Debenhams Card / Santander

cadenza82

Thought I'd check this out - seems OK, but curious...

Mum and Dad have a Debenhams store card (managed by Santander). They don't use it very often, and used it about three weeks ago (in Debenhams) for the first time in about two years. This transaction seemed fine.

Today, Dad needed a form of ID in the Halifax and they said they could use the Debenhams card for this. Unfortunately, it was rejected twice.

When he got back, there was a call from Santander security because their system had picked up on this. They said that it could have been rejected either because something went wrong the first time and they tried a second time (both seemed to be for a transaction of £1.01) or because the card hadn't been used for a long time and then used twice within a short period. I assume that the £1.01 is some sort of verification fee?

Does this seem plausible? Santander didn't seem to have picked up any other suspicious activity, and their call this morning coincided almost exactly with the card being rejected in the Halifax (which seems pretty efficient).

I know I shouldn't worry about these things...! I think I've got extra-cautious on their behalf!

David

victoria797

Is it a Debenhams store card or a credit card?.I dont see a reason why Halifax would try to charge the refundable verification fee of £1.01 unless your dad is a new customer trying to open a new account?

Yes,it is normal for banks to block transactions within a short peroid of time.HSBC blocked two transactions of £0.01 and I had to call to let them know it was me trying to do the transaction.It was online though.

cadenza82

Yes, I suppose it is effectively a credit card - I'm not sure where the £1.01 comes into it except this is what Santander said one (or both?) of the (rejected) transactions were for.

He isn't a new customer, it was to make a telegraphic transfer in the branch.

Seems like Santander just being extra cautious (which is fair enough).

victoria797

Halifax usually wont accept credit cards as ID for Telegraphic transfers,even if they did they wont place a charge on the card!

cadenza82

victoria797 wrote: »

Halifax usually wont accept credit cards as ID for Telegraphic transfers,even if they did they wont place a charge on the card!

That may well have been the problem because it sounds like the girl doing it got confused and had to call the supervisor in the end - probably trying to do something on a system which won't accept it anyway!

victoria797

I would suggest calling santander again and confirm that those two transactions were actually from halifax.