First Direct fraud block abroad, is this really a reasonable process?

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82104590#Comment_82104590

There has been no change in fraud systems on card payments, other than the never ending change to keep up with the fraudsters.

Card fraud is reclaimed from retailers.

mta999

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82103471#Comment_82103471

The underlying systems/ computers may well be HSBC but their processes are completely different and I will give you two examples

1. Although First Direct do now give notifications on your phone when transactions occur, back in the day they did not. HSBC did it quite quickly once banks started to do it but FD took from memory two to three years to do it - in fact it got to the stage where they kept saying it's 'in process' but never happened it was a bit of a joke

2. Also a bit of a joke was when you applied for a account with FD you needed to make sure the postman had a wheelbarrow handy because of the amount of paper they sent you before they would open the account. In comparison HSBC opened it there and then

FD may well be owned by HSBC but they are like chalk and cheese. HSBC is a proper bank.

Bigwheels1111

First Direct is my go to bank, Most of the time issue free.

When things go wrong they generally sort it out with one call.

In the past I’ve had major problems when regarding the fraud department, they held up 3 large payments totalling 250k, Did not transfer on Friday morning, called 2 times on Friday, once on Saturday and Sunday, Finally on Monday after saying every day fraud department did not hold the transaction back & would not put me through, I got a text saying we’ve tried to contact you, from the fraud department, while I was asking to be put through.

After getting the money transferred, I made a complaint, 5 days lost interest is £172 ish pounds @ 5%, time and effort etc for 5 day of calls, From memory I got the £172 lost interest and £100 good will. Later on, around 2 weeks later I got a call back re the complaint, My second issue was the total lack of care or compassion I received from the call handlers I’d spoken with, if felt like they were going home and wanted me off the line, After listening to the calls the nice lady gave me even more good will cash.

I am a grumpy old man who loves to complain, but you need your duck in a row, story straight, facts ready.

If it had been me, I would have explained how much time and effort it cost me to call friends at home and get them to lend me money, plus friends that were with you lending money or paying for things etc, having to use another bank, fees charged for currency conversion etc, as FD don’t charge these, all these things count to more of a payout, TSB was over £1000 a few years back, X for calls, X for trips into town, time it took, parking, borrowing money, using another bank, dd not paid. It was 3 payouts in total, first was £50 as first time their system went down after they did a major upgrade, then £400 ish for all the issues, after around 3 months another £500 plus arrived as they had reviewed my case again and said I was owed more.

It’s a big game, or a war, depending on how you look at it.