Linked to unmanned hotline


ON Saturday afternoon I discovered my Link card with Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) had been stolen. I immediately rang the Link helpline to put a stop on the card. On Monday, I found my card had been used three times over the weekend for a total of £600. On querying this, I was told that Link cannot inform the Yorkshire at weekends or holidays but must wait until they re-open for business. The Halifax stopped my cards at once, so why can't the Yorkshire? MR, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Money Mail's Margaret Stone says: IT SEEMS ridiculous that YBS has a hotline telephone number for customers to report stolen or lost credit cards which is open for 24 hours every day of the week, but which is manned, and remedial action taken, only during office hours.

It means that after 1pm on Saturday afternoon, it is an answerphone service only and there is no one available to put a stop on a stolen or lost card. YBS defends its position on commercial grounds. A spokesman said the cost of manning a 24-hour telephone helpline and taking immediate action to put a stop on stolen cards was greater than the cost of reimbursing a few customers in the wake of any incidents.

You have fulfilled all your obligations by letting the building society know the theft and should be reimbursed in full for the £600 of fraudulent usage. However, you can expect some questions about where you keep your Pin. This is the secret number enabling you to withdraw funds; but it doesn't seem to have been all that secret to the thief.

Banks and building societies are becoming less tolerant of customers who don't appear to accept the simple rules about not keeping their Pins separate from the relevant cards.

Linked to unmanned hotline

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