Who pays in a case of stolen line of credit?

[silver912e]

My wife and I took out an equity line of credit on our house from our local credit union to get some repairs done. They gave us checks to write against the line of credit. We used one check to get the money we needed and have since paid it off.

I now want to burn or otherwise destroy the remaining checks feeling that if someone steals them & writes a check, we end up being responsible for repaying it. My wife says that it's like a credit card, and the credit union would take the hit if someone wrote a bad check.

Anyone know what the answer is here?

Thanks.

[HardDrive]

I don't know.

Why would your wife be so opposed to you burning/shredding the checks? The line of credit is still there. If you need money again, just head down to the credit union and have them print you a check.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

I don't know.

Why would your wife be so opposed to you burning/shredding the checks? The line of credit is still there. If you need money again, just head down to the credit union and have them print you a check.

yeah, what he said

[onewhippedpuppy]

No matter who pays in the end, it's still probably hours of your time and a huge inconvenience to get it cleaned up. Not worth taking chances. While away at college my younger sister in law had her checking account cleaned out. It was only $600 or so, but it took a lot of wasted time and nearly a month to get the charges reversed and all of her money back. I imagine that larger amounts are an even larger PITA.

[stomachmonkey]

Identity theft issues can take a year to clean up and cost you on average $5k.

Not worth the risk.

[Rick Lee]

My folks had their mail stolen right out of their mailbox and it just happened to be on the day when new checks were delivered. The thieves went down to my folks' bank and cashed a check for a few thousand dollars. In the end the bank covered it because they know my folks personally but the teller didn't ask for id. Turns out the idiot thieves had been doing this for a while and were caught shortly after the got my folks' checks. I think they'll be in prison forever, as they were also charged with mail theft in addition to each count of check fraud.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by silver912e

My wife and I took out an equity line of credit on our house from our local credit union to get some repairs done. They gave us checks to write against the line of credit. We used one check to get the money we needed and have since paid it off.

I now want to burn or otherwise destroy the remaining checks feeling that if someone steals them & writes a check, we end up being responsible for repaying it. My wife says that it's like a credit card, and the credit union would take the hit if someone wrote a bad check.

Anyone know what the answer is here?

Thanks.

you may not technically be responsible, but make no mistake- the bank will attempt to collect anyways. You refuse to pay regardless of who's at fault, your credit will get hammered.

Any bank will not just simply roll over and give up even if legitimately you are not responsible. Your credit is at risk regardless of who's actually liable. You may even win, in the sense you won't have to pay but not without getting lates or collections on your credit in the meanwhile.

Burn those checks.

[MRM]

A home equity line of credit with a "check" is not the same as a credit card and will not have the same protections. You should destroy all the checks you don't intend to use imediately. If you need to access the line of credit you can get more check or have the money deposited into your account or wired somewhere with a phone call.

The line of credit is secured by your home. Think about it for a minute.

[Dantilla]

Why not just close the account?

Burn the checks. Quickly.

[89911]

What do you do with your conventional checks? Since it is basically the same principal, I don't understand the reasoning behind destroying a check that requires a signature to be used. Stealing a check, forging and then cashing it is a severe crime and hard to do anomalously. They generally want to see several forms of ID and a drivers license also.

[3.2 CAB]

Check your paperwork on the credit line. I believe it states in the disclosures what steps, and what outcomes can be expected.