FL woman says she made 1 payment on her estranged husband's Spectrum bill  — 4 months later, she's out $884. How to avoid costly billing errors

Then, Spectrum charged her again. And again. And again.

By December, four months of unauthorized monthly charges had drained $884 from Brown’s account. “That is ridiculous,” she told Action 9. It wasn’t until she contacted the news outlet that Spectrum finally promised a refund — though as of mid-March, the money had still not been returned.

This may not have been just sloppy billing

Under federal law, what Brown described should never have happened. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), when a company sets up automatic debits, it must give the consumer a copy of their payment authorization (2) — a clear, understandable explanation of how much and how often money will be taken out.

Consumers should monitor their accounts to make sure the amount and timing of transfers match exactly what they agreed to.

Brown had paperwork showing the opposite: a single payment, on someone else’s account, with a note that her card information was not to be retained, according to Action 9.

The news outlet reported that Spectrum had not responded to questions about its authorization practices.

Why a debit card made this so much worse

Had Brown used a credit card, this may have played out very differently, according to the Federal Trade Commission (3). With a credit card, you don’t have to pay a disputed charge while it’s under investigation, whereas with a debit card, the money is already out of your account.

This is a distinction Action 9 has documented before. When a billing glitch caused insurer Florida Blue to overdraft some customers’ accounts by as much as $142,000, the outlet noted (4) the core problem plainly:

“With a credit card, if you’re hit by over-billing issues, fraudulent charges or other charges you did not authorize, no money leaves your hands. Once you report the error to the credit card company, the process of fixing the problem begins immediately.

“When mistakes occur with checking and savings accounts, money does leave your hands — and it can take a while to get it back, and in some cases, you don’t get it back.”

According to the CFPB (5), a credit or debit card issuer generally has 10 business days to investigate and act, but debit card companies have 45 to 90 days to fully resolve the matter, as long as they provisionally credit the disputed amount to your account first.

If an unauthorized withdrawal appears on your bank statement but your debit card wasn’t lost or stolen, you must notify your bank within 60 days (6) after the statement showing the unauthorized transaction was sent. If you wait longer, you could be required to pay the full amount of any transactions that occurred after that 60-day window closed.

Unfortunately, Brown didn’t notice the charges until December; months had slipped by without a close statement review. That’s an easy trap to fall into, especially when amounts feel routine month to month.

What to do if this happens to you

Here are the key steps to take if you find yourself in a situation like Brown’s:

Contact the billing company immediately and demand written confirmation that your card has been removed. Don’t accept verbal assurance. Get it in writing, keep a copy and note the date and name of whoever you spoke with.

Notify your bank or credit union in writing to stop future automatic payments, at least three days before the next scheduled transfer. While the notice can initially be oral, it must be followed up with written notice within 14 days (7). Explicitly revoke authorization for that company and ask the bank to flag any future charges from them.

File a formal dispute for the unauthorized charges. You must report any error to your bank within 60 days (8) of when the first statement with the charge was sent to you. Submit your dispute in writing, even if the bank allows online submissions.

Your bank is required to investigate and resolve reported errors, and must typically provisionally credit your account for the disputed amount while they investigate, if the process takes longer than 10 business days (9).