Cost of internet banking bungle

MY HUSBAND experienced a similar problem with internet banking to Michael C (July 10) in March. Money in his current account was withdrawn as well as unused portion of his credit card facility at a major bank. The fraud was facilitated by a SIM swop on his cellphone in the afternoon.

The bank was aware of the fraud but did not report it to him. It took weeks of frustration dealing with the substandard service of the bank’s fraud division – waiting for 20 minutes for a call centre to respond; consultants not returning calls, not replying to e-mail correspondence – for the same response as Michael C: a 50% payout as “the loss was not caused due to any negligence by the bank”. The bank did not reverse the interest charges incurred by the credit card payment, due to its tardiness. WC (name withheld)