My Visa debit card was used for 2 unauthorized payments in towns a long way from us. Suncorp Bank requires us to print out a form from their website, fill in details and, either go to the local branch to hand the form over or, post it to Brisbane.
They say it may take up to 30 business days to settle the issue and for us to get our money back!
What do other Banks do? Should it take this long? NOT HAPPY WITH THIS SERVICE… but, are any other banks any better?
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This is the typical time frame stated. Suncorp, as may any other financial institution, may take less time to carry out the refund to your account but are stating the legal time. Remember they have to investigate the payments and this can take several weeks. Some of the time delay can be the business/es involved having to send dockets, notes, and similar detail so the decision to refund or not can be made.
When I have had to get Credit Card refunds for when people have carried out fraud on my CC number the bank has always stated it may take up to 6 weeks for the refund but I have generally received it back within a week (as my cases involved overseas issues and were not me for obvious reasons).
Depending on the evidence they may decide not to refund and then you can dispute this decision using various means including going to the financial ombudsman service (FOS)
It may be worth reading ASIC’s advice as well at their MoneySmart site
Also if a member of Choice you can avail yourself of their help service.
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When a fraudulent charge/debit is reported by phone one of the first things the agent will usually ask is if you want them to freeze the card and issue you a new one. Unfortunately there are reports some banks will reconnect recurring debits to the new card, and that is another issue to watch.
Although you write in ‘towns a long way from us’ your terminology poses the question, was your debit card physically used (eg stolen or taken by someone known to you and used without consent) or was your account debited by an online or phone purchase without consent (a ‘card not present’ transaction)?
You might be interested in this thread spanning 2013-2016. It also appears from their form that Suncorp is one the the remaining “Great Companies” that accepts faxes and secure post (lets not go there ), but apparently neither email nor secure uploading nor online filing nor an app for such reports, in the name of faux security.
Bank of Melbourne and the particulars of their process are here.
I would call Suncorp’s process ‘steam powered’ unless they did take all the particulars by phone, but still require the form as documentation in their formal process. Then it is just cumbersome.
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Hiya gowinter
I am so sorry that you have experienced this awful circumstance. I too, had my Visa credit card used for unauthorized payments, but much to my shock and amazement, my ANZ Bank contacted me…!
ANZ notified me immediately they noticed an unusual payment on my Credit Card and asked me to verify if I had used my Card to purchase goods or services in this particular area and at what time.
I can not tell you how surprised I was with their amazing pro-active Customer Service. I have banked with ANZ for many years and tell my story to all who will listen, particularly when the subject of Credit Cards and fraud comes up.
I can not recommend them highly enough.
ANZ did not authorize or pay these two “unusual” transactions and asked me to close the Account immediately and get a new Credit Card in order to protect myself as my card had obviously been compromised.
To be with a Bank that is so pro-active and helpful at times like this is essential.
I suggest you close your Account immediately and get a new credit card, and a new bank whilst you are at it.
We hear of so many awful Bank happenings it is refreshing to know that one Bank is at least trying to look after their Customers.
Hope this helps!
Cheers Natalie 
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I had a curious experience with Westpac a few years ago. Details are not important but Westpac had a Very Badly Implemented Promotion for their card holders. I am atop bad things, worry about security, confirm domains and so on, and clicked through but eventually a suspicion was raised. I immediately rang Westpac to confirm if it was indeed their promotion.
The phone agent immediately advised I had been phished, lectured, cancelled my card and it took a business week to receive a new card. Reality eventuated that it was a Westpac promotion and there was nothing wrong except some over-employed IT staff and their manager.
Bottom line is their customer protection training always ended up with ‘it must be fraud’ so they could hear nothing about their own promotional disaster or my attempt to educate them on technicalities of why the site was in Westpac’s domain so would they check, and it all fell on deaf ears. Their hollow apology in not knowing about their own promotions and thus impacting their customer was couched in a ‘your security is important to us’. My inconvenience resulted in better training and contributed to a change in their systems.
Sometimes an incorrect debit has other reasons than simple fraud. I bought something from an online merchant once, a few years ago and out of the blue there was a recent $50 charge from them. I rang Westpac, flagged it in online banking, and it was a once off that got handled. The reason was claimed to be a new accounting system at the merchant, that incorrectly picked up some historical transactions. If it or another bogus debit occurred I would have stopped the card.
My point is that one needs to watch for fraud and report anything suspicious, but to also keep perspective – it might be an innocent although irritating problem, or it could be worrisome.
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The problem for them to close the account is that it is their savings account. They have a Visa Debit card and it is linked directly to their savings. I believe a new card will be issued with different numbers but they usually don’t close the savings account.
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Yes, that is what Suncorp would usually do. They would initially suspend and then cancel the card and issue a new one.
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I have had ‘unauthorized payments’ made on our Mastercard.
On one occasion they rang and enquired if it was me. It was so the transaction went through.
On the next occasion, CBA picked it up before I knew of it and again informed me. The transactions were blocked before they were processed. It was suggested that I should get a new credit card for security. I asked what would happen if I didn’t. I was told that if I didn’t freeze the card, CBA would not be responsible if any future ‘unauthorized payments’ went through undetected. The future bit worried me, as that is a long time. So, I cancelled my card.
Unfortunately it was nearly three weeks before the replacement arrived causing a lot of angst with direct debits. Why can’t banks just transfer all direct debits to the new card?
So, I agree with other comments that it looks like Suncorp are in “steam driven” mode.
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In my case it’s fraud. My card was used by me to purchase something online from a shop; two days later the disputed charges occurred at two other shops in the SE Region, I live in Central Qld. and have not travelled in the last few months nor has my card been mislaid, stolen or, otherwise compromised.
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Yes, my old card has been cancelled. Approximately a week to 10 days for a new one, they said.
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Had a look at BOMelbourne - sounds good they warn you; but SMS - I’m an (older) email person (no smartphone), so that would not work for me either.
And yes, Suncorp’s procedures are ‘cumbersome’, they did cancel the card when I phoned, promised a new one, told me where to find the form online (had to print it out!!!) [ I could have done this via a .pdf file] and either post it (another week lost) or take it to the local branch (which we did).
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Need to correct my previous statements: Have checked again my payment to Magnamail – I used Paypal!!! Paypal is linked to the compromised card!
So, do I need to notify Paypal as well? Or will Suncorp do that? Sounds a lot more involved now…
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If you even possibly think it may be that your Paypal account has been compromised you should contact Paypal urgently (I think you should). You should also change your password for Paypal (they will also almost certainly recommend this step). If you did this shopping online you may want to ensure your device is not infected with a virus or similar as this may lead to more than just your Paypal account being compromised. Check your device before changing your Paypal password on it or change it using a device that is clean.
Was it really the magnamail site you used or did you just click a link in an email or similar? If you clicked a link you may have been the victim of a middleman attack where you went through their data capture before you went to Magnamail’s site and hence they captured your logins and passwords.
Suncorp will not contact Paypal generally in these cases as it was your card details that were used for the fraudulent transactions not your Paypal account.
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I’m sure I used the Magnamail site - I queried them re the order, they replied and the order actually arrived today (most of it anyway - 1 bit missing; I’ve contacted them about it; bad packaging, it seems).
Just received my Paypal a/c summary, but it only goes to the 23 Oct. (which includes the Magnamail payment only).
Thanks for the other advice - will do some more checks / virus scans.
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My message about MagnaMail may have been a bit garbled. I meant did you put the magnamail address in yourself or did you click a link in a message or email? Some of the people who steal your details send very convincing contacts to you and when you click the link you will end up at MagnaMail but it will be through a site you don’t see that as you send data to MagnaMail they are capturing. This is a middleman attack/exploit, because they sit between you and the site you visit.
You can login to your Paypal account and see all your current transaction history, you don’t have to wait for your statement. The page to visit is https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/activity and I suggest that you type the address in rather than click the link It will require you to login but it will redirect you to your transaction history. If you click on any transaction you will get a more detailed report about it and can among other actions report a problem with the transaction if needed. You can also from the summary screen do a similar exercise and you may choose whichever method suits you best.
I hope you can get your problems resolved quickly and satisfactorily and remember many on this site and in the Choice organisation will help in anyway that they can.
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Do a full system scan with your normal antivirus, then with an alternative anti-virus. Some pick up things others miss. Whether or not you use a paid AV, you can use a free version for a secondary scan. The major free ones are reviewed at PCMag. However some of them, Avast! for one, can be quite annoying in their intrusive sales proposals while others such as Panda can be set to just do their job and only rarely offer you a ‘deal’.
Also do a scan with a specialised malware cleaner such as malwarebytes and their standalone adware cleaner., not to be confused with adaware. For a manual scan the free ones will suffice.
When you are satisfied your system is clean, do not get tempted to run more than 1 anti-virus and 1 active (always running) anti-malware; more than 1 can be less protective than 1 since they have been known to compete/fight with each other.
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I would also like to note that the ANZ arranged a new Credit Card for me within THREE working days!
Amazing when they are so slow at other things, and they also gave me access to my Credit for other purchases if I needed to buy anything!
Wonders never cease!
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Have been ordering online - mainly books, some clothes for many years (over 10) and no problems, except last week:
ordered from ‘Magnamail’ and found 2 strange entries on my trans. record a few days later: from other locations, we’ve not travelled. Now have to claim these back from the Bank (Suncorp makes it REALLY difficult to do so).
Why do you think there is a connection between Magnamail and the other transactions?
Why do I think there is a connection between Magnamail and the other transactions?
Because this is the first time I’ve used this card for an online purchase. I have not even taken it out of my wallet for weeks and any money I use from the account is via Paypal or Direct debit to pay a bill. My husband uses his to draw cash for us - but his has a different number (same account, though). His card still works! And the fraudulent payments appeared within a week of my order.
None of my other cards have been compromised - I’ve checked!
