The consumer association believes that banks make consumers believe “that they have no right to reimbursement” and “deceive them on the extent of their rights”.
The consumer association UFC-Que Choisir said on Tuesday June 28 that it had filed a complaint against twelve banking establishments which it accused of refusing to reimburse their customers who were victims of fraud.
Read alsoHow to limit your bank charges abroad
In his complaint for “deceptive marketing practices”, UFC-Que Choisir targets La Banque Postale, Crédit Agricole, Banque Populaire, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, CIC, LCL, Boursorama, ING, Nickel, Cetelem and Floa Banque. According to the association, which has analyzed 4,300 reports for refusal of reimbursement, 60% of which concern damage greater than 4,000 euros and which can go up to several tens of thousands of euros, the banks make consumers believe “that they have no right to reimbursement” et “fool them on the extent of their rights”.
“The most common method is to accuse the victims of “neglect”. An alibi which is not admissible, and even less so when the operation was validated with the only SMS. In second place comes the systematic refusal to reimburse in the event of reinforced authentication, without the bank providing proof that its customer is the originator of the payment. At the foot of the podium, other banks are trying to justify themselves by indicating that their insurance refuses any coverage.which is not a valid reason, denounces UFC-Que Choisir in a press release.
Read alsoThe UFC that choose denounces opaque bank tariffs
For Raphaël Bartlomé, head of the legal department of UFC-Que Choisir, the banks’ responses show “an industrialization of treatment”in violation of the Monetary and Financial Code which defines the criteria for refusal of reimbursement. “The bank must demonstrate how (customers) have been negligent, one by one”, he believes. The association also seized the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR), the regulator of banks and insurers, and Bercy “to intensify controls and establish a framework guaranteeing the effectiveness of the right to reimbursement for victims of fraud”.
In April 2021, the Banque de France and the ACPR called on payment players to reimburse better and faster in the event of fraud. The French Banking Federation had replied that banks reimbursed 85% of fraudulent card payments but that they were not “not automatic because it is necessary to verify that the dispute is not caused by a commercial dispute, that the fraud is not due to gross negligence or that the dispute is not made outside the legal deadlines, for example”.