Gym that requires credit card/bank account

lynn_glenmont

Lol@ the idea that giving a gym auto debit authorization is on the same level as "unfettered access" to your bank account. It's permission to withdraw $40 a month plus any incidentals *that you sign for * at regular intervals, not giving them power of attorney. Seriously, it's not a big deal.

Lol @ the idea that everyone in the world can be trusted to do only what you've given them permission to do. Giving someone your bank account number is like cashing your paycheck, stuffing the cash in your wallet, tossing the wallet into the office at the gym, saying "just take $40 please," and then walking away, leaving the wallet behind. Works just fine when everybody who has access to the office is honest.

What you've given them permission to do and what they have the ability to do are two different things. And once money is gone from your bank account, good luck getting it back. And do you want to have to go through a lawsuit to try to get the gym to reimburse you?

I don't know what the consumer protection laws are like in Canada, but in the U.S. you have pretty good protection against unauthorized charges on your credit card, and your credit card issuer basically has to put disputed charges on hold while they work to figure out what really happened. Even if your consumer protection laws aren't that strong, from a practical standpoint, at least you can deal with any financial hit from unauthorized credit card charges over time, rather than having your bank account (rent money, etc.) wiped out.

Edited to fix typo.

Lol@ complete paranoia.

*continues waiting for one real life example of one of these worst case scenarios that people keep painting.*

This is funny, given that above you gave your own real life example of having unauthorized withdrawals from your account. Even with quick resolution once you discovered it and contacted the vendor (because your bank could not or would not do anything for you), a lot of people would have bounced a few checks in the meantime, and had the added expense of bounced-check fees to deal with. That's always a lot of fun, and it's really paranoid to want to avoid that.

But if the vendor had been reluctant to correct the situation (and a lot of gyms won't stop charging based on a phone call; they'll hold you to contract terms for written notification 30, 60, or even 90 days ahead, and you probably want to send that by registered mail so they can't claim they didn't get it), you could have had a lot more trouble getting it fixed, and a lot more financial harm.

If the withdrawals were being made by a dishonest employee transferring money to an account in the name of a friend, relative, or fake business, the vendor might refuse to reimburse you until you can prove that that third party account is somehow connected to their employee (good luck proving that). Meanwhile, you have to close your account (because there's no way you're going to get the thief to stop making withdrawals), open a new one, change any direct deposits you were making to the old one, change any automatic payments you were making from the old one, make restitution for any checks that bounce, either for lack of funds or because checks and transfers were placed after the old account was closed.

Since there is absolutely no benefit to me from giving businesses access to my bank account (as opposed to using a credit card), and the potential downside is a massive headache or worse, I'll just go on being paranoid.

You know, the street I live on isn't that busy. I could probably pull away from the curb without checking for traffic 500 times and not have an accident. I still check.

Edited to fix typos.

Dewymorning

Lol@ the idea that giving a gym auto debit authorization is on the same level as "unfettered access" to your bank account. It's permission to withdraw $40 a month plus any incidentals *that you sign for * at regular intervals, not giving them power of attorney. Seriously, it's not a big deal.

Lol @ the idea that everyone in the world can be trusted to do only what you've given them permission to do. Giving someone your bank account number is like cashing your paycheck, stuffing the cash in your wallet, tossing the wallet into the office at the gym, saying "just take $40 please," and then walking away, leaving the wallet behind. Works just fine when everybody who has access to the office is honest.

What you've given them permission to do and what they have the ability to do are two different things. And once money is gone from your bank account, good luck getting it back. And do you want to have to go through a lawsuit to try to get the gym to reimburse you?

I don't know what the consumer protection laws are like in Canada, but in the U.S. you have pretty good protection against unauthorized charges on your credit card, and your credit card issuer basically has to put disputed charges on hold while they work to figure out what really happened. Even if your consumer protection laws aren't that strong, from a practical standpoint, at least you can deal with any financial hit from unauthorized credit card charges over time, rather than having your bank account (rent money, etc.) wiped out.

Edited to fix typo.

Lol@ complete paranoia.

*continues waiting for one real life example of one of these worst case scenarios that people keep painting.*

My horror story is a charity which kept calling me after I cancelled my automatic payment.

Every year, like clockwork, they would call me and ask me if I wanted to start the payment again.

Eventually I asked them to stop, and guess what, they did!

AllonsYtotheTardis

Lol@ the idea that giving a gym auto debit authorization is on the same level as "unfettered access" to your bank account. It's permission to withdraw $40 a month plus any incidentals *that you sign for * at regular intervals, not giving them power of attorney. Seriously, it's not a big deal.

In Canada, the bank will not stop the automated payments for you. They send you back to the business and tell you to make THEM stop it from their end.

that can happen here as well. in fact, it happened to me with something years ago, possibly even a gym membership but i can't remember exacty, and i was incredulous. I remember screaming into the phone "You mean they have more control over my bank account than me?!?!" and the bank was like, "Yep."

aaaaaaaand, i called the whoever-it-was and asked them to terminate and they complied right away. and refunded the most recent debit. my main point is that it isn't a big, scary deal. if you give ME access to you bank, be worried. if you give it to LA Fitness, nobody is going to run wild with your monies. nobody but me, anyway.

now what was that routing number again?

I'm glad it worked out that well for you.

I had to resort to closing the account to get the problem to stop. Oh - and it was a gym. Where I DIDN"T HAVE A CONTRACT.

I had a friend who had to close their account because a cell phone company refused to stop taking payments out - even after the contract was complete and service terminated.

smantha32

Be smart. Link it to a credit card and not your bank account. It's much easier to solve a dispute (if it happens) with the backing of your credit card company.

This

FrauMama

Gyms have done this for years and years. It's normal, but there are good suggestions (like using a CC instead) if you're not comfortable with it.

bcdudley1

I would find a different gym personally. I don't trust giving that information to anyone. There have been to many retail breaches lately. Also, like others, I have had this done to me before when I tried to cancel. I cancelled according to their policy by sending a letter certified mail and delivering it in person. The billing continued for 4 months until I closed my bank account. After that, the Gym sued me and put it on my credit report that I failed to pay.

I have never in the 10 years since then allowed auto draft.