2023-07-17 16:29:27
What was not possible for many years then happened very quickly: Postbank customers can now also have their credit cards issued by the institute blocked by calling the national telephone number 116 116. “This has been possible since mid-June,” said a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, which owns Postbank. He did not give an exact date.
On June 10, the FAZ reported on the case of a Hamburger who carelessly provided fraudsters with credit card details in April. When the Postbank customer felt uneasy, he first tried to block his credit card using the nationwide number 116 116. That was not possible at the time, as Postbank was one of the few banks in Germany not to fully participate in the blocking hotline, which was run by an association. Postbank Girocards could be blocked, but not credit cards.
When the man from Hamburg reached an employee on Postbank’s own hotline after many hours in the evening, the child had already fallen into the well. Criminals used his credit card details to shop in Kazakhstan. The damage amounts to more than 6,000 euros, plus 95.58 euros that Postbank charged for using the card “foreign countries”. To date, Postbank has not responded to the customer’s complaint. Immediate blocking of the card via 116 116 might have prevented or at least reduced the damage because the criminals had used the card for several purchases.
A “business decision”
A Deutsche Bank spokesman justified the fact that Postbank customers could not block their credit cards under the national number in the event of loss or suspected misuse with a “business policy decision”. With its own blocking hotline, Postbank offers its customers their own hotline so that they can get further help in addition to the actual blocking process, for example when ordering replacement cards. “In addition, this separate offer enables a direct exchange between the customer and the bank of abusive transactions that have already been made and subsequent opportunities for customers,” said the spokesman in June.
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Just a few days later, Postbank, which has around 12 million customers in Germany, probably reconsidered. “With the option of having Postbank credit cards blocked on 116 116, we are meeting customer requests,” said a spokesman for the FAZ. It was also about aligning the service standards at Postbank and Deutsche Bank. Customers of the parent company have long been able to have all cards issued by the institute blocked. Around 1.5 million blocking requests are received on 116 116 every year.
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