I was on holiday in Italy and ran out of cash, so I used my Mastercard to withdraw cash 250 Euros, which I did successfully. The next day I was unable to withdraw cash at the ATM or use my Mastercard to pay for train tickets, hotel bills or meals! as natwest had blocked my card!

I contacted Natwest bank to give my mobile number so that someone could phone me and explain what is going on.To cut a long story short I had to curtail my holiday by two days and return to the UK. When I queried this, I was told that the fraud squad had put a hold on the account!

Has anyone been in this situation? because I am would like to compensation £250, for dennying me the ability to withdraw cash or use my credit card to pay for train tickets, hotel bills or meals!

This happened to me once. I was in America and tried to use my credit card to settle my hotel bill. The card was denied. When I got home there was a letter waiting for me to say that they thought someone else had tried to use my card and had been unable to contact me to confirm whether or not it was me. Thats because I was stood in a hotel in the States trying to use my card!!!!!! I remember being very embarrassed and p-----d off at the time. I did make a call to them to complain at the time but they assured me that if there was irregular activity they put a block on the card until they can contact. Not much help when you are abroad with no contact number.

Welcome to the site.

It seems because the Banks are generally agreed in refunding transactions that may be fraudelant they are tightening up on security.Heres a piece I found elaborating on this.

"

While banks are not required to reimburse customer accounts for fraudulent ATM/debit card activity, many do, and accordingly they have become particularly vigilant about detecting these transactions as soon as possible. Banks use computers and staff to scan incoming transactions for unusual patterns and will suspend activity immediately if they detect something amiss. Banks are particularly alert for foreign transactions, especially from certain countries with reputations for this kind of activity. When banks believe there may be fraud, they may shut down individual accounts, and in some cases, temporarily block all transaction activity from a particular country. Areas of Eastern Europe and Africa have seen problems, but so have England and Canada.

Unfortunately while consumers can take appropriate steps to safeguard their cards and PIN numbers, account security can be compromised. When an account is suspended for security reasons, banks and credit card companies try to notify the client by phone or mail, but a message may not reach travelers away from home. The first clue that something is amiss comes when they try to use the card. The second will be when strange purchases or withdrawals pop up on their statements.

Calling the issuer immediately to report the problem can minimize the damage. But what can a traveler do to minimize the potential for difficulties in the first place?

First, before you leave the country, call the toll-free customer service number on the back of your cards and report your travel plans, what countries you'll be visiting and the approximate dates. Ask if there are any regional security alerts that might affect you. Finally, get a regular phone number that you can call from abroad in the case of an emergency.

Second, never rely entirely on one form of plastic for payment. Ideally carry at least two credit cards and two ATM/debit cards issued by different institutions. Keep these spares in a secure place other than your purse or wallet. Take along a second form of photo ID in addition to your passport, as well as some backup cash or travelers checks."

So maybe you should look at any travel insurance policies to see if theres anything in there.

I would also add that its entirely at the banks discretion that they consider compensating you,I would certainly try and get it by sending them a strong letter together with any documentary evidence.

You could consider a small claims but if the bank can show that they made reasonable attempts to contact you and the account activity prompted the freezing action,then that would go for them.As usual they will quote their terms and conditions and say they did nothing wrong.It should be remembered that it would be very uneconomical for the bank to defend such action so as in the case of charges,you may want to look at that.

Maybe a strong letter with a suggestion of court if they do not refund you or certainly look at this,may bring a result.

Excellent advise from the moderator, I have travelled to many countries and never had problems with my credit cards . It seems since the introduction of chip & pin, the fraud systems detect changes in pattern and the card is blocked. I spent hours trying to contact them listening to endless muzak in the attempt to unblock my card with no luck and it was nota 24x7 number. I have just written to Natwest asking them why they do not inform their users of their fraud/emergency procedure and stated that I would like some ££ compensation. As a user I was denied the use of my mastercard, suffered embarrassment even though I had more than aqequate funds and for the lack of prior advise on their fraud/emergency procedures. I will let you know the outcome.

Msg for Stansfield5131

just received Natwest's credit cards notice of variation, and checked the back of my statement, no mention of a 24hr number for fraud/emergency. Why do they make it so difficult for us to contact them?

Hi have moved your thread into Natwest from Welcome.There may be other users here who have experienced the same as you.

If you do decide to claim compensation you will need to read up on Cobbetts responses to litigation.....something I am sure you will need to be extremely well briefed on ha ha !

I complained to Natwest and asked for £170 compensation, which was approx the amount I was denied withdrawal (250 euros). I mentioned that I consulted CAG for advise. Just received a letter from Natwest Mcard offering me £50 and 300 airmiles as a good will gesture. They do claim that they tried contacting me, but have provided no vmail evidence. It was worth writing to them, thank you for your support.