Nationwide blocked my credit card while abroad

monkeychompy

In the middle of my holiday Nationwide blocked my card. I kept trying to use it thinking it was just some transaction/contactless error like you sometimes get. When I got home they'd sent a letter telling me it was blocked.

I complained because 1. they shouldn't have blocked it, there was no fraudulent activity and 2. they should have let me know via a message in their app or an email that it was blocked so I didn't keep wasting time trying to use it. I complained to them but they rejected my complaint saying they'd tried to phone me. I was using an e-sim abroad so phone calls wouldn't have reached me. 

Just wondered: is it worth me taking my complaint to the ombudsman or is it not worth it?

Sarahspangles

monkeychompy said:

In the middle of my holiday Nationwide blocked my card. I kept trying to use it thinking it was just some transaction/contactless error like you sometimes get. When I got home they'd sent a letter telling me it was blocked.

I complained because 1. they shouldn't have blocked it, there was no fraudulent activity and 2. they should have let me know via a message in their app or an email that it was blocked so I didn't keep wasting time trying to use it. I complained to them but they rejected my complaint saying they'd tried to phone me. I was using an e-sim abroad so phone calls wouldn't have reached me. 

Just wondered: is it worth me taking my complaint to the ombudsman or is it not worth it?

You’re wasting your time. It’s reasonable for them to block a user’s card if there may be fraudulent activity. They almost immediately contact users when they do, in case it’s not fraudulent. Contacting you by your phone was also a reasonable thing for them to do. When you didn’t reply, they also wrote to you. On a phone call, they can ask you to call the bank and you will then go through additional security checks. When they write to you the letter goes to a physical address. If email was as secure, they would save themselves the cost of a stamp.

Caz3121

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/travel/help-when-travelling/

If your card stops working

If you find that your card has stopped working, it may be because our 24/7 fraud monitoring systems have spotted something that looks suspicious on your account.

When this happens, we block your Visa debit or credit card used to prevent any fraud against you.

We'll call or text your mobile number to check if you made the transaction. If it was you, we'll get the card working again straight away.

If you don't hear from us, call us as soon as possible. Answer some security questions, and we'll do our best to get your card working again.

monkeychompy

Thanks for the reply. 
Do you know if there is anything I can do to try to prevent this next time? I don't want to allow my phone to accept calls as they are quite expensive to receive whilst abroad in a lot of countries. The only thing I can think of is to take multiple credit cards.

DullGreyGuy

monkeychompy said:

In the middle of my holiday Nationwide blocked my card. I kept trying to use it thinking it was just some transaction/contactless error like you sometimes get. When I got home they'd sent a letter telling me it was blocked.

I complained because 1. they shouldn't have blocked it, there was no fraudulent activity and 2. they should have let me know via a message in their app or an email that it was blocked so I didn't keep wasting time trying to use it. I complained to them but they rejected my complaint saying they'd tried to phone me. I was using an e-sim abroad so phone calls wouldn't have reached me. 

Just wondered: is it worth me taking my complaint to the ombudsman or is it not worth it?

If you take it to the ombudsman or not has little to do with it its reasonable or not... the majority of complaints aren't upheld by the Ombudsman but you have the right to go there if you wish. 


I raised an unrelated complaint that Tesco's Bank were sending things by post when they had other more instant mechanisms for communication but the ombudsman accepts that for material comms letters are appropriate even if they add delay. 

Dont get your comment on e-sim though... normally you'd have your normal sim plus your travel (e)sim which is data only so calls continue to be received on your normal number?

Presumably you were sensible and had an alternative payment method and so the actual impact on your was minimal?

cymruchris

monkeychompy said:

Thanks for the reply. 
Do you know if there is anything I can do to try to prevent this next time? I don't want to allow my phone to accept calls as they are quite expensive to receive whilst abroad in a lot of countries. The only thing I can think of is to take multiple credit cards.

If you're not prepared to have a phone comms channel with the UK while away (due to the cost) - then yes - maybe take a number of cards from various banks - so if anything stops working you have a backup - or as mentioned above - if a card stops working - call the bank concerned and tell them you're on holidays and to unblock it.

You can dial UK numbers from abroad at fairly low cost in various apps that allow digital to Uk landline connections.

monkeychompy

Yes I had multiple payment methods available but kept trying to use the Nationwide card each time for a while not knowing it was blocked.
I had disabled my normal sim because I understood that to receive a text (or call) would have cost me money which I didn't want, especially spam texts.

eskbanker

monkeychompy said:

I had disabled my normal sim because I understood that to receive a text (or call) would have cost me money which I didn't want, especially spam texts.

Which mobile provider are you with and where were you travelling?  The subject of costs to receive texts came up in another thread recently and nobody could identify a provider that charged for this....

DullGreyGuy

monkeychompy said:

Yes I had multiple payment methods available but kept trying to use the Nationwide card each time for a while not knowing it was blocked.
I had disabled my normal sim because I understood that to receive a text (or call) would have cost me money which I didn't want, especially spam texts.

You may or may not be charged depending on the tariff you are on, optional extras you've included and country you are in. Receiving a text is typically free, answering a call is often charged if you dont have some form of roaming. At least leaving the sim on shows you your bank is calling etc and you can then use a cheaper mechanism to call them back (eg VOIP). 

Its frustrating when banks stop cards for authorised transactions but they have a duty to customers to help combat fraud and you are somewhat an author of your own misfortune by not having any contact number they can reach you on. 

Brie

eskbanker said:

monkeychompy said:

I had disabled my normal sim because I understood that to receive a text (or call) would have cost me money which I didn't want, especially spam texts.

Which mobile provider are you with and where were you travelling?  The subject of costs to receive texts came up in another thread recently and nobody could identify a provider that charged for this....

EE sent me a text to tell me using my normal sim with them while in Canada would cost me £6.74 a day for data use.  Also that I would be charged £1.66 a minute to make or receive any calls.  And 82p to send a text and 89p to send a picture message.  

I did receive a text before I had a chance to change my sim and wasn't charged for that but I didn't know for sure.  It wasn't something I could check on because if I tried to contact EE I would be charged!

The charges are, to me, excessive given that my monthly contract is about £8 which gives me practically unlimited data, calls and texts in the UK & Europe.  

And FYI - if you travel Air Canada you can get a sim for free that will work in Canada and with that get unlimited cover for a month if you set it up while on your flight.  If you don't set it up then there's a link to an Bell Canada associate where you can get cover for a month including making international calls for $30 (CAD so about £15).  Cheaper than buying a sim when you arrive at Toronto Pearson.  Not sure if other airlines have similar deals.  

Brie

Caz3121 said:

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/travel/help-when-travelling/

If your card stops working

If you find that your card has stopped working, it may be because our 24/7 fraud monitoring systems have spotted something that looks suspicious on your account.

When this happens, we block your Visa debit or credit card used to prevent any fraud against you.

We'll call or text your mobile number to check if you made the transaction. If it was you, we'll get the card working again straight away.

If you don't hear from us, call us as soon as possible. Answer some security questions, and we'll do our best to get your card working again.

This is the problem with this setup if you change to a local sim.  You can't even communicate with the bank properly as they will want to send a OTP to your registered phone.  And this is your UK one, not the one being used by many of us while on holiday.  You can't register the new number in advance as you don't know it until you get the sim in the other country and you can't register it once there as they can't send you an OTP!  Catch-22!!