I just received an alert on a credit card I used to share with an ex. The account, which is in her name since we split, has a small balance for the first time in 6 years.
There are two possibilities here, which should be obvious:
1. My ex does not know I still receive alerts on her credit card.
2. My ex does not know the card is active again.
Regardless of which is true (and they both may be), she needs to know about it. Given that (2) could expose her to liability for fraud, so does the card issuer.
So I called Bank of America to point out these twin possibilities, and after arguing with their phone system for five minutes, finally got to speak with an agent. I cannot say the conversation went well. After I explained the situation, I said, "so you should let her know about this."
"Is Miss ---- there with you?"
"What? No, we haven't seen each other in years, which is why this is so odd."
"OK, but without her authorization I can't give out account information."
"I don't want any account information. You need to tell her that I am getting account information by email, and that an account I thought we closed in 2007 is active again."
"OK, she is getting the alerts too, so I will make a note on the account for when she calls in next time."
"She may not be getting the alerts, if she has a new email address. Look, I'm talking about potential fraud here, you need to call her today."
"OK, we will call her and let her know."
Look, I understand that some aspects of technology security are too esoteric for most people, and I'm sorry there wasn't a Customer Service script for this. But some flaw in B of A's systems allowed personal financial data to leak to someone who shouldn't have it (me), in such a way that the account owner (my ex) doesn't know about the leak. I'm trying to help you here.
Also, I'm posting these details here on the off-chance they don't let her know and that she ever reads this blog. So, if this post applies to you, I did what I could. And you may want to switch to a less-moronic card provider.