Not really AIBU but help! bank problem abroad!

[Iamclearlyamug]

I am currently abroad in Turkey visiting my partner who is a Turkish native. Earlier today I put my card into an ATM to check the exchange rate - I did NOT request any money. I cancelled the transaction before confirming I wished to proceed with a withdrawal and retrieved my card. However I have just checked my bank and I'm now £198 down! How can this have happened?! Absolutely bricking it!! Have sent a message to my banks online help thingy as my phone doesn't dial out abroad but is there anything else I can do 🙈🙈

You need to call your bank asap. Surely if your partner is a Turkish native, he/she has access to a working phone that you can use?

Have you made any other transactions over there? Does it say what sort of transaction it was ?

It'll be on hold in your account. Check it's back tomorrow.

@hundredmiles his Turkish sim card doesn't dial internationally unfortunately otherwise of course he would :(

@demented it just says debit transaction, which is weird because surely it should say cash at an ATM

@thequeef I sooo hope you're right, but it's not labelled pending in my account, it's on my statement :(

I don't think an ATM transaction would show as fast as that. Have you paid for anything by debit card?

What is the wording on the statement? Does it give any foreign transaction conversion rates? Could it be a transaction you made before you went there as debit card transactions take a few days to go through

You need to ring your bank. Get a phone card.

Could your card have been cloned at the ATM?

Could be card cloning at ATM. Phone your bank.

Far to quick to be an overseas withdrawal. As others have said it could be a foreign transaction from a prior day?

Ir a transaction not completed by you

I'd say find a way to make an international call. Upgrade one of your SIMS, buy a pay and go Turkish SIM with international capability, subscribe to Skype calling or similar to get you a phone number that can call landlines.

But scour your memory for any amount ts you have spent recently - are you sure it's a foreign currency transaction, not a sterling one?

thanks guys for all your help so far - I'm meeting a friend at lunchtime whose phone I can use, but I'm back in the UK tomorrow either way so hopefully can fix this 🙈🙈😭

It's definitely not a previous transaction ive made, i took all my money with me in cash so haven't had any need. The only reason I wanted to check the exchange rate in the ATM in the first place is because my brother is coming out in June and wanted me to take some Turkish lira back for him (the rate is much better here than in the uk) 🙈🙈

weird though, because on my online banking app it's not showing as a pending transaction, it's already on the statement IYSWIM, but it's still not cleared I.e my available funds and account total are still different by that exact amount - anyone know why this could be?

Any update? Is it back in?

no @thequeef it's not back

but it's still not cleared, my balance says 500 but available says 300 (for example) so the 200 is still gone but not gone gone IYSWIM

Did you put in an amount to see what exchange rate you would get and then cancel the transaction. If you did it could be that your bank authorised the transaction and it is showing as pending but as you did not confirm and take the cash it will eventually cancel itself off. Just a guess though.

@cassgate yes that's exactly what I did! I put 200 pound in to see what the exchange rate was and what they'd charge me. when I saw the charge I decided it was too high and cancelled the transaction. I sooo hope you're right - I'm back in England tomorrow so will get onto it straight away. I'm never ever checking exchange rate at an ATM again when it causes this much hassle 🙈🙈