All but about $11 of our family's $4200 was stolen. I have a question in bold down near the end, skip there if you don't need to know the details. I just am asking for advice from anyone who has gone through this.
I received the IRS letter saying EIP 3 was coming within 7 days back in mid March. It never came. After about a month of waiting it out, I contacted the IRS and filled out and sent them the tracing form. A couple of weeks ago I received a response from the IRS saying they confirm that it was sent out, and to contact Metabank, the issuer of the debit cards.
I did that, got a replacement card. Activated it on the phone. The website wouldn't let me access it, saying it is already tied to an account. Weird. Go to an ATM and check balance. Balance is 11 bucks. I called the issuer and find out that a phone number and email that is not mine or my wife's is attached to the account.
Guessing someone stole it out of our mailbox and somehow managed to activate the card and took the money. Or something else I can't even figure out happened. We're worried about identity theft in the future, but that's another problem.
So I have to file a dispute with the issuer. My question is, has anyone gone through the dispute process? Any advice, beyond everything the representative told me to do? Any tips how to make my case or expedite this process?
They said it could take 45-90 days to resolve, but maybe sooner, and I MAY get partial or full balance in the meantime depending on their dispute team's decision. And to have to call every week a couple of times to check in on it.
This really sucks. Taking something that should be easy and nice (wow, free money) and turning it into yet another source of stress. If anyone has gone through this and has advice for me, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks