in the UK, can suppliers of goods legally keep your debit card details?

Question

A company has taken money from our bank account-unauthorised by using our debit card details which they have kept since June last year,We have spoke to the bank who are "investigating" .this must be illegal,surely.

Answer 1

Here's how it goes.

Merchants can hold your card number and expiry date, along with your name and address (if provided), but they can not legally store the CVV (the 3 digit number on the back or the 4 digit monster in the front of AMEX) of your card.

Now all one really needs to make an authorisation is the long card number and the expiry date to match, which is no problem if they have it stored, however since they MUST not have the CVV on file the response from the bank would have been "CVV not matched".

When you dispute a payment, it would be in your favour if the CVV is not matched because that would mean that the merchant charged you without you knowing about it, if the CVV is matched then it means that you initiated the payment yourself as you are the only one who is supposed to know the CVV for your card and in that case the liability will shift on you and not the merchant.

When your bank said that they are "investigating", they are basically checking on this information and in case they find the the CVV was indeed not matched (or checked at all) for this disputed transaction, you are bound to get a refund from the merchant.

I know you are probably thinking what if the merchant stored your CVV as well without telling anyone about it, well anyone would think hard before doing that as it can jeopardise the credibility of their business and put them into hot water as it is bound to come out sooner or later (a common eg would be repeated similar chargebacks on the merchant's account like yours).

This info is the same for debit and credit cards alike.

Hope the above makes sense and has been of help.

Answer 2

They can keep your card details as long as their registered with the data protection registrar.

They can't just charge it willy nilly. They stole that money from you.

I'd imagine that the bank will reverse the transaction pretty sharpish if they found the supplier acted illegally.

Answer 3

Unless it is an ongoing service or you have signed a data protection agreement allowing them to keep these details it is illegal.

When I worked in a call centre we weren't even allowed to write numbers down, we had to key them straight to the computer and store it nowhere.

Answer 4

I hope it wasn't an internet subscription site or similar as they'll keep taking monthly installments to renew your subscription till you click the well hidden box that says 'no' to automatic renewals, it's your responsibility to halt the transaction these people know all the dodges to catch you for cash. .

Answer 5

the answer is no, you can ask them to refund it straight away and if they refuse to refund your UNAUTHORISE card charge then you can recover by making a claim in the Small Claim Court.

Answer 6

No they cant keep any details of your card unless you agree to it, and they have to tell and ask you aswell.

Answer 7

this keeps happening with me with AOL broadband cancelled 2 months ago and cant stop it unless i declare my card lost

Answer 8

well, if you give them an oppurtunity to collect late payments, they will surely collect so it might be illegal, but it is surely justified if this is the case so idont know

Answer 9

i think so but they cant give to anyone its in there files until maybe after a year or so