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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Credit card company have just cancelled my card

79 replies

lurkerspeaks · 21/12/2013 09:20

…. because there were unusual transactions on my account.

Yup, that will be because it is Christmas and I've been present buying you morons.

So now 4 days before Christmas I have no functional credit card. There will also now be issues about trying to return gifts I have already bought as the account will no longer be active to receive refunds.

You seriously couldn't make it up. So AIBU in thinking their fraud detection software should have some seasonal flexibility build in?

OP posts:

RandallFloyd · 21/12/2013 11:30

Dear lord my typing is terrible today!

That's a good point Andrew, if you are going abroad you should always contact your card providers before you go, the are things they can do to add certainly codes on to your account.

Be aware thought that this doesn't mean that all transactions will go through without a hitch. The banks are responsible for protecting you from fraud at all times, so the same parameters will be in place regardless, and certain types of foreign transactions will always trigger because the processing systems don't meet the standard required in the UK. It just means that your transaction won't be stopped simply because you are abroad. Iyswim.

RandallFloyd · 21/12/2013 11:33

Without seeing the full account profile Maddening I don't think we can say for certain either way whether or not it should have been a lost & stolen block or a complete fraud block.

Different scenarios dictate different blocks.

eurochick · 21/12/2013 11:35

HSBC did similar to me.

I'd recently added my husband to one of my accounts to make it a joint account. To do this we had to go in and show his IRISH passport, which they copied and kept on file, as per normal. The next week, he bought some flights to Ireland, with an Irish airline. Apparently this was abnormal enough to get my card uber-blocked. By which I mean that they wouldn't let me sort it out over the phone. They wouldn't even talk to me. Just told me to go to a branch. I had to make an appointment for the next day, go with my passport, driving licence and various other things they requested, and be interrogated for 40 minutes about who I was. The worst of it was, I needed the card to make an urgent medical appointment (private) while it was blocked and couldn't do so, which caused me huge amounts of stress. Utter, utter fuckers.

RandallFloyd · 21/12/2013 11:41

It's about money laundering as well as fraud Eurochick.

I know it's shit when you really are genuine but adding a new cardholder who then immediately books flights out of the country rings massive alarm bells on both counts.

HSBC and all banks are having to massively increase their security checks because of all the years they let criminals run riot and launder squillions of dollars right under their noses.

I sympathise that it was an utter arse ache though.

BubaMarra · 21/12/2013 11:50

My bank kept blocking my card every other day when I moved to the US because the location of transactions were suspicious to them. Each time I had to go to a branch (luckily there was one close to my work), have them call UK and it was sorted out within minutes. Interestingly, they never figured out a fraud when someone shopped in Oasis for 300 pounds on my expense.

DoYouLikeMyBaubles · 21/12/2013 14:01

They usually just block the card from working not cancel it altogether.

RBS blocked mine, because it was payday and I'd gone on a spending spree was embarrassing when it declined in Aldi of all places.

Rang them up, they unblocked it in 24hrs.

Not sure why they just cancelled yours, without even ringing?

ChatNicknameUnavailable · 21/12/2013 14:07

If your card has been cancelled there would only be three possible reasons:

They have tried to contact you a significant number of times and you have either not bothered to contact them back or they don't have your correct contact number...both of which would be your fault.

They have identified actual fraudulent use, which you have confirmed.

Your card has been identified as part of a 'bad batch' - within a series of card numbers where fraudulent use is much higher than the 'normal' amount they expect. Due to the high likelihood of your card being next it's a preventative measure.

I'd say in about 90% of cases, cards are cancelled due to 1.

Original poster

lurkerspeaks · 21/12/2013 14:14

Well it definitely wasn't 1.

OP posts:

DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 21/12/2013 14:14

Don't forget 4. They made a mistake

D0oinMeCleanin · 21/12/2013 14:23

My card was blocked for suspected fraud while I was on holiday in Cornwall. Apparently it was unusual for me to be to spending on pub meals, it was also unusual for me to be in Cornwall. They'd have had a point, were it not for the fact that I paid for the holiday with my debit card

They couldn't unblock it either because I got one of the security questions wrong. I had to ring DH who'd stayed home to log onto my internet banking and transfer all of my money to my mum's account, which actually was unusual, but they allowed that

ChatNicknameUnavailable · 21/12/2013 14:25

All this nonsense they feed us about security blocks being 'for our own protection' is complete bollocks, it is to protect their own bottom lines...

I disagree with this. To an extent it's true, yes...if fraud is identified and it's not your fault (ie you didn't give your card and pin to a 3rd party, didn't agree to an ongoing monthly contract type payment because you haven't read the small print)...then yes, the bank will ultimately pick up the tab.

But 'ultimately' being the key word. I can only speak for the bank I work for but our timescale for resolving disputed transactions is up to 6 weeks depending on the complexity of the investigation required. We don't refund in the meantime except for very exceptional circumstances. So unless you're (general) loaded and can afford to lose £x amount for days/weeks whilst it's investigated it IS for your protection too.

Golddigger · 21/12/2013 14:26

The limit (another issue as I keep asking them to lower it because of the
fraud risk) is large enough to purchase a small car.

I think they are being extra picky to you personally because your limit is so high.

LaGuardia · 21/12/2013 15:00

How awful to have to rely on credit to fund Christmas. Start saving for next year is my advice.

RandallFloyd · 21/12/2013 15:03

No, it doesn't work like that Golddigger, its the same system for all customers. As I said, it's not perfect, it can't be. It's not a person sitting there looking at every single transaction every customer makes and comparing it to that customer's general profile and acting accordingly. It's a computer system, a bloody sophisticated one but it's still a machine.

I forgot to say Lurker that you can drop your credit limit anytime you like, just give them a call, it takes two minutes. You can also ask them to put a cap on it so it doesn't get raised again automatically, you'd have to specifically request it.

(Although I know m&s credit limits and trust me, they're nothing compared to what a lot of places will give you.)

D0oinMeCleanin · 21/12/2013 15:04

Some people use their credit cards for the extra insurance and cash back offers and pay the balance in full each month.

We buy all large electrical items or holidays on credit cards, that way they are automatically insured against loss, theft or damage under our credit agreement you get extra protection when booking holidays too, after we lost our holiday, paid for with a debit card and it took years of dealing with ATOL compared to SIL whose CC company refunded her immediately and then delt with ATOL on her behalf, we vowed we'd never use anything but a CC to pay for holidays.

Golddigger · 21/12/2013 15:06

It may not be so with m&s , but I think you may be wrong about other cards.
But you may know more than me, but not necessarily about all of the different cards?

RandallFloyd · 21/12/2013 15:07

Every chargeback department I've worked with has had a similar timescale Chat. You're absolutely right, 6 weeks can seem an awfully long time!

It's not too bad on a credit card because it's not your physical money but if it's a debit card the most that can be done is to provide an overdraft whilst the investigation is done. Either way it's not a nice thing.

cjel · 21/12/2013 15:09

La Guardia. I'm not relying on credit for christmas, but have to shop online as I'm not able to shop. It is recognised that you need to use credit card to have the safety of these type of protections. moneycan be transferred straight over to cover it so there is still zero balance on card.
Or you can leave it till the bill comes in and then pay in full and incur no charges, leaving money in a high interest account for longer - a wise way to manage funds.
Also hope you always have the funds you need to save. not everyone is so lucky. I volunteer at foodbank and there for the grace of god go all of us.

You are very harsh and judgemental.

RandallFloyd · 21/12/2013 15:10

I certainly don't know about all banks but I do know about a lot of them and I've never know any bank to have different fraud detection systems for different credit limits. They just don't work like that.

RandallFloyd · 21/12/2013 15:13

Never justify yourself cjel, especially not to that kind of ignorance.
(it was a spectacular bitchplop though eh, you've got to give credit where it's due)

Golddigger · 21/12/2013 15:14

Prob LaG relies on it herself. Who knows.

lilsupersparks · 21/12/2013 15:18

Give credit where it's due - ha ha :-)

BackOnlyBriefly · 21/12/2013 15:29

I've had a card blocked because they thought something was wrong and it was unblocked again once I explained.

I've also had a card canceled, but they sent me a new one which I got in something like a week.

That time there were a number of large transactions made by someone else over several days - even the card had never been out of my sight. They were good about it really. They made it clear I wouldn't lose any money. They went through it with me sorting out which were mine.

At xmas though I can see it is a disaster because even a week is too long.

I have two credit cards now and use the other occasionally just to keep it active.

EBearhug · 21/12/2013 15:45

They cancelled my debit card once, because it was one of a batch which had been cloned at a local cashpoint. I had no idea I'd been defrauded until they contacted me to say they'd had to do that, and I'd be getting a new card soon. It was a shame they hadn't waited a couple of hours till after I'd planned to get some cash out, but never mind.

I've also had a temporary block on mine before because of unusual spending patterns. There is nothing unusual about me spending money with Amazon, particularly not in the approach to Christmas, and anyone looking at my spending history would know that, but nonetheless, they blocked it because of that.

They totally failed to block the unusual spending pattern (thousands worth of designer luggage - I'd be more likely to get a rucksack at an outdoor store, which would have featured on my spending history,) on a new card to a totally new address that was different from the address for the other card (the one I used) which I also had with that company, and an address I have never been associated with. I have no idea why all that wasn't causing their fraud-checking algorithms to raise lots of red lights.

Took a while to get it sorted out, but it eventually was, and some poor woman in the fraud department there had to spend a morning listening to all the recordings of the phone calls I'd previously made to them about it all, because by this point, I was pointing out, "That's not what I was told last time." (Got an apology for that.) They have lost my custom over it, and as someone who nearly always has some credit card balance outstanding, but pays more than the minimum and has never missed a payment (except when the bills for a card I didn't know I had go to an address I've never heard of), I'm probably a customer worth having.

EBearhug · 21/12/2013 15:47

I have two credit cards now and use the other occasionally just to keep it active.

Yes - I try to have one Visa and one Mastercard, especially when I go abroad, just in case.

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