Banking Check your bank statements, be careful with bank card

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BRUCE BARTLETT
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

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SAINT JOHN - A local woman is warning consumers who use debit cards while Christmas shopping to check their bank statements - and the Better Business Bureau agrees.

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Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal

Nancy Leslie holds up her banking account information showing where she and her daughter were charged multiple times for the same purchase.

Nancy Leslie waited more than a week to have money returned after the payment for one purchase at Christmas Discounters was withdrawn a total of four times from her bank account.

Jill Atkinson, director of communication for the Better Business Bureau in Halifax, said consumers should check their bank statements regularly if they are set up for online banking, and not wait until the monthly statement arrives in the mail.

If there are problems with a debit card transaction, and a charge doesn't go through, it is important to always take home the printouts that show the transaction was cancelled, she said.

"Always ask for them because they can do two copies of everything and it's generally not a problem," she said.

Once a person is aware of a problem with a debit card transaction and has notified their bank it could take up to a couple of weeks to get the money back into your account, Atkinson said. And all banks have ombudsmen, so if a problem doesn't get resolved, contact them.

"The general rule is to never let your debit card out of sight, and if possible swipe your card yourself, and if that's not possible, watch to make sure it's not being double swiped," Atkinson said.

The other thing to be wary of during the busy Christmas shopping season are what people in the business call shoulder surfers, who may be looking for PIN numbers, Atkinson said.

Leslie's problems started after she picked up $49 worth of merchandise. When she offered an RBC bank card, Leslie was told the store was having trouble with them. The clerk tried once, said it didn't go through, jiggled wires and tried again, saying it still hadn't worked. Leslie then offered a CIBC bank card and it appeared to work.

"When I got home that night I checked my online banking and saw that it went through three times on the Royal Bank plus once on my CIBC bank," she said.

She called the store and was told it was the fault of the Interac system and not the store. She was told it would take five days to get the money back.

Last Thursday - a week after Leslie's visit to the store and many phone calls later - she was told by store manager Theresa Goldsmith that the company providing Interac service to Christmas Discounters would be returning the funds to Leslie.

Goldsmith said the first time the store had problems with debit cards was two weeks ago when the Interac system went down across the country. When service was restored, her store still had problems with cards from RBC. After the complaints by Leslie, the store had its phone line upgraded and obtained a new Interac machine. There have been no problems since the new system has been installed, Goldsmith added.