Cancelled transactions - harassed by fraud-prevention

usernameusername

I am sick of the frequency with which banks (for me, specifically Nat West and Halifax) decline payments on the grounds of supposed fraud prevention.

I have never had my card or details used by anybody else, I have never been involved in any fraudulent activities myself and have quite consistent spending habits. So why harass me like this?

I asked the fraud prevention team at Nat West if there was any form of "black mark" on my account and they said no (I said I didn't believe them), yet when I asked for a list of recently declined payments, they gave me:
-One in late August
-One in mid September
-One in mid October
-One in early November
-One in mid November
-One today

...and of course a number of these were actually declined multiple times.

Most of these purchases were about £10!

I was recently abroad (long since this issue started, so it can't be considered a cause of it) and even after saying quite explicitly "Do not reject any payments, I take full responsibility for any theft etc", the two banks I hold cards with invalidated the cards as soon as I got there, leaving me stranded on the other side of the world. It was only the kindness of strangers which got me out of what was becoming a life-threatening situation, caused entirely by the fraud-prevention teams at Nat West, Halifax and Travellex (card designed for travelling, my ar5e).

If you've experienced the same, please say it here. I'm sure this will be read by the big banks fraud prevention teams, so I want to get as many p1ssed off names as possible. This is nothing short of harassment and it has to stop.

dalesrider

usernameusername wrote: »

I have never had my card or details used by anybody else, I have never been involved in any fraudulent activities myself and have quite consistent spending habits. So why harass me like this?

And neither have all the people that have fraud on their cards.

As a guide fraud systems work on known fraud patterns. So if you are getting a lot of checks. Clearly you are hitting these trends. Which can change from day to day and will vary across debit and credit cards.

usernameusername wrote: »

I asked the fraud prevention team at Nat West if there was any form of "black mark" on my account and they said no (I said I didn't believe them), yet when I asked for a list of recently declined payments, they gave me:
-One in late August
-One in mid September
-One in mid October
-One in early November
-One in mid November
-One today

...and of course a number of these were actually declined multiple times.

Most of these purchases were about £10!

Let me guess you make a lot of mobile phone top ups....

The only marker you might get on your card is if it was used in a known point of compromise and if that was the case your card would be stopped as soon as you had the 1st alert.

usernameusername wrote: »

I was recently abroad (long since this issue started, so it can't be considered a cause of it) and even after saying quite explicitly "Do not reject any payments, I take full responsibility for any theft etc", the two banks I hold cards with invalidated the cards as soon as I got there, leaving me stranded on the other side of the world. It was only the kindness of strangers which got me out of what was becoming a life-threatening situation, caused entirely by the fraud-prevention teams at Nat West, Halifax and Travellex (card designed for travelling, my ar5e).

So why did you not simply ring them.... Fraud provention teams work 24/7. So are only a call away. No matter where in the world you are.

usernameusername wrote: »

If you've experienced the same, please say it here. I'm sure this will be read by the big banks fraud prevention teams, so I want to get as many p1ssed off names as possible. This is nothing short of harassment and it has to stop.

It is a mandatory requirement that FSA enforce that ALL banks and card providers have to have fraud provention systems in place to protect customers and the banks.

jonesMUFCforever

Why not tell us which transactions were refused?

Janie4Now

Were the refused transactions at the same outlet? Could the outlet itself be under investigation and this is why your transactions - which may fit the pattern of the fraud under investigation - have been refused?

I, too, have been stranded abroad when a credit card was blocked after I had told them I was travelling. However, one quick phone call resolved the problem (and on that occasion, the hotel actually allowed me to make the call from their office so it didn't cost me anything!). Frankly, I'd rather have this happen every time I travelled - and have to make that one phone call - than risk fraudulent activity on my account!

jellie

I've had my card declined twice recently, and I've understood each time why they did it.

First was just before Christmas - small purchase through Amazon who I have used before. However, as it was Christmas and the total was small, I accepted cc provider was being cautious.

Second time was a couple of weeks ago with a largish purchase over the internet. Not totally surpised it was blocked.

Both times made a quick call to the cc provider, they apologised, unblocked the card and the purchases were made.

I'm about to make another large purchase on a different card. I'll go armed with the necessary phone number just in case.

It's better to be safe than sorry - maybe you need to have a think about why these purchases were blocked, ie who and what they were for. It might help you understand why they did it?

Adyc

I can understand your frustration but, I have a credit card which I use weekly for petrol. The card involved didn't think it was suspicious that I changed my password and address, and then transferred funds to a bank account (which I have never done), this to the full credit limit on my card. I'd live with the inconvenience, I'm presently going through the dispute process to get a refund but I do wonder how fraud monitoring works if they can't spot this. The passwords are all in my head, I use up to date virus software, firewalls etc, believe me it can happen to anyone.

dalesrider

Adyc wrote: »

but I do wonder how fraud monitoring works if they can't spot this.

What the OP is talking about is totally diffrent to what happened to you.
THe Op is talking about card based transactions.

Not as in your case which is account takeover.

Be honest now. Responded to any phishing emails or such. As if passwords etc have not been stored, then the other option is it is someone you know.
Unlss your passwords are all the same and you were part of say the twitter hacking.

stclair

dalesrider wrote: »

And neither have all the people that have fraud on their cards.

As a guide fraud systems work on known fraud patterns. So if you are getting a lot of checks. Clearly you are hitting these trends. Which can change from day to day and will vary across debit and credit cards.



Let me guess you make a lot of mobile phone top ups....

The only marker you might get on your card is if it was used in a known point of compromise and if that was the case your card would be stopped as soon as you had the 1st alert.




So why did you not simply ring them.... Fraud provention teams work 24/7. So are only a call away. No matter where in the world you are.



It is a mandatory requirement that FSA enforce that ALL banks and card providers have to have fraud provention systems in place to protect customers and the banks.

The Natwest Fraud department is not open 24/7 for customer contact.

chattychappy

I'm not unsympathetic - I travel alot and frequently face declined transactions. The systems are rather primitive in my view, which isn't surprising when you consider the number of institutions, networks, merchants and jurisdictions involved.

I have found that in certain kinds of situation, one CC is more likely to be declined than others. Some are more prone to reblocking (having just been unblocked).

A few years ago I used a Barclaycard for spending. I was regularly getting declines in the UK (didn't use it much abroad). A friend of mine who also had a Barclaycard never had a problem - even at the same places. I didn't have problems on other cards. So.. I stopped using Barclaycard.

The only thing I can suggest is you switch cards.

usernameusername wrote: »

"Do not reject any payments, I take full responsibility for any theft etc",

Unfortunately they simply could never take such an instruction from you. CC agreements are governed by regulation. They couldn't enforce such a promise against you. Besides, it's not practical for CCs to have "one off" arrangements with individuals.

Adyc

Dalesrider, my point is that I would have been grateful for a call, it would have saved the hassle I am going through now. Phishing, I'm pretty careful, and as I say passwords are random in my head. This has been going on for a while:

Steve10086 20-07-2010, 12:42 PM
MoneySaving Newbie

Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 6
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Tried to log on to Barclaycard's site last night and found that it wouldn't accept my password. Phoned them to discover that my password had been changed, my home address had been changed, and there were £1800 of pending transactions.

Found Barclaycard's whole handling of the situation to be a farce, and had to continually argue with them to get them to even bother to consider the possiblity of fraud.

I asked exactly how my password/address could have been changed by someone else and was advised that it was probably someone hacking their website.

So there you go, Barclaycard's own website isn't secure apparently! How reassuring!!

meer53

If someone has accessed your account online successfully, using your login details, why would you expect this to trigger a security check ? As far as your bank is concerned, it's you. People change phone numbers and move house and change passwords.

Nothing is ever 100% secure.