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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Found a credit card WWYD

79 replies

filka · 15/01/2020 17:30

In early January I was at a huge London shopping mall and found a credit card on the floor.

First reaction was to hand in to security, but thought that the owner was unlikely to find it this way. Next thought was to take it to a branch of the issuing bank on the next working day and hand it in .

Then I realised that anyone else could have found it, emptied the account using contactless payments and then dumped the card on the floor . Decided that I didn't want to be showing up at the bank if someone else had used the card fraudulently .

In the end I just put the card through the shredder at home on the basis that the owner would/should have cancelled the card by then and I couldn't help if it had been wrongly used or not. But at least I stopped anyone else from picking it up and using it so I prevented the owner's situation from getting worse.

Was my choice reasonable, or WWYD?

TBH it has made me a bit uncomfortable about having a card with contactless payment. Even when limited to £30 a thief could get through a lot of money at £25 a time before the card was blocked.

OP posts:

TheBitchOfTheVicar · 15/01/2020 17:31

I would have done what you did - I found a debit card in the road in Soho recently at midnight and broke it up and binned it

sunshinekids · 15/01/2020 17:32

Mine have a number on the back to call if you find the card, I would have called that it it was there. I wouldn't have even considered that someone might think I had made fraudulent transactions and I would think it would be fairly easy to prove I hadn't.

bruffin · 15/01/2020 17:33

When i found a credit card I rang up the issuing bank , told them where i found it and they told me to destroy it. I dont really get your reasoning for not handing it in if there was a bank close by.

MuchBetterNow · 15/01/2020 17:33

Same here, found a credit card in the street a few months ago in a very dodgy druggy part of town, couldn't be bothered with the hassle so cut it up and binned it.

ActualHornist · 15/01/2020 17:34

Banks have whole departments dedicated to checking payments - if I notify them I’ve lost my card, and they can see payments round that time, they’ll look at my normal spending to ascertain whether or not it is probably me or not.

I would have done the same thing but I would have probably called the bank first so they could notify their customer via letter.

lilgreen · 15/01/2020 17:34

I would have phoned the number on the back of the card to report it found and taken their advice. If you’re innocent, nothing to worry about.....

LoonyLunaLoo · 15/01/2020 17:36

It’s easy enough to get a new card so I don’t think YABU really.

Frariedeamin · 15/01/2020 17:36

You should have handed it to security or the nearest shop, they will have procedure later to deal with lost cards OR called the lost and stolen number on the back of the card and reported it. When I worked in a shop we logged all cards left behind/found in a book and if not claimed within 2 days we called the bank to cancel the card and destroyed it.

It seems popular on our local Facebook page to put up pictures of found cards but it always makes me uncomfortable. If that was my card I would prefer someone reported it lost so my bank could just send me a new one and I was not vunerable to fraud in the meanwhile:

Dyrne · 15/01/2020 17:36

I found one in the street and posted on my local fb page asking if anyone knew of someone with that name (with card details blurred out!). It was a long shot and I wasn’t expecting a response and my plan was to go to the bank and drop it in if I hadn’t heard anything by the end of the day.

I ended up finding the person! They worked close by so we arranged to meet up and I handed the card back to her. She was massively grateful - she said I’d saved her a load of trouble with needing to cancel cards etc, and apparently she needed to buy formula on the way home and she had no cash on her so I was happy to save her the hassle.

Appreciate it’s not always that easy but I think my first instinct would always be to pop it into the bank rather than take it upon myself to shred it

EmpressJewel · 15/01/2020 17:37

When I found a card in the street on my way to work, I popped it into a local branch on my lunch break. They didn't ask me for any details and it was fine.

PumpkinP · 15/01/2020 17:37

It’s not a big deal really is it? I wouldn’t have picked it up tbh. The amount of times people post lost credit/debit cards on my local Facebook page is crazy, surely just call and get it cancelled

2020BetterBeBetter · 15/01/2020 17:38

I don’t think credit cards have the facility to pay by contactless; only debit cards do.

I would have handed it in to security or the bank (whichever I can across first). If someone had used it fraudulently the likelihood is they would be on CCTV somewhere and you would have been on CCTV in a shopping mall, quite possibly at the time you picked up the card.

TerrifiedandWorried · 15/01/2020 17:38

I found a debit card with the PIN written on it on the pavement. N9 number so handed it in to the branch but realised afterwards that there was not much point. Other than to ask them to remind the card holder that it might be better not to write the PIN on it

SoupDragon · 15/01/2020 17:38

I don’t think credit cards have the facility to pay by contactless

Mine does.

lilgreen · 15/01/2020 17:39

It’s always worth reporting to the bank in case it’s part of a bigger theft. I found one and they wanted to know which street etc

Nojeansplease · 15/01/2020 17:42

Found a wallet not that long ago, looked for the ID to get in touch with the person
But there was basically nothing of value in there, which concerned me more as normally you’d expect a few credit cards, maybe some cash, ID etc

Perhaps there had been nothing at all in there
Or perhaps there had been and it had all been cleared out. I certainly didn’t want to go meet this person with a now fairly empty wallet as I had no way of proving it wasn’t me. I cut everything up and binned it. At least I know they aren’t going to lose anything else.

SoupDragon · 15/01/2020 17:42

I think I would have handed it in at the bank if I knew where there was a branch. I don't think cutting it up was a bad thing though as the card would be cancelled anyway.

Hingeandbracket · 15/01/2020 17:42

I don’t think credit cards have the facility to pay by contactless; only debit cards do.
My Visa credit card does contactless. I doubt I am alone :)

Cryingoverspilttea · 15/01/2020 17:42

Banks refund all contactless fraud within 24hrs. I'm not that arsed.

WitsEnding · 15/01/2020 17:42

Found 3 in the last 18 months around the city - one outside a supermarket with passport and cash (gave it to security) one in a car park on a bank holiday (gave it to police) one prepaid card in the park (found owner on FB).

Neither supermarket security nor the police took my name.

ActualHornist · 15/01/2020 17:44

Just so you all know - all the bank will do if you return it to them is cancel and reissue and place in confidential waste. They will not send it out to a customer or contact them to come and get it. I would urge the person whose work keeps them to just phone the bank and then cut up - you might trust all your colleagues but it can be too much of a temptation to just try it. Most shops will not hand over CCTV to banks without at the minimum a police crime reference number which most people don’t have as they’ve lost their card rather than knowing it was stolen. Added to that, many shops don’t hold CCTV for very long and are not great quality - as in, you will likely not be able to tell what sort of card has been used to make a payment.

I work in a bank and have worked closely with fraud teams so I’m saying this as someone in the know!

Marnie76 · 15/01/2020 17:45

Most Credit cards definitely are contactless

DivGirl · 15/01/2020 17:49

I found one the other week. Tried to find the owner on Facebook but couldn't so I handed it in to the bank. Didn't even consider that they would accuse me of using it fraudulently.

Littletabbyocelot · 15/01/2020 17:53

There's a new policy (think all banks, definitely mine) that contactless declines if you consecutively spend £100 without doing chip and pin. I'd seen a few people have their card declined before it happened to me so it wasn't too much of a shock.

bruffin · 15/01/2020 18:02

Both my credit cards (mastercard) have contactless but i rarely use them for contactless transactions.
My visadebit card contactless which i use a few times a day makes me put in a pin every so often.

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