Earlier this month, TSB notified their members of a policy that makes them the first UK bank to offer a comprehensive fraud refund, regardless of the type of fraud that takes place.
While there are already protections in place to ensure that defrauded consumers can get their money back in some circumstances, there have been plenty of cases of people needing to fight tooth and nail in order to be reimbursed, and others where they haven’t managed to receive a refund at all. That’s because most banks will only offer refunds for certain types of fraud, leaving lots of victims out in the cold.
Named the ‘Fraud Refund Guarantee’, TSB have said that their new offer will help to protect consumers:
“Put simply, our guarantee means that from now on, if you’re an innocent victim of fraud, we will refund the money you lost from your TSB account. This goes further than any type of fraud guarantee offered by any other bank and is another example of our commitment to fighting fraud.”
What protections are already in place?
Traditionally, people are able to claim money back for fraud in cases where money leaves their account without their authorisation. This means that anyone who falls foul of a scammer or confidence trickster who convinces them to send money out of their account voluntarily would be left out of pocket.
Hopefully, TSB’s new guarantee will work in a ‘no questions asked’ manner – whilst it may be necessary to prove that a fraud has taken place, the victim shouldn’t then have to go to further trouble to prove that they aren’t at fault.
What does the guarantee cover?
As mentioned, it covers all cases of fraud, including those where a person has been convinced to move money out of their account for fraudulent reasons. It should go without saying that this only applies to people who move money out of their account without knowing that a fraud is taking place: anybody who is a knowing and willing participant in the scam will lose their eligibility.
There is also a limit of £1 million (per claim) for cases where the customer has been duped into paying the fraudster voluntarily. As far as we’re aware, there’s no refund limit for people whose accounts have been accessed without their knowledge.
Why should people without TSB accounts care?
Firstly, this is a great win for consumer rights: it’s often felt unfair to us that people can get tricked by increasingly complex scams and still have no recourse. Secondly, modern banking is an incredibly competitive world. High street banks are falling over each other to give you the best service that they can and convince you to keep your bank accounts with them. This means that innovations introduced by one bank are often copied or even improved by competitors who don’t want to be behind the curve. It would be great to see this as a first step towards all banks offering similar protections for their customers.
