What to do if you think

you're a victim of fraud

or a scam

Some retailers use a different trading name to what they are normally known as. Check our list of common retailers to help confirm if the transaction is genuine.

If you've got a joint account or secondary cardholder, double check with them to see whether they know about the payment.

Your statement will show the last 4 digits of the card that was used to make the transaction.

Some companies will automatically start taking the monthly fee from your account when the free trial period for their service ends. When you sign up for a free trial, put a reminder in your calendar to cancel it if you decide you don’t want to continue. Please contact the company first as this is often the easiest way to resolve any disputes. Further support on matters like this can be found here.

A regular debit or credit card payment is not a direct debit or a standing order. It's a regular payment made from your card, like a subscription to a publication or a service, such as Netflix. Regular payments automatically carry over to new cards unless cancelled. Further support on Regular Payments can be found here.

A common example of where a pre authorisation may occur is when you check into a hotel. They will take a pre-authorised amount from your available balance, which guarantees that there are funds to pay for any charges incurred during the hotel stay, such as the cost of room service or other amenities. At the end of your stay, once the balance is settled, the authorisation will be reversed back to you and full payment of your stay will be taken. 

We are unable to cancel any transactions while they are pending, the retailer is the only one who can cancel it and return funds back to you at this time. In most cases you’ll be able to sort this out with the retailer, if you’re still having issues after the payment has fully debited your account (UK 3-5 working days, Europe 7-10 working days and International 10-14 working days), you can raise a dispute with the company by using our online dispute forms.

A regular debit or credit card payment is not a direct debit or a standing order. It's a regular payment made from your card, like a subscription to a publication or a service, such as Netflix.

Cancel a regular debit card payment online 

Cancel a regular credit card payment online 

Often the quickest way to solve the problem is to contact the supplier so make sure you know your rights first.

Paying for things using your debit or credit card is quick and easy, but sometimes things don't go as smoothly as planned.

When something goes wrong, it helps if you know your rights, which you can find here: Gov.co.uk Consumer rights guide

The best place to start if you've not received goods or services you've paid for is by contacting the company you bought them from. But we realise this is not always possible, for example if the company has gone out of business. If you can't resolve the issue with the retailer, we may be able to help.

You can access our card payment support, which provides you with instructions on how to make a claim.