CB and the AFUB Wishing that Cardholders Could Still File Complaints
- In a memo to the attorney generals in the French Courts of Appeal on 2nd August, the Ministry of Justice asks the police as well as the gendarmerie enforcement forces not to register complaints in case of card fraud any longer. Since 2001 (MURCEF Act) and the 2009 PSD transposition, fraud victims still in possession of their card benefit from full refund and their account balance must be restored. If they have been robbed of their card, their liability is set to 150 euros until they have their means of payment blocked (liability is null after that). This 150-euro amount may be paid back by an insurer.
- The Ministry seeks to relieve law enforcement forces and claims that banks do not have to ask for proof that complaint has been filed. According to the Ministry, an issuer will be more efficient if filing a class complaint on behalf of all its hit cardholders. It allows gathering of pieces of evidence regarding a same modus operandi affecting several customers.
- Soon after, this order has been criticised by both sides. The AFUB (French association for banking users – Association Française des Usagers Bancaires) claimed that such a decision would let fraudster run unhindered and, above all, provide for an unjustified decrease in crime figures.
- French card scheme Cartes Bancaires notes that individual cardholders can better describe modus operandi than banking back-offices. On top of that, registered names and personal details are protected by bank secrecy, except if a judge requires it.