Debit card fraud query

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Hi,
Someone found they have had £50 a month taken unauthorised for the last 12 months on a debit card.  They report it to citibank who gave them a new card but have not refunded any money.  
What are the rules about refunds  and who is the overseeing body FCA ? or Banking Ombudsman or what ? 
Thanks 

Brynsam

You'd need to prove it was unauthorised - and the fact you allowed it to persist for a year is going to make that difficult.

eskbanker

Brynsam said:

You'd need to prove it was unauthorised

Not strictly true, the onus is on the bank to prove that it was authorised, rather than on the customer having to prove that it wasn't.

However, a regular £50 per month would suggest a forgotten or inadvertent recurring payment authority rather than a series of genuinely unauthorised low-value transactions that just happen to be the same amount every month - what's the description against these transactions?

funkycredit

Brynsam said:

You'd need to prove it was unauthorised - and the fact you allowed it to persist for a year is going to make that difficult.

Not necessarily true. I have a lot of monthly transactions (over 100+) and 30 odd direct debits and have a large income; so transfer money a lot between accounts and pay my various credit cards off the day it appears online etc so a typical statement when it was paper would be at least 5 sheets. I don't have time to study that and really I'm not expected to either! 

I'd never notice a sly £50 being taken. Only if I studied a statement or something and spotted it would I notice. My point is, I once cancelled a mobile contract and they still took the money for 2 years. Yes 27 payments!! See above as to why I wouldn't notice - plus I pay for 4 other contracts so it wouldn't stand out either - however as soon as I spoke to my select manager at Santander I was refunded the whole lot. Granted it helped that I had the cancellation confirmation email stored but still, she seen that and instructed a DD indemnity to get all monies back. Voda obviously didn't challenge it, however it's easy to miss a payment and easier to get it refunded if you didn't authorise it to be taken. 

sausage_time

funkycredit said:

....I'd never notice a sly £50 being taken.

Wow.  If I send you my bank details can you set up a monthly standing order for £50?

OP, what is the transaction details for the £50?  Someone here will identify it (using Google likely) and it may ring a bell.

eddddy

funkycredit said:

Granted it helped that I had the cancellation confirmation email stored but still, she seen that and instructed a DD indemnity to get all monies back. Voda obviously didn't challenge it, however it's easy to miss a payment and easier to get it refunded if you didn't authorise it to be taken. 

It sounds like you're talking about a Direct Debit - the OP is talking about a Debit Card - it's completely different.

The Direct Debit Guarantee effectively means that anyone can phone their bank, tell them that the organisation taking the direct debit made an error, and the direct debits must be reversed immediately - the bank has no choice.

It's very different for debit card payments. If it were the same, I could go on a shopping spree with my debit card - buying flat screen tvs, laptops, phones etc - then phone the bank and tell them that the transactions were all errors, and instantly get all the money back. 

jet01

Is this a uk account? You mention in the original post this is a Citibank account. As far as I am aware Citi only offer wealth management accounts in the U.K. now. If you are a high net worth individual with enough wealth or income to have access to a high end private bank account then I would suggest you speak to your designated private banker to look into this for you. If on the other hand, this is a standard US Citibank checking account then you are posting in the wrong place as any advice you get on here is not necessarily going to be much use to you if you are talking about a non uk account.

xxxxxxxx

As I say, this is someone else not me. 
I will try to find out what it says on the statement.  Nicosia in Cyprus was mentioned
It is citibank debit card, it is possible it is citibank US account so I will have to find that out. I agree if it is not a UK account then this is the wrong place.  
Thanks jet01 for pointing that out.

Brynsam

eskbanker said:

Brynsam said:

You'd need to prove it was unauthorised

Not strictly true, the onus is on the bank to prove that it was authorised, rather than on the customer having to prove that it wasn't.

However, a regular £50 per month would suggest a forgotten or inadvertent recurring payment authority rather than a series of genuinely unauthorised low-value transactions that just happen to be the same amount every month - what's the description against these transactions?

 But the bank can still refuse to refund and may well 'win' if, for example, the card holder has failed to take proper care of their card, acted negligently by failing to note and report the transactions (funky credit's overly-complacent post above relates), the unauthorised payment was 13 months+ ago (in which case no compensation would be payable). In this case it sounds like a subscription or similar which hasn't been cancelled - hence the onus being on the account holder to prove it was unauthorised.

funkycredit

We aren't all that bothered about such small amounts so overly complacent or not, when I did notice it it was quickly dealt with. Had Santander said no then I'd have got it from Vodafone. 

Regardless, if you aren't due to be charged then you're in the right no matter how long it's been occurring. A month or a year (or more)! 

No two situations are the same. You may check your statements, I don't. Suits me just fine. No problem at all.

MalMonroe

Citibank certainly has branches in the UK. London (Canary Wharf) and Dublin. There needs to be far more information such as who the money went to, who originally authorised it and why has it been paid for so long?? Obviously the first place to contact is the bank issuing the debit card, wherever it is. Questions need to be asked! I'd lodge a complaint with the bank and then with the payee. This is all very vague, and so it's nigh on impossible to give a sensible answer!