Nationwide Building Society has issued an update about when it will block a customer's bank card. The provider may also require you to get a new bank card if this is deemed necessary.
The issue came to light after a person raised concerns that their son had been sent a message and had a phone call from Nationwide urging them to take action. The parent said they had soon been told to "order a new card" in the messages, after a fraud alert on their account. They wanted to know if it was the group's policy to send out messages about fraud like this.
After some back and forth, the parent asked specifically if the mutual would ever contact a customer through the app to instruct them to cancel their card. The building society said in response: "If his card has been compromised, and he has the banking app, we can request that he stop and replace the card through the app, provided the fraud has been confirmed on the card."
In light of the interaction, Nationwide was asked to explain what its policies are around detecting fraudulent activity and how it contacts customers if their account has been flagged up. A spokesperson said: "Our fraud detection systems look for suspicious transactions on our customers' accounts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
"If we spot something, we'll block the card and send the customer a fraud alert message through our banking app, by text or with an automated voice call to check it was really them. It's quick and easy to either confirm the fraud or say it was actually them and remove the block."
Nationwide can change your cardAsked when a customer would be required to change their card, the group said: "Nationwide can change a customer's card if we believe the account is at heightened risk of fraudulent activity taking place. This information can come from a variety of sources which would help us to inform our decision as to whether a new card is needed."
The mutual also said there are a "number of measures" that can be put in place if suspicious activity is detected on an account, or if customer reports an incident of fraud. The group explained: "These are generally completed by Nationwide staff and not reliant on the customer."
If you get a message purportedly from Nationwide and you want to check it's real, there is guidance on the Nationwide website about this. This includes a list of contact numbers that Nationwide may contact you from.
However, customers should be careful when receiving a phone call from one of these numbers. The spokesperson said: "It's important to note that fraudsters can spoof telephone numbers, so if a customer is concerned that it may not be Nationwide, they should call into Nationwide using the number on the back of their card or on our website."
£175 payments from NationwideOn a more positive note, Nationwide members may be able to get a £175 payment from the building society. You can get the bonus cash when switching from a non-Nationwide bank account to a new or existing FlexDirect, FlexAccount or FlexPlus.
To get the bonus, you need to arrange the switch through the Current Account Switch Service and complete your switch within 28 days. You also have to pay in at least £1,000 and make one debit card payment from the switched-into account, within 31 days of either opening the account or requesting the switch into an existing account.
Once you have done everything you need to, the £175 will be paid into the account you have switched into. The cash will be paid out within 10 days of you meeting all the requirements. The payment will appear on your statement as 'Switching Offer'.
