Banks will be forced to refund some scam victims under new rules from next year. Under the new rules published by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), from October 7 2024 banks and building societies will need to reimburse victims of APP scams for the amount lost within five business days.
After you notify your bank about the scam, it will normally have to refund you within five working days. Banks will have the option to charge an excess of up to £100 on each claim. This means they can choose NOT to refund an amount up to the first £100 lost.
The maximum refund amount is set to be £415,000 per claim. The regulator noted that setting this level involved “difficult trade-offs”, and said it may look to change it if “compelling evidence” emerges between now and October 2024 (when the rules come into effect).
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You WON’T be eligible for a refund if your bank decides you were “grossly negligent”. According to the regulator, this is a “very high bar” and involves acting with a “significant degree of carelessness”. So you’ll still need to take care when making payments. In particular, you’ll need to pay attention to any warnings your bank gives you and let your bank know as soon as possible if you suspect you’ve been scammed.
You must also share information with your bank to help it assess your claim and consent to fraud details being reported to the police. Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: “An excess of £100 would mean almost a third of APP scams would not be eligible for reimbursement, unless the victim is vulnerable.
“The PSR must be prepared to change the level of the excess if, as a result of the decision, fraudsters start to focus their attention on lower-value fraud.”
