Banks could pass on cost of fraud to us

JUST two banks have promised not to pass on the cost of refunding scam victims to their own customers.

A new refund scheme for victims of scams where neither the bank nor customer is to blame is set to be launched on May 28.

But banks have only pledged to cover the cost until the end of the year, when they hope to have found a longer-term funding solution.

One idea is to charge a levy on every payment. It would then be up to banks to decide whether or not to pass this cost on to their customers.

So far only Lloyds and Nationwide have promised not to do this.

Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Metro Bank, HSBC and Santander refuse to give the same reassurance.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at consumer group Which? says banks should not make its customers shoulder the cost of refunding victims who lose money to scams.

He urges other banks to follow in the steps of Lloyds and Nationwide.

Industry trade body UK Finance says a number of options for funding the reimbursement scheme are being considered and that no decisions have been made.