Help & Support

Unrecognised debit card transactions

Unrecognised or disputed debit card transactions

There’s a debit card transaction on my account that I don’t recognise – what should I do?

There could be a number of reasons for this:

  • The company that you made a payment to may have a different trading name to the business name you know them by. A quick internet search can help identify the company name that you’re more familiar with.
  • Do you have a joint account? If so, did the other account holder make the payment?
  • Have you recently signed an agreement or contract with a supplier who has then charged you for a service?
  • Have you signed up for a free trial that has then become a paid service? Monthly subscriptions are often set up this way.
  • Is the amount different to what you were expecting? This can often happen with overseas transactions due to daily changes in exchange rates.

If you still don’t recognise the transaction, call us on 01228 403141 with your account number, the transaction date and amount, and the name of the company the payment is to.

There’s a debit card transaction on my account that I want to dispute – what should I do?

When you make a purchase on your debit card, sometimes things can go wrong. If you pay with your debit card and your goods are faulty or damaged when you receive them, or the amount you’ve been charged is wrong, you could be eligible for a refund. Similarly if a payment has been debited that you didn’t authorise, including if you’ve been subjected to fraud, you’ll be entitled to a refund.

To claim a refund for a disputed or unauthorised debit card transaction, we use Visa’s chargeback process to recover money on your behalf from the company the payment was made to.

To raise a chargeback request, simply call us on 01228 403141.

When can I claim a refund of a debit card transaction?

Examples of when you can use Visa’s chargeback process include:

  • You didn’t authorise the transaction
  • The goods you’ve ordered haven’t been received
  • The goods you’ve received are different to what was ordered or are faulty/damaged
  • The amount charged on your account is different to the amount you were quoted or you have a duplicate transaction on your account
  • You’ve cancelled a subscription that you’d been paying by recurring payments using your card details but the company have still taken another payment
  • You ordered free samples or a free trial from a company and now they’ve now charged you

A chargeback must be raised within 120 days of the transaction or the date the goods/service were expected, or from the date that you became aware that you would not receive the goods/service (as long as it is not more than 540 days from the transaction date).

If the chargeback is in respect of goods not being delivered and there wasn’t a delivery date agreed, please wait at least 15 days from the order date.

If you are disputing a transaction that you did authorise, you should try and contact the company in the first instance to try and resolve the dispute directly with them. If the dispute relates to goods received that are faulty or different to what was ordered, you must have returned or attempted to return the goods, and allow the company 15 days to provide either a refund or replacement items. If you can’t provide us with sufficient evidence, we may be unable to proceed with your chargeback request.

What information will I need to provide if I’m disputing a debit card transaction?

To support your chargeback request the type of evidence you need to provide depends on your specific claim but it usually includes:

  • Transaction amount
  • Transaction date
  • Your debit card number
  • Detailed description of the goods or service you have purchased/ordered
  • Proof of purchase
  • Proof of return of goods
  • Company name
  • If the amount charged differs to what you expected, evidence to support the correct amount
  • Terms and conditions of the purchase
  • Evidence that the goods or services were faulty or differ from how they were described
  • Details of your attempt(s) to resolve the dispute with company the payment was made to

How quickly will I be refunded?

Some chargeback requests can take time to resolve. There are conditions that have to be met and the process has various steps, so please respond to us within the timeframes given in our letters to ensure we can help you as much as possible, otherwise your request could be unsuccessful.

If the company you raise the chargeback request against, challenges your claim and is able to provide valid evidence to defend their position, any money that we may have already refunded to you may have to be re-debited from your account and paid back to the company in question.

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