‘Financially devastated’: Women say credit card companies should better protect users

Gina Doornbosch and Rena Swift are calling on banks to better protect customers when it comes to supplemental credit cards. (CTV)

Two women who were allegedly conned by a man they loved are blaming their credit card companies for not doing enough to protect them.

Robert Kramar is accused of talking several women into taking out supplemental credit cards on their accounts, so he could live the high life.

Gina Doornbosch was one of those women.

“We got a bank account in my name, a Visa card in my name, and he got a secondary card at that point," she said.

Kramar had expensive tastes, charging hotels, limousine services and concert tickets to that secondary TD credit card attached to Doornbosch's account.

“He financially devastated me. At the end of it, I was $130,000 in debt," claimed Doornbosch.

And she wasn't alone. Rena Swift was also in a relationship with Robert Kramar. She had an American Express Platinum card with him and a TD Bank account and Visa.

It wasn’t long before she says Kramar managed to rack up more than $30,000 on the American Express attached to her card and thousands more on at the supplemental TD Visa card.

As primary cardholder on both accounts, Swift was on the hook for paying back the money.

“I couldn't believe stuff like this could happen, and I didn't know people like this existed. I didn't know there would be institutional failure to that level," she said.

In fact, Kramar had supplementary TD credit cards with three women at the same time, and years ago, financial trouble with American Express.

Should lenders have sounded the alarm?

“If they know that there is a problem with that secondary person, don't give them the card, you literally are setting up the primary cardholder," argued Doornbosch.

TD Canada Trust told CTV News in an email, "We completely sympathize...however in situations where someone has added an authorized user to their credit card, it is completely their responsibility to know who they've added and to monitor how they're using it."

“One of my questions for the bank was, if he applied for his own card, would you give it to him?" asked Doornbosch.

“[The banks] need to take some responsibility as well. They don't care about the consumer. The way I've been treated, they just try to brush it under the carpet, ignore you, and hope you'll go away," said Swift.

Both TD and American Express told CTV News that when a customer adds an authorized user to their account, that person's credit history is notchecked, and the primary user is warned that they are responsible for all charges made to the account.

Robert Kramar will be in a Manitoba court in July to face charges related to a bankruptcy and police in B.C. and Ontario are investigating allegations of fraud, but no charges have been laid.

However, Kramar has been recently convicted of sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor, also in Manitoba. His sentencing is set for July 15th.