One of our cardholders filed a dispute for 100+ transactions totaling over $20,000.00 and taking place over about 2 months. The cardholder was contacted to get more information. He stated that he has short term memory and that some of the transactions were questionable and that he would "eat" those but there are also transactions that he knows he didn't do. When he was informed that the dispute totaled over $20,000.00 he said that was inaccurate and that he wanted to come back in to thoroughly go over his account. He made an appointment but then cancelled and never rescheduled and never responded to any call backs. Since the dispute we had contained incorrect information, we did not file it since we did not know the actual amount he was disputing. A few days ago he called in to check on the status. When he was informed that he never came back in to refile the dispute he insisted that he did but the rep he was going to see said he definitely had not come back in and he also never returned any phone calls. He also stated that he was sticking by the original dispute and that he didn't do any of the transactions. All of the transactions are either ATM or POS. He stated that his son got a hold of his card and was able to guess his PIN. He was given a new card with a new PIN, which he now claims son got a hold of that card as well and made more unauthorized withdrawals. What a mess. He has been told that he cannot have another card since he also filed a fraud dispute in March which we now also believe to be his son.

I'm looking for some advice as to what can be done. I don't feel comfortable moving forward with the original dispute since he said, and we have this on a recorded line, that he was not disputing that many transactions. I have spoken to higher ups that feel the original dispute should be denied based on this information and perhaps the denial will force him to come back in as he originally planned. I also feel that he should not have control of this account if his memory issues seem to be as substantial is they appear to be.

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

With such a large amount of money in question. Has anyone suggested he file a police report? Being that it sounds like family may be involved,this means it may happen again or that once the account holder understands the seriousness of it all he may back off as his memory may suddenly return. Customers are funny w/ their family. Some insist and go forward to dispute and file the police report. Others retreat and leave well enough alone. Sadly, those are the ones that maybe deep down know what happened.

My favorite thing to tell customers with suspected internal family problems like this is that if they don't file a police report then I will.

It sounds like you may possibly be dealing with a financial Elder abuse situation. Does your financial institution of a response plan? If not, I would review your state requirements regarding reporting it to the proper authorities, which may include the police.