Nationwide Select Credit Card

GaryE

I tried to make a purchase on the Royal Mail website, yesterday morning, but my card was declined twice.

I contacted the Nationwide Credit Card helpline & answered the security questions, but I was told I failed their security check & a block would be placed on my card account. I was told that I would have to take 2 forms of ID into my local branch, one of which would need to be photographic; to have the block removed or alternatively they would telephone me back on my registered number. I requested the call back, as it seemed to be the easiest option.

I eventually contacted their helpline again; after waiting 3 hours without the promised call. After giving my details, I was placed on hold; then informed that they could not access my account due to the block & I would have to take my ID into the branch. When I queried this & the promised call back, I was told that if I called telephone/internet banking, I could go through their verification process & have my account unblocked. Due to not receiving a call back & the conflicting information, I requested to make a formal complaint.

This morning I called their telephone banking helpline & passed through the security checks, without any problems. They then transferred me to the Credit Card department & although I was told I would not have to go through security checks again, I did have to; but passed without any problems for a 2nd time.

I was then placed on hold for a few minutes, but was then informed that despite passing 2 security checks, the Security/fraud team would not be able verify me; to unblock the card account. I would still need to take my ID into the branch. As you can guess, I was far from happy & I still did not know why my card had been declined or why I failed their initial security check.

When I requested that my complaint be updated with result of this telephone call; I was placed on hold again. I was then informed that I could login via internet banking & send a secure message to request that the block be removed from my account, but this could take 3-5 working days.

I sent a long message via their website & several DM’s via their twitter page. I eventually received a telephone call at work, on the office telephone; despite requesting that they only contact me via my mobile

I was informed by a supervisor from the Credit Card team, that my initial telephone call had been answered by someone who had just started working for them on Monday, after only recently going through training. They had listened to the recording of the call & the person had incorrectly entered my DOB on the system; causing the failed security check & the block on my card account.

The supervisor would not tell me why the Royal Mail transaction was declined, but said that their fraud systems occasionally flag up genuine transactions in error; but due to security guidelines they were unable to give information on why this has occurred.

I was told that the block on my account would be removed & offered a payment of £50 in compensation. As I was still unhappy with what I had to go through, over the past 2 days; I requested that my complaint be escalated. I was then told that I would receive a final response within the next 56 days.

I fully understand the Nationwide’s need to monitor accounts for fraudulent activity; but I would like to know the reason why this genuine transaction was flagged as fraudulent, only to prevent this happening again.

Nebulous2

[QUOTE=GaryE;69747793

I fully understand the Nationwide’s need to monitor accounts for fraudulent activity; but I would like to know the reason why this genuine transaction was flagged as fraudulent, only to prevent this happening again.[/QUOTE]

That sounds like an unfortunate experience, really annoying for you, though I would probably have taken the £50.

They wont tell you why the transaction was flagged though, they never do. If people knew the triggers then they could work out ways to avoid them.

I very rarely get anything flagged, but when I have it has been fairly obvious. The only two times I can think of included a very low value transaction and putting in fuel twice within four hours.

bearcat16

Nebulous2 wrote: »

They wont tell you why the transaction was flagged though, they never do. If people knew the triggers then they could work out ways to avoid them.

I very rarely get anything flagged, but when I have it has been fairly obvious. The only two times I can think of included a very low value transaction and putting in fuel twice within four hours.

Yes they'll never tell you.

I was once told by a friend who worked high up in a mobile phone network company that they regularly 'disconnect' about 10% of all customers within a given area.

They did this as a fraud/ theft prevention tactic. The idea being that genuine customers call them immediately to report the fault, and of course are reconnected, but thieves and fraudsters don't.

So the result is that at a stroke they can eliminate a good proportion of crooks while only causing minor inconvenience to genuine customers.

He said it was a very useful exercise and actually the ONLY way to thwart certain fraudsters.

It got me thinking, I wonder how many other organisations (like banks) do something similar.