NatWest - card cancelled without warning

geofferino

I've just found out that my Debit Card was cancelled by NatWest due to a security concern passed on to the bank by the Police. The woman I spoke to was pretty hard to understand but from what I could gather my details had somehow been found to be compromised by the police and they informed the bank. The whole thing is pretty bizarre though.

I was trying to book some nights in a Travelodge last night but it wasn't going through, saying my card was declined, but I put this down to the fact I'd read their website had been hacked. I had to go out so I rang my girlfriend who sorted it out instead, and when she bought it on her Mum's credit card the price had gone up and she had to pay the credit card surcharge too. When I found this out I was pretty !!!!ed off but figured it was down to Travelodge and I could send them an Email about it this week.

Whilst I was out last night (after my card had been declined by the site), I took money out from a cash machine and had no problems with it. I didn't need to use it until today when I came to book my trains for the trip (I had meant to do this yesterday, but all the messing about with the Travelodge site prevented me from doing so) and when I looked, they too had gone up in price which was even more infuriating. I got to the point of ordering the tickets and again my card was declined. I tried several times to no avail, and once again had to use afore mentioned credit card which incurred another £3.50 charge!

I then found a number I could ring NatWest on to find out what was going on (seeing as it was after 7 on a Saturday, this was no mean feat). I finally got transferred to somebody who told me with no apologies that my card was cancelled and I could expect a new one next week. I asked why on Earth it had been cancelled and why I hadn't been informed of this and was given some story as outlined above that I didn't really understand. I made the point that they should have called and she replied they didn't have a number for me. I said this was impossible, they must have one from when I opened the account or my online banking, and my number hasn't changed for over 3 years. She said they didn't have a number and there was nothing they could have done, as if it were my fault. She told me my card was being sent out and that was that.

I've just looked online now at my banking website and there, as plain as day, is my phone number on my contact details page. I also got a statement from them a few days ago to my Email address. So that's two lines of contact they could have used.

I'm grateful that nothing seems to have shown up on my bill as fraudulent activity and that NatWest took action to stop that happening but they're clearly lying about my contact details being unavailable and should have rang me immediately to warn me this was the case. I've now ended up paying roughly another £50 than I would have yesterday for this trip and can't help but feel pretty miffed that I wasn't warned about it. I'm planning to go into my branch on Monday and try and find out exactly what it is that went on that lead to my card being cancelled but I'd like to know if I have any legal backup when I ask about the chances of being recompensed for the cheaper purchases I missed out on yesterday?

chanz4

they wont give any charges back for the credit card etc, they took action which if they didnt and you found out transactions went through and fraud bene reported you would of held them liable.

stclair

If there has been an act of fraud on your account the bank have no duty to inform you regardless if theres an available nunber or not. They will cancel your card and maybe put a stop on your account and wait for you to contact them.

If your unhappy for what ever reason follow the banks complaint procedure:

https://www.natwest.com/secure/global/contact_us/complaints_procedure.htm

geofferino

stclair wrote: »

If there has been an act of fraud on your account the bank have no duty to inform you regardless if theres an available nunber or not. They will cancel your card and maybe put a stop on your account and wait for you to contact them.

If your unhappy for what ever reason follow the banks complaint procedure:

https://www.natwest.com/secure/global/contact_us/complaints_procedure.htm

Wow! That is one insane policy. Thanks for your help though, I think I'll be dropping them a line. Can't wait to get rid of my overdraft and change banks now.

Saints2011

May offer a redress for inconvenience if your nice …

pmduk

geofferino wrote: »

Wow! That is one insane policy. Thanks for your help though, I think I'll be dropping them a line. Can't wait to get rid of my overdraft and change banks now.

Unfortunately don't expect other banks to behave much differently.

Degenerate

This is why everyone should have at least one backup card.

geofferino

pmduk wrote: »

Unfortunately don't expect other banks to behave much differently.

Might just resort to stuffing it in my mattress then

I do find it totally mad that banks aren't making the effort to make their customers aware of this happening. It's a no-brainer to me. Give them a call, let them know what's happened, send out a new card, let the customer sing your praises for protecting you from the bad men and reap all the benefits. I guess it would be too much to expect logic from a bank though wouldn't it.

[Deleted User]

tired of natwest also now
cant even change statement frequency anymore