MerrickBank review: The mishandling of a fraudulent charge

I received a text on Dec. 3, from MerrickBank about a charge of over $200 posting to my account. Days earlier I'd received a phone call supposedly from the fraud dept. at MerrickBank, and I thought it was a phishing scam because they first wanted me to give them my full DOB, SS No., and account number, something I've never had to do. I'd already given them my name, address, last four digits of my SS# and last four digits of the account no. I told them I was going to report them and hung up on them. I then called MerrickBank's fraud department and was bounced around for over an hour and a half, having to constantly repeat my information.

A charge of $1,000 was pending, unbeknownst to me, for photography services out of ND. MerrickBank said the charge was pending and they'd immediately cancel my card and issue me a new one. They said there would be an investigation and I wouldn't be charged interest or late fees on the charge while the investigation was pending. It was PENDING, not POSTED. I also asked how they approved the $1,000 when I only had like $668 in available credit. They couldn't answer me that. Today, Monday, December 12, I am fuming as I'm learning of other frriends who have gone through this and were granted an immediate refund while the investigation was ongoing. I'm told it could take two months.

Today I look at my credit information on CreditKarma, and I see that I was dinged for making a $1,000 purchase on a line that was close to the maximum while at the same time MerrickBank increased my credit line by exactly $1,000 to cover their faux pau.