Unauthorised Card Transactions
Payments you did not make and did not approve. The law puts the burden on your bank to prove otherwise, and most people do not know that.
13 months
Maximum window to notify your bank
Next day
Refund deadline once notified
8%
Simple interest claimable per year
What this service is, and what it is not
An unauthorised transaction is any payment taken from your account that you did not consent to. Card details stolen in a data breach, a lost card used before you cancelled it, a family member using your card without permission, or a merchant taking more than you agreed, all of these are unauthorised.
The Payment Services Regulations 2017 are unusually favourable to consumers here. Regulation 76 requires your bank to refund an unauthorised payment immediately and no later than the end of the next business day, and to restore your account to the state it would have been in. Your bank can only refuse if it can prove you authorised the payment, or that you acted fraudulently, or that you failed with intent or gross negligence to keep your security details safe.
In practice, banks routinely decline these claims by asserting that the transaction was authenticated, a chip and PIN reading, or a passing 3-D Secure check. Authentication is not the same as authorisation. A criminal who has your card and your PIN produces a perfectly authenticated transaction. We push back on that distinction, in writing, with reference to the specific regulation, and it is frequently where a declined claim turns around.
You can raise an unauthorised transaction claim yourself, free, by calling the number on the back of your card. Do that first, it costs nothing and often works. Come to us if you have been refused, if the bank has gone quiet, or if you find the process difficult to face.
Business challenges this addresses
The bank says the payment was authenticated
Authentication proves a credential was used. It does not prove you used it. Banks conflate the two constantly, and the regulation does not.
You are accused of gross negligence
Gross negligence is a high bar, significantly more than carelessness. Writing a PIN down is not automatically gross negligence, and the bank must evidence its assertion.
The payments happened over weeks before you noticed
There is no rule that you must check your statement daily. Delay affects a claim far less than most people assume, and the 13-month notification window is generous.
It was someone you know
Family and partner fraud is common and difficult to report. A payment made without your consent is unauthorised regardless of who made it, and you are not obliged to press charges to be refunded.
How we deliver it
Every stage has a named owner on our side and a defined output. You always know what is happening and what comes next.
Typical duration: Most cases resolve in 8–12 weeks
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Free assessment
Tell us what happened and what the bank has said. We tell you honestly whether you have a claim, what it is likely to be worth, and whether you would be better off going direct.
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Evidence and account review
We review your statements, the bank's correspondence and its authentication evidence, and identify precisely where its reasoning fails.
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Formal representation
We write to the bank citing Regulation 76 and the specific gaps in its case, and require a substantive response within the eight-week complaint window.
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Escalation to the Ombudsman
If the bank maintains its refusal, we refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service with a full submission. This is free to you and to us; we do the paperwork.
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Payment and closure
Redress is paid directly to you by the bank. We invoice our fee afterwards, calculated on what you actually receive.
What you receive
- An honest assessment before you commit to anything
- A written complaint citing the regulations that apply to your case
- A challenge to the bank's authentication evidence
- Full Financial Ombudsman Service referral and submission if needed
- Interest at 8% simple per year claimed on money you were without
- One named case handler you can reach by phone or email
What changes afterwards
The burden of proof is not yours
Once you say a payment was unauthorised, the bank must prove otherwise. Claims are frequently won simply by insisting on that.
Interest on the money you lost
Where a refund was wrongly delayed, the Ombudsman routinely awards 8% simple interest per year for the period you were without your money.
Distress and inconvenience considered
Where the bank's handling caused real hardship, the Ombudsman can award compensation on top of the refund.
Claims of this kind we have run
$19,400 reimbursed after a bank blamed the customer for an impersonation scam
The bank refused reimbursement for gross negligence. It had not identified that the customer was recently bereaved, had not asked, and its warning did not address the scam that actually…
- Total recovered including interest
- $22,330 Total recovered including interest
- Refusals overturned
- 2 Refusals overturned
- From referral to settlement
- 19 weeks From referral to settlement
Frequently asked
Notify your bank as soon as you become aware. The Payment Services Regulations give you up to 13 months from the debit date, but sooner is always better and delay can make evidence harder to obtain.
Yes. Call the number on your card and report it. It is free, it is often resolved within days, and you lose nothing by trying. Come to us if you are refused or the process stalls.
No. Gross negligence is a high legal threshold and the bank has to evidence it, not merely assert it. Many of the cases we take on are ones where that assertion has not been substantiated.
Raising an unauthorised transaction claim should not affect your credit file. If your bank closes or restricts your account because you complained, that is itself something the Ombudsman will look at.
Services that pair with this one
APP Fraud Reimbursement
You were tricked into transferring money to a criminal. Since October 2024, most victims of authorised push payment fraud must be reimbursed.
Duplicate and Incorrect Charges
Charged twice, charged the wrong amount, or charged in the wrong currency at a rate you never agreed.
Section 75 Claims
On credit card purchases between $100 and $30,000, your card provider is equally liable with the retailer. That is statute, not a scheme rule.