Unauthorised debit from Co-op account

vintagebrighton

Hi all, just looking for a bit of advice really on what I can expect. I have a basic bank account with the co-op as I'm a bankrupt. I have no credit facilities and only this one account. On Friday I went to draw money out and found I couldn't. I knew I should have money available so called the bank. It appears there are 2 amounts due to be paid out so these are 'earmarked' and I can't touch them. One for £1 and one for £128. Now I know I wouldn't have authorised either of those payments so I've reported them as fraudulent transactions. The bank can't tell me who the merchant is until the money is claimed but have alerted the fraud team. I've also authorised them to cancel my card and am waiting for a new one which of course will take a while at the moment. My real worry is that I won't get the money back. It's a debit card and as I'm a bankrupt I live on cash only and from week to week. What's likely to happen? Will the fraud team investigate properly given its a small amount of money in the great scheme of things but not to me of course? Has anyone any experience of this with the Co-op?

jonesMUFCforever

I would suggest £1 transaction would be pre authorisation for something like pay at thepump petrol sale?
Until the other transaction(s) goes through they will be unable to help further.

izools

They will be able to look into it further when the £128 is claimed. I am of the same suspicion that the £1 won't be claimed and will drop off your pending authorisations soon.

They will be able to follow the VISA Chargeback rules in terms of claiming the £128 back and if it is found that the transaction was fraudulent - i.e. the name / address / other details recorded against the transaction clearly aren't yours or it is found the transaction was a POS (Point of Sale) made somewhere you can prove you weren't at the time - i.e. the other side of the world - they will be able to claim it back and refund you.

Good luck!

ihateyes

vintagebrighton wrote: »

The bank can't tell me who the merchant is until the money is claimed but have alerted the fraud team.

Banks are liars.
They can tell exactly who has requested the money. You need to speak to the right team....
If the bank suspect a dodgy transaction. They would call and ask if you have used your card, they would then ask have you authorised xxxxxxx to debit your card.
Ive had RBS call me and ask me to confirm transactions, likewise i have called them, and asked who the POS transaction is, and they can also tell me!!

stclair

ihateyes wrote: »

Banks are liars.
They can tell exactly who has requested the money. You need to speak to the right team....
If the bank suspect a dodgy transaction. They would call and ask if you have used your card, they would then ask have you authorised xxxxxxx to debit your card.
Ive had RBS call me and ask me to confirm transactions, likewise i have called them, and asked who the POS transaction is, and they can also tell me!!

That is very correct in the sense of rbs however the co op have a lot of work to do on there systems it takes days just for an account balance to update online

vintagebrighton

Thanks for your help guys. I'm just really worried that I won't get the money back. I think they said it was an internet transaction at 3.45 in the morning so I'm sure they can trace it. What I don't understand is how whoever it was managed it without my verified by visa code - but hey, I guess that's how fraud happens!

Gromitt

Shops have to opt-in to "Verified by Visa", so there are plenty of shops that don't ask for your code.

meer53

ihateyes wrote: »

Banks are liars.
They can tell exactly who has requested the money. You need to speak to the right team....
If the bank suspect a dodgy transaction. They would call and ask if you have used your card, they would then ask have you authorised xxxxxxx to debit your card.
Ive had RBS call me and ask me to confirm transactions, likewise i have called them, and asked who the POS transaction is, and they can also tell me!!

Not all authorisations come through with the retailer details on. Some do, some don't, depends whether the retailer debits directly or whether they use a third party for their transactions. So... the OP's bank may not be lying, you might find this hard to believe, but it's true.

Lou_Lou_Donut

I received a nice christmas present yesterday morning when checking my online co-op balances... It seems someone has been helping themselves to my money while I have been out of the country... to the tune of some £600! Usual pattern, some small transactions to start with then two bigger ones, the last of which was tried last night after I had cancelled the card! This on an account that had a NIL balance and NO authorised overdraft, so I'm not best pleased in that respect. Fortunately this is not my main bank account. Interestingly, the card has only ever been used once (and then in person at point of sale) and has NEVER been out of my possession since it was received... Guess that narrows it down to the specific estate agent where it has been compromised...
Co-op have have been fairly helpful to date - despite cutting me off half way through the call - and have been able to identify where most of the transactions took place (all locally around Chatham!) and also said they will refund all the fraudulent transactions immediately (no sign of that yet though!). Although most transactions appear to have happened as Point of Sale transactions, I have the card in front of me and can prove I have not been in the country since this activity occurred, so look forward to a favorable outcome.

vintagebrighton

Just a quick update........ Co-op sorted everything and my money's back with me :T Just got to wait for my replacement card now. Thanks everyone x

izools

vintagebrighton wrote: »

Just a quick update........ Co-op sorted everything and my money's back with me :T Just got to wait for my replacement card now. Thanks everyone x

Congratulations! :beer: