Fraudulent Halifax

witches_cauldron

I noticed today that my Available Balance on my Halifax Current Account is wrong. I should have £500 available and instead there is £0. The Customer Services rep I spoke to told me that "I" have made debit card transactions TODAY of £300 and then another four transactions for exactly £50. The only thing is, I have not!!! I'd certainly know if I'd made purchases for those amounts! She said the transactions are still showing as pending at present and that there should be more info available tomorrow.

I asked her when I will get this money back should it turn out to be fraud and she said, "it could take a number of weeks I'm afraid before you get that money back."

I told her I'm concerned that someone is misusing my card info and might rack up yet more charges and that I want my card stopped. She told me to calm down and wait until tomorrow.

!!!!!!?

ldn-100

It is true that some banks get the amount details through a day before the description. However, the person you spoke to should have been able to see a category of the transaction e.g. hotel, telecoms or travel. At least that has been my experience with debit/credit card fraud.

My experience has been that it does take some time to get the money back and I'm afraid to say this is the reason I never use debit cards, unless there is no alternative, and keep them locked in a tin.

geewhiz

ldn-100 wrote: »

I never use debit cards, unless there is no alternative, and keep them locked in a tin.

That's surely a bit ott, everyone uses debit cards !

SHunt64

I'm not surprised. HBOS staff ( on the whole ) seem to be quite inept - poorly trained? Try again, and speak to someone else, you might get a different response. HBOS = complete lottery with decent informed advice.

dunstonh

What has your title got to do with your post? Halifax have not be fraudulent.

Your account is showing some earmarks on them which indicate and electronic transaction that has yet to arrive on the account (they dont always arrive as retailers are prone to putting through multiple earmarks sometimes).

She told me to calm down and wait until tomorrow.

Earmarks on accounts have been common place for the last 20 or so years. It can take the branch a day or two to find out what they are and if they are actually going to arrive or not. So their advice is good.

ldn-100

geewhiz wrote: »

That's surely a bit ott, everyone uses debit cards !

Not when you have been the victim of fraud more times than you can count and experienced the total lack of care banks offer. I've had my account balance totally wiped, all my direct debits bounce and had no money available to draw on for a month or more at a time. The bank in question (NatWest) could not care less. Compare this to credit cards where suspect items are put into limbo immediately. I stopped routinely using debit cards in 2004 and since then I've not had any fraud on them, so my 'tin system' must be working. Before that I was experiencing account-crippling fraud at least once a year.