Opinion ID: 612823
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Circumstances of the Billing Dispute

Text: In 2003, Barbee Lyon opened a Visa credit-card account with Chase and identified his wife, Joan Kruse, as an authorized user. In September 2006, Lyon's wallet was stolen, and he notified Chase of the theft of the card. Lyon spoke with Chase's fraud department to identify fraudulent charges but advised Chase that a pending $645 charge payable to Resorts Advantage was a valid, authorized charge. Nonetheless, Chase declined to make payment on this charge, and after being contacted by Resorts Advantage, Lyon paid the debt through a different credit card. Unbeknownst to Lyon, Chase mistakenly credited his account $645 during the process of resolving fraudulent charges and issuing a new account number. To correct this mistaken credit, Chase added a $645 charge to Lyon's bill months later, which it incorrectly identified as a transaction with Resorts Advantage. After confirming that Resorts Advantage had not been paid by Chase, Lyon disputed this charge, not knowing that Chase was attempting to correct its prior mistake. On April 16, 2007, Chase acknowledged receipt of the billing dispute and notified Lyon that it was investigating the matter and would write to respond to his question. Chase admits that it never sent a written explanation of the charge and that it failed to respond to multiple letters Lyon sent about the issue. Indeed, months after the original notification, Lyon independently determined that the mistaken credit was the likely basis for the charge and specifically asked Chase to confirm this. Chase again failed to respond. Chase admits that it continued to attempt to collect the debt from Lyon and levied finance charges related to the debt. Chase also admits that it reported to credit agencies a delinquency by Lyon in paying the debt.