Answer:
This practice never should have started in the first place and should cease before an examiner hits the credit union with a UDAP violation and a Civil Money Penalty. For a claim of an unauthorized or incorrect charge, the most you can "require" under Reg E is that the cardholder give you sufficient information to identify the disputed charge and state why they believe an error exists. This information can be provided orally.
You can require written confirmation of the error as a condition of providing provisional credit. This written confirmation need only be a signed letter and you cannot require that it be in the form of an affidavit. Although you can request a police report, Reg E prohibits it from being a requirement. You cannot deny a claim solely on the basis of the customer's failure to provide any of the documentation listed in your question.
In the event you do not receive the information needed to file a chargeback through your processor to investigate the claim, both VISA and MasterCard have the option of the credit union filing a retrieval request to compel the merchant to supply authorization information. This will enable the credit union to conduct the required investigation to satisfy Reg E even if it doesn't have the documentation needed to file a chargeback.
First published on BankersOnline.com 1/16/12
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