To think my bank shouldn’t be able to stop me?

[MovinginCircless]

I’ve been trying to make a purchase for the last two months from Dior. It’s a one off treat that costs £600ish.

Every single time I’ve gone to buy it my payment gets declined. I’ve contacted my bank numerous times to ask if there was a block. After a month they finally admitted they had been blocking the payment. Confirmed block lifted but I’m still being declined.

I’ve now been told today that they will never allow me to purchase from Dior as I could say it’s fraud and sell the item on at full price. Surely if I have the money then I can spend it how I want??

I‘m starting to think that maybe they do put certain retailers on a high risk alert if they’ve had multiple fraud claims made against the same company.

Perhaps you only qualify if you regularly purchase from there or similar retailers. Or maybe you have to be earning a consistent wage threshold.

Regardless I’ve told them it’s genuine so how could I then make a fraud claim. It’s just absolutely disgusting they’ve blamed it on me, blamed it on Dior, made me speak to so many people etc when I was never going to get the item at any point.

This does sound a bit crazy. I'd be highly indignant if my bank stopped me accessing my money.

I completely get feeling attached to an old account, open up a separate one with another bank, shift some money and make the purchase?

Doesn’t solve the problem (the fact that you’ve got a mad bank), but for this purchase, set up a PayPal and just use that?

Mad NatWest 🤣

I'm sorry OP but that did make me laugh

If this is correct and there's not more to the story, you need to see someone in person at your bank. Ask for a manager to explain. If it doesn't solve it, you need a written complaint asking for a reasonable explanation.

They should not be able to block you from making a purchase but may block you from buying somewhere that looks like Dior's website and isn't.

Not sure if this has been answered but can you not buy it in person on your card so it's not an online purchase? Surely they would have no justification for blocking that.

Think OP said it's not near her.

This is utter madness though.

I reckon a formal complaint would get this sorted pretty quick.

How absolutely unacceptable.

Send a formal complaint in.

-Just because they perceive a risk doesn't mean that risk will arise.

• How dare they suggest you will defraud them.

And, I'd change banks. No way would NatWest get a second more of my time! Look at money-saving expert and switch to a bank that'll give you £ to move and do the full switch for you.

Good luck

That's completely unacceptable. I'd tell them that when I moved my accounts to another bank.

Nat West doesn’t surprise me. I tried 3 times (unsuccessfully) to pay for some Virgin Atlantic flights. Yes, I know the amount was in the thousands but I was paying for 5 long haul return flights at peak time of year.
By the time I’d juggled payment using other bank accounts the price had gone up.
I called and spoke to them, answered all their security questions but each time payment was blocked.

Use paypal. Transfer the money to paypal and off you go.

"Some people think credit cards are for those who can't handle their finances- in fact it's the opposite."

Not true.

People who handle their finances well don't need a credit card. It's the system that demands you get one anyway to "prove" that you pay your debts - but a look at your bank statements would tell a bank everything they need to know about your spending habits anyway.

I've honestly never understood this system where you get rewarded for constantly being in debt, rather than saving for whatever it is you wish to buy.

But obviously it benefits credit card companies as having a credit card is an invitation to over spend and this is where they make their profit, when people can't pay the card in time and are stuck paying outrageous rates. In that sense I agree that people who can't manage their finances shouldn't have credit cards (and people who can shouldn't need them).

Nat West for months last year absolutely refused to let me pay money into my account at the Royal Mint.

I could spend ten times the amount I was trying to pay in there in any other shop, even if it was in the USA or Aus & they were fine, but not even a fiver would they let me pay the RM on my card.
My debit card worked everywhere else.

I'd been transferring money into my RM account that way for ages at that point, so it wasn't an unusual transaction.

I had to move money with Bank Transfers to get it to the Mint, then wait for them to update my account instead of the instant debit card transfers that happened automatically.

They randomly decided to let my card work there again this year.

It's not like they can say the Royal Mint is some dodgy company they've never heard of.

They are a nightmare.

Just to add - I do understand some people can't face big expenses and it is useful to them to be able to pay a new car/dishwasher/washing machine, etc, over several months despite the terrible interest rates. But that's hardly the sign of a healthy financial situation.

It sounds really unpleasant OP.

but it feels tainted now. They’ve taken a nice thing and shit all over it.

Aww try and reframe it as you'll feel a massive sense of victory when you do eventually get it. x

It is true, you're wrong.

Lots of reasons to have a credit card that are nothing to do with getting into debt.

But MN is weird about credit cards, people say they don't need them, yet describe endless problems that would never have arisen if they had a credit card.....

I can't understand this. We've banked with NW for years, and bought expensive stuff from loads of place, including Dior.

Never had a single problem. They sometimes ask if I'm sure this isn't a scam, I click proceed, and the payment is allowed.

There must be more to this.🤔

Are you sure it’s a legit site?

Would they still have blocked it if you had bought via Browns or Dover Street Market?

I would get a second bank account and a couple of credit card that you pay off each month, DH and I have 3 different bank accounts and 5 credit cards between us so if stuff is ever refused we just use a different account. People seem to want to go cash free but this really isn't sensible if you hope to rely on 1 bank account in the family. I only ever shop using a credit card as it lessens the risk of my bank accounts being compromised and use different credit cards for Amazon and PayPal as they are left on the accounts

I can't understand the MN weirdness about credit cards either, I never use my bank accounts for general shopping and just pay the credit cards off each month, also credit cards have perks like cashback or points for vouchers which bank accounts don't have so much so you gain more

I can recommend Starling when you change accounts. They are a modern bank who know how to deal with online purchasing.

This kind of loyalty is exactly what the big banks rely on. We are more likely to divorce our partners than our banks.

Read all your own posts in this thread and then tell me - if this were not your bank would you seriously consider staying with them?

The bank fraud analytics systems are not there to protect customers they are there to protect the banks. They know perfectly well that customer loyalty in banking is so entrenched they can treat customers appallingly and we still go back for more.

Change your bank and make the complaint. Make it clear that you understand entirely the need to check a transaction but its not acceptable for them to dictate to you what you can spend your money on and waste hours of your time in the process.

I agree with you that the system is a bit perverse- however, that is the system the banks have set up, so it's bad advice to tell people not to get a credit card because:

1. Section 75- covered extensively on moneysaving expert- but basically if you pay by CREDIT card (not debit card) for anything over £100, you are legally protected if the retailer goes bankrupt, the item breaks early, or the service you've paid doesn't happen/is faulty. And the beauty is, you can go straight to the credit card company and complain to them if 'Dodgy Dave at the the garage' is arguing he did fix the breaks on your car, and you know he didn't. You don't even need to put all the bill on the card. MSE have an example of a couple who put £10 or something on a credit card to pay for a £32k kitchen which turned into a horror story. They were refunded the full amount ie £32k or whatever is was by the credit card company by sticking to their guns and knowing their rights. I have a young colleague who is going on holiday to Tenerife this summer- she is paying for it by monthly direct debit from her bank account. I've pleaded with her to get a credit card- even if she pays just one instalment with it she will be covered for the full amount if the holiday company goes bankrupt- and quicker than ABTA.
2. On my Amex card, I quite often get offers that save a me a hundred a year or so (Shop Small) etc. Most cards offer these. The big one however is the Avios voucher- we got a free flight to Bermuda for this summer using it, all for buying things I would have spent on anyway.

I totally agree with the poster I'm quoting about some people not using credit cards if they have problems with debt/don't quite understand how they work. I know Amex charge high transaction rates to retailers. Indeed I only ever spend cash in charity shops and my hairdresser to save them those costs.

The most important thing is to pay off the bill by direct debit in full every month. I realise not everyone can afford to do this- we can as we don't usually buy anything too out of the ordinary- and trip to Bermuda aside- live within our means.
If you are stuck with a high balance on a high interest rate, then look at moneysavingexpert to find a good deal on a balance transfer to a lower rate card.

As a much earlier poster said, I should have put FOS and not FCA when I was referring to the ombudsman- but all my advice is good and saves money. Reading some of the complaints people have had with banks on this thread, I've just been seeing £ signs as to how much compensation people could get if they had complained formally and stuck with it. Here are some selected examples of complaints I've made:

HSBC: cashier closed screen on me at front of queue, saying it was lunch time. The opened another till screen to talk to a customer she knew: £75 compensation
Halifax: Not accepting Jersey banknotes despite doing so on an earlier occasion : £60
Amex: 5000 avios points due to wrong wording on statement
RBS: refund of all overdraft charges as a student as they sent all my statements to French Guiana during my year abroad.....in Paris (!)
Barclays: Around £500 for multiple mix ups when trying to use my Euro account (nothing fancy, it has about six euros in it but it's a pain to use)
Natwest: £75 and free CIFAS membership for a year after they allowed someone to open an account in my name and blow a £5k overdraft without seeing me or my ID docs- they covered the overdraft of course but it was scary and they really didn't want to pay a penny compensation.
Punjab National Bank: £50 for a GDPR breach

And the list goes on, probably up to a few grand.

I know not everyone can be arsed to complain, but it can be worth it.
And credit cards are so important for the legal protection.

No I'm not Martin Lewis. And no, he's not right about everything- ULEZ in particular.

Every word in this reply is spot on.
You can earn £200 by changing banks- it's so easy to do.
Put it another way- why are you in effect paying £200 to stay with a bank that's treating you like shit?

I never understood why my parents have stuck with Barclays forever- they were bankers for the apartheid government in South Africa in the 70s and 80s.
Barclays- not my parents!

@MovinginCircless I'd love to know what it is you're trying to buy, just to satisfy my own nosey curiosity.