HSBC Debit Card Cancelled

Plxply

Hello,

I've recently had my HSBC Visa Debit Card stopped and I'm looking for advice regarding it. I was making some small close purchases on Deal Extreme (cheap Hong Kong based website) as such I expected to trigger their fraud systems, however I often use their services so I'm not sure if this would be factored in (it's not a new retailer to my bank I've made payments throughout the year to them).

Last night my card stopped working as I was attempting to make a purchase with them and kept being declined, I later tried a purchase on HMV however the same thing happened which lead me to suspect my card was blocked. Since my banks telephone banking was down at this time I was unable to call them about it however I decided to select the option to use Verified by Visa with DealExtreme to see if the transaction will go through. It seemed to however on their ordering system it went to "manual processing" but today according to their website the payment has gone through.

Today I received a call from HSBC stating that my card had been potentially compromised and they ran through my recent transactions. I said they were all approved, however they still stated that my card has somehow been compromised, I questioned how it could have been compromised (I'm fairly careful with my details) and they stated it was that the bank works with external bodies to prevent fraud such as the police.

My question is, was my card really compromised or did my recent small batch of purchasing cause a fraud alert on their system which then made them fully cancel my card rather than calling me to unblock it?

newDude

Plxply wrote: »

My question is, was my card really compromised or did my recent small batch of purchasing cause a fraud alert on their system which then made them fully cancel my card rather than calling me to unblock it?

They are just doing their job to protect YOU. This is better than you coming here complaining that they didn't stop your card after unauthorised purchases.

Plxply

newDude wrote: »

They are just doing their job to protect YOU. This is better than you coming here complaining that they didn't stop your card after unauthorised purchases.

The problem is they could have just put a temporary block on the card until I approved the transactions. Why do they have to go so far as to cancelling the card and sending a new one? Surely that just wastes not only my time but also theirs especially if it's not even compromised.

Plus it is rather important for me to know if my card was compromised and if possible how, or if this is a lie told by a random call centre worker.

stclair

I don't see what the problem is the bank beleive your card was compromised and cancelled it as a precaution.

Alls you need to do is ask for a replacement card which you'll receive in a few days.

If the your card was compromised and the bank didn't contact you then you'd still be moaning HSBC cant win either way.

Plxply

It's not too much of a problem I understand the logic behind it, but it's the fact they won't tell me is the problem

I purchase quite a lot online and if my card were compromised I would imagine it would be from one of those stores which I'm likely to reorder from again unless I know why it was originally cancelled. At the current time I'm not sure whether they cancelled it because of the suspicious transactions or because they found it in a batch of stolen card numbers being sold.

I suppose I'm just slightly paranoid with it.

smartiedriver_2

Plxply wrote: »

The problem is they could have just put a temporary block on the card until I approved the transactions. Why do they have to go so far as to cancelling the card and sending a new one? Surely that just wastes not only my time but also theirs especially if it's not even compromised.

Plus it is rather important for me to know if my card was compromised and if possible how, or if this is a lie told by a random call centre worker.

For suspected fraud they cancel the card immediately. There is no 'temporary block'. This is to protect you.

As for how it may have been compromised, banks will never share this information with you. You could then use that info to either bypass systems next time, or go and compromise someone else's card. Again, this protects you.

I know people on these forums have a low opinion of bank staff, but it really is low to accuse them of lying when all they are doing is protecting their clients. :mad:

Plxply

smartiedriver wrote: »

For suspected fraud they cancel the card immediately. There is no 'temporary block'. This is to protect you.

As for how it may have been compromised, banks will never share this information with you. You could then use that info to either bypass systems next time, or go and compromise someone else's card. Again, this protects you.

I know people on these forums have a low opinion of bank staff, but it really is low to accuse them of lying when all they are doing is protecting their clients. :mad:

All of what you say does make sense, although I would appreciate something vague even along the lines of "it was reported by a compromised merchant" or "it was found by the police through normal investigation" I doubt that will really help me in anyway to use someone elses card. I understand though if they have a "no information" policy, no matter how vague, I doubt they even can access this information.

I'm sorry if I personally offended any bank staff, it's just the way he implied was that it was through something other than suspicious purchases for example something the bank somehow discovered and my card details were floating around on the internet for example. Normally the people who I talk to are extremely nice and friendly, I have nothing against bank staff and I would once again like to apologise if I caused any offence.