Consumer complaint received 2023-03-05
Company: Atlanticus Services Corporation
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
My husband died of XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I submitted his death certificate to all of his credit card companies as he did not have a life insurance policy or a POA .. he was only XXXX in good health and I am ten years younger and we have XXXX XXXX XXXX. I was an Authorized user on his Aspire account and occasionally I made payments but he made payments on that account and I was not responsible for his debt. We had nothing when he died and even though he was a XXXX Veteran we still got nothing. 
I made one payment to his credit card account after his death before I called months later and told them I couldnt afford to pay on his account and I explained how he died. Aspire assured me they would close his account and I would not be responsible for the balance on his credit card. 
Well.. in XXXX of XXXX and XXXX of XXXX I was making a payment on my own Aspire account & for some reason it was not applied to my account but debited from bank account and applied to my husbands closed credit card account. 
I called Aspire visa several times to ask why his account was credited and not mine. I thought maybe I did it by mistake in my grief as it was unauthorized and I didnt notice until months later. I have been severely depressed and I couldnt understand why my bank account was being debited for so many payments to an Aspire credit card. However, I had no one to help me with my finances until I hired a tax attorney who helped me go over my bank statements and noticed all the large bank authorizations XXXX after another. 

When I called Aspire visa they told me that they could see that the payments were made to my deceased husbands accounts but they couldnt reverse them back to me because I didnt have power of attorney and that I had to fight the unauthorized payments with XXXX  XXXX my bank. 
Well.. earlier in XXXX that is exactly what I did .. only when XXXX tried to XXXX the payments for me.. Aspire Visa came back and stated that I did in fact authorize those payments to be made on my deceased husbands credit card account. 
This is appalling that a credit card company is doing this. If they closed my husbands account.. why would they direct debt payments from my bank without permission because I made a XXXX time payment after his death? I am trying to raise XXXX  children on my own and now XXXX is going to reverse close to {$3000.00} worth of charge backs to my personal bank account that were not authorized. 
I thought perhaps I made a mistake in paying on accounts but that isnt like me and the claims department at XXXX bank made me cry because I honestly didnt remember exactly what had happened 6 months after my husbands sudden death. 
I thought there were XXXX XXXX relief laws in place to prevent this from happening. 
Nothing was done to help myself and my children when my husband suddenly died of XXXX at age XXXX. He was an amazing man who was honored to have served his country and he got nothing from the VA when he died and we go virtually no assistance from ANY Covid relief funds. 
He owned his own business that he built up from nothing and no one gave a XXXX when he died. I put his cremation on one of my credit cards and paid it off. 
I couldnt afford a burial. 
I had to sell our home. 
I get sick when I read about all the money that was misappropriated by people who took from the government who didnt need it. We have a beautiful little girl who is now XXXX XXXX XXXX who doesnt have a father. 
No one deserves this. I was treated like absolute XXXX by the banks he did business with and the government he loved so dearly. 
I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and I cant even begin to tell you how hard it is to move on after a spouse dies. Your mind doesnt function and I had people steal money from me thousands. 
I cant even get my own bank to help me.. never mind his credit company to admit they made a mistake. He deserves better. Please help us.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation