Posting on behalf of my partner who has experienced an issue with unauthorised transactions on her HSBC current account.

Between the 10th November and the 13th several transactions were made at a local coop supermarket to buy goods and get cashback as well as one ATM withdrawal of £130.

Upon discovering the transactions had been made my partner immediately contacted HSBC and reported the card as stolen and went through their fraud process aswell as reporting the theft to both Action Fraud and our local police.

Now, I was under the impression that the FCA guidelines stated that HSBC should refund the transactions my partner has raised yet they refused to do so "pending an investigation" Also as these transactions pushed her into an unauthorised overdraft she is STILL being charged a daily fee which HSBC refuse to freeze.

Yesterday my partner received a phone call from the HSBC fraud department stating the case was closed and they were finding her liable as the card was present at the time of these transactions and her correct pin had been used.

I fail to see how this can be the case as at the time of these transactions we were hundreds of miles away from where they were carried out and my partner can prove this as she made a payment using apple pay in a store 300 miles away around the same time that there was an ATM withdrawal!

I have spoken to the bank on her behalf this morning as she is a vulnerable adult with learning difficulties to be told that all HSBC can do now is lodge an appeal against the fraud teams decision which can take anything between 6 & 8 weeks.

What is my best course of action to at least get the overdraft fees waived or frozen as I have now given up the hope the bank would have a soul and realise this is a genuine case of fraud against a woman who is suffering serious mental anguish aswell as financial hardship due to their frankly callous and uncaring attitude.

Any help appreciated, thanks in advance!

Although there are rules about this which should protect your partner, the banks very often ignore them.

I'm afraid that there is probably nothing you can do in the short term. You should send the bank an SAR to get all the information they hold on her about this issue and any other issue (that expect the bank to be very helpful here either) and at the same time make a complaint – on the telephone if you are recording it and then confirm in writing and tell them that you want the matter to be sent to the FOS.

In any event, you should send a full letter of complaint to the bank including outlining your partners particular difficulties and how this is impacting on her.

Finally you could try phoning the FOS directly and explaining to them exactly what has happened and tell them that although you are making a complaint to the bank and then eventually to the FOS, on the basis of your partners vulnerability are they able to escalate complaint or maybe intervene directly. The answer to this will probably be – no – but nothing ventured nothing gained.

Please keep us informed as to what is happening. I'm afraid that the banks routinely ignore the rights of their customers and all you can do is take action about it later on.

We can eventually help you make a strong complaint about the bank to the courts if necessary but nothing I can suggest which will get you over your short-term problem. It's really not very satisfactory

I fail to see how this can be the case as at the time of these transactions we were hundreds of miles away from where they were carried out and my partner can prove this as she made a payment using apple pay in a store 300 miles away around the same time that there was an ATM withdrawal!

The ATM (and / or store) may have CCTV. Ask the police to get the CCTV. Let the store know (urgently) to retain any CCTV, as it may be liable to be deleted otherwise.

The (near-)simultaneous Apple pay doesn't require the card, so doesn't show that the card wasn't used in the store and ATM.

Was the card physically with her when she made the Apple Pay transaction?

Most importantly, if it wasn't, has she ever allowed someone else to use her card / given them the PIN?.

Thank you for the quick replies!

I feared that it might be difficult to do anything, I have decided that for now and in light of the advice you have given that short term I may pay my partners overdraft to stop any further charges incurring and take it from there.

I will be writing a complaint to the bank and will be contacting the FOS as advised.

With regards to the police requesting the CCTV they are doing so tomorrow I believe, however when we made a complaint to the police they didnt seem particularly interested and went as far to (without actually doing so) acuse my partner of being mistaken. Not holding out much hope they will actually get the CCTV and even if they do so they have already told us that we wont be allowed to view the footage so unsure how they would identify the lowlife thats done this.

have a read..from page 14

sadly HSBC have been carpeted by the FCA several times for the stance they have taken with you.

see the FCA/FOS websites