Natwest Declining my card!!

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 10:08

So its payday, and as with every payday I get up and pay off all my bills. So this morning I paid my phone bill and another bill, went to pay off my council tax......card declined!! So I checked my bank balance and its fine!!

I dont live near a bank and Natwest wont speak to me over the phone as I havent registered for telephone banking and only have a step account!!

What can I do?

tellytart1 · 31/12/10 - 10:10

Try the payment again - it could just have been a glitch in their systems.

Secondly, get yourself registered for online banking, as it's far easier to pay bills that way if you don't trust direct debits. (Which it sounds like as you're paying bills by telephone).

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 10:11

tellytart1 wrote: »

Try the payment again - it could just have been a glitch in their systems.

Secondly, get yourself registered for online banking, as it's far easier to pay bills that way if you don't trust direct debits. (Which it sounds like as you're paying bills by telephone).

I have online banking, I only have a step account so cant do much.

I have tried with 3 different companies, all same.

tellytart1 · 31/12/10 - 10:14

If your bank balance is fine, then it does sound like a problem with the card processing/authorization process. Give it a few hours, as if it is a bank problem, it'll be affecting thousands of customers and retailers, and they'll be working to get it fixed as quickly as possible.

tso · 31/12/10 - 10:19

Tell you what sometimes happens too is they see multiple transacations done quickly and they block the card for security reasons.
Even if youve had no problem before doing them in quick succession it wont stop a random block.

coopermanyorks · 31/12/10 - 10:22

Hopefully it's just a glitch,but it sounds like you need to set up future payments by DD if they are possible with your "Step account"

Can you register for Phone banking for future needs / problems

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 10:23

tso wrote: »

Tell you what sometimes happens too is they see multiple transacations done quickly and they block the card for security reasons.
Even if youve had no problem before doing them in quick succession it wont stop a random block.

2 payments?

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 10:24

coopermanyorks wrote: »

Hopefully it's just a glitch,but it sounds like you need to set up future payments by DD if they are possible with your "Step account"

Can you register for Phone banking for future needs / problems

I dont do DD, been screwed over sooo many times when companies decide to take early etc.

The dont offere telephone banking for my account

chrisjr · 31/12/10 - 10:26

Call the bank's Fraud department. They should talk to you even if you don't have phone banking. Ask them if they have put a block on the account/card.

I had my Debit card blocked by my bank and the first I knew about it was when I went to use it a few days later. No contact at all from the bank though until I called them to complain!

tso · 31/12/10 - 10:28

~sugarpinkloz wrote: »

2 payments?

Yeah.cause the next one would have been 3.Seems petty i know but seems the only logical explanation if you have enough funds.

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 11:00

It could be the "3 payments" thing.

It happened to me in Morrisons. I paid for brekkie in their cafe on my card, then went round the shop and paid for the shopping with my card.

Then, went to the petrol station for fuel and the same card was declined. Apparently it's Morrison policy to block more than 2 transactions in their store in case the card has been stolen.

It also happened to a pal when she was doing Christmas shopping - went to a few shops, spending quite large amounts of money, got to Thorntons and was declined a £5 purchase. All she did was call the bank and they checked with her that it was actually her.

Maybe it's the same in general after a couple of purchases - especially in quick succession????

brillopad · 31/12/10 - 11:17

~sugarpinkloz wrote: »

2 payments?

Had it happen using Amazon - made a small purchase but the transaction appeared to fail so I made the purchase again and it failed.

To the card company more transaction appear than are actually intended to go through - the account will be often 'tested' with a nominal amount then the real amount.
Also using a card by phone is the most suspect method - card companies try to avoid transactions that are close together in time but far apart by distance.

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 11:23

Hi, thanks for the replies!!

I went to the cash point and was able to withdraw, so phoned natwest and bullied them into actually acknowledging my exsistance!!

Got put through to fraud and they said it had flagged as fraud (even through the same payments go out every month!) so they unlocked and I have now finished paying my bills!!

Good effort Natwest, shame when my account actually got frauded you didnt notice!! :rolleyes:

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 11:38

~sugarpinkloz wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies!!

I went to the cash point and was able to withdraw, so phoned natwest and bullied them into actually acknowledging my exsistance!!

Got put through to fraud and they said it had flagged as fraud (even through the same payments go out every month!) so they unlocked and I have now finished paying my bills!!

Good effort Natwest, shame when my account actually got frauded you didnt notice!! :rolleyes:

you pay the same companies every month and it flagged up as fraud ? you couldnt make it up could you... what idiots!

chrisjr · 31/12/10 - 11:49

Muffin999 wrote: »

you pay the same companies every month and it flagged up as fraud ? you couldnt make it up could you... what idiots!

In my case my card was blocked because I used it to buy some flowers on line for my mum's birthday. It got flagged as "unusual behaviour" or some such excuse.

This despite the fact her birthday occurs on the same date every year and for the last ten or so I've used my card to buy flowers online. Go figure!

It wouldn't have been so bad if they had actually bothered to call me to query the transaction. or even blocked the transaction when it occurred. But no. Even though the transaction triggered the fraud alert they let it stand and did sod all until I called them up to complain.

[Deleted User] · 31/12/10 - 11:52

stephanieplum wrote: »

It could be the "3 payments" thing.

It happened to me in Morrisons. I paid for brekkie in their cafe on my card, then went round the shop and paid for the shopping with my card

. . .

Maybe it's the same in general after a couple of purchases - especially in quick succession????

I do that pretty much every time I go to Morrisons for our main shop and use the same card and it's never happened to me

I think it must be the bank - I've also done 5 consecutive payments at the same checkout in a supermarket, one straight after the other (plus a couple at the kiosk before) and haven't had a problem at all, in a place that isn't local to where I live. Surely if it's a general thing then that would definately have been stopped? (I was surprised at the time that it wasn't to be honest!)

(I was doing some volunteer work, and did a 'Tesco run' so had about five people's shopping to get which needed separate receipts in case you're wondering why I did five consecutive transactions at the same time!)

whackyracer · 31/12/10 - 11:53

Odd. I've had a Natwest account for 12 years and never had any problems like this and I use it for many and varied transactions. My dad has had an account for around 25 years and neither had he. My barclaycard however, that's a different matter. You have to pre authorise any transaction over £500 otherwise they block it. But to be honest, I would rather that than have my account used fraudently and rack up thousands of pounds.

louise1966 · 02/01/11 - 14:39

Nat West is declining one of my cards also, and I began to wonder if I had the correct pin number.

Blondie X · 02/01/11 - 14:44

Just had my HSBC debit card declined this morning despite the fact I have more than 100 times more money in my account than the transaction I was trying to make.
Just wondered if there could be a fault in the payment system for some users at the mo.

lorry · 02/01/11 - 15:08

This has happened to me 3 times now, with RBS. The first time it happened I was away, hundreds of miles from home, and trying to pay for a meal in a restaurant. I had no cash on me but luckily I had my Barclaycard with me so had to use that. The fraud dept phoned my home number and left a message asking me to phone them back - which of course I wouldn't have known about if my husband hadn't been at home and heard the message later that day, and they wouldn't deal with him even though it's a joint account!

I appreciate that the bank is only trying to protect us but it seems to be happening rather more often than it used to. It's a flipping nuisance, not to say highly embarrassing, when your card gets declined like this. If we'd been abroad when it happened it would have been even worse as it's doubtful I'd have had the bank number to hand.

flakecake · 02/01/11 - 16:13

Lloyds TSB have done the fraud thing on my card a few times now. I even have a Verisign password set on my mine and still they have blocked my card. With Lloyds though they immediately phone you. Its only an automated call but allows you to answer certain questions and get the block taken off straight away. That is all well and good if you are there to take the call but if you miss it you have to call them back when you realise what has happened to your card.

stud u like · 02/01/11 - 16:14

~sugarpinkloz wrote: »

I dont do DD, been screwed over sooo many times when companies decide to take early etc.

The dont offere telephone banking for my account

By law they can't take the money early. If they do, reclaim it.

nuttytigger · 02/01/11 - 16:20

Clydesdale bank done this to me in September when I was in Mexico trying to take out my departure tax! I had told them I was going abroad etc, but I used the card once when I was there, and they then blocked it! Good job I had found out before trying to use my card for something else!

[Deleted User] · 02/01/11 - 16:21

stud u like wrote: »

By law they can't take the money early. If they do, reclaim it.

... unless they claim that it's not three days early, but twenty-seven days late...

Hey there!

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