Fraud on my account - now bank / papal won't pay charge

patagonia09

My account with nationwide recently went overdrawn because of a fraudulent Paypal transaction. I informed the bank and paypal straight away. Ten days later I got the money back from paypal. But now I've been charged £15 by nationwide for going overdrawn! I told them (again) that it was a fraudulent transaction but they wouldn't waive the fee. I contacted Paypal and they said
"I understand that you have been charged a fee by your bank
due to the recent unauthorised transaction with your
account.

PayPal does not issue these fees and as such we are
unable to reimburse you. "

So, now what?! I'm being charged £15 because somebody tried to rob me! It seems to me that Paypal is responsible for the fee and should pay it (although it's pretty unreasonable of the bank to charge it anyway). How can I get the money back?

techspec

The bank should be the one refunding the fees - they have profited from fraud.

roonaldo

Paypal are not responsible for this, the bank charges you incur are nothing to do with them. I'm suprised Nationwide wont do this as a gesture of goodwill. I would write a polite complaint letter to Nationwide explaining that its not your error.

dunstonh

Waiving of fees on a fraudulent transaction is virtually the norm. So, nationwide refusing is most unusual.

You often have to raise it with the bank/b/soc as the charge will not be spotted automatically.

magpiecottage

Given that Paypal has reimbursed the actual withdrawal because it recognises it was unauthorised, I think Nationwide will have difficulty maintaining the charge under FSA rule BCOBS 5.1.11R(2) which says:

"Where a payment from a banking customer's account was not authorised by the banking customer, a firm must, within a reasonable period, refund the amount of the unauthorised payment to the banking customer and, where applicable, restore the banking customer's account to the state it would have been in had the unauthorised payment not taken place."

Whilst Paypal has refunded the unauthorised payment, Nationwide must still comply with the remainder of the requirement. It is not a matter of goodwill, the FSA rules have the force of law so it is a legal requirement, not only have the charge refunded but any interest charged as well.

However, as DunstonH has noted, Nationwide will not be aware of the problem at present and will almost certainly refund it if you make them aware of the problem - particularly if you provide evidence that Paypal accepted it was a fraudulent transaction.