's bank. When the man logged on to check his portfolio, his life's savings of $174,000 was gone. He had no legal recourse, but the online brokerage opted to reimburse his account, Mr. Teixeira says. He suggests that a similar problem could happen to someone's Internet bank account. The lesson is to maintain up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software. Consumers also need to download free updates for their operating systems, such as those for Windows, to plug holes that violators may try to exploit.

Even with these defenses, vulnerabilities may persist. Both Teixeira and Colarik warn of so-called "man in the middle" attacks in which a perpetrator intercepts communication between a customer and an online bank and steals enough information to redirect funds. Teixeira says these violations are most likely to happen when a person accesses an account through an unsecured wireless platform, such as one offered at a cafe or hotel, where a thief might monitor a transaction surreptitiously."

I would never mail a money order.

Jane

I really do not trust the USPS and only use it as a last resort and as other posters mentioned the online payments can get screwed up. This has happened to us as well. Sometimes, online payments are necessary though when the financial institution is out of state.

I agree. Bank of America is famous for these kinds of tricks. Just google "Bank of America-complaints" and see how many people have had similar problems. We had an account with them years ago. Now most of our accounts are with local banks.

They tried to pull their BS on a New York judge. He didn't buy it. I hope he teaches these subprime players a lesson they won't soon forget.

Judge Rejects Settlement Over Merrill Bonuses
By ZACHERY KOUWE
Published: September 14, 2009

"Judge Rakoff refused to approve a $33 million deal that would have settled a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against the Bank of America. The lawsuit alleged that the bank failed to adequately disclose the bonuses that were paid by Merrill before the merger, which was completed in January at regulators’ behest as Merrill foundered.

He accused the S.E.C. of failing in its role as Wall Street’s top cop by going too easy on one of the biggest banks it regulates. And he accused executives of the Bank of America of failing to take responsibility for actions that blindsided its shareholders and the taxpayers who bailed out the bank at the height of the crisis.

The sharply worded ruling, which invoked justice and morality, seemed to speak not only to the controversial deal, but also to the anger across the nation over the excesses that led to the financial crisis, and the lax regulation in Washington that permitted those excesses to flourish. "

A link that might be useful:

www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/business/15bank.html

I'd go back to bartering before I got an account with them.