Not upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against The Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr U complained that Foresters unfairly charged him £30 for an international payment when his savings plan matured in February 2024 and he requested the funds be sent to his overseas bank account. Mr U argued he was discriminated against because he no longer held a UK bank account due to living overseas, and that he was not informed of potential charges when opening the plan. Foresters responded that it had informed Mr U in July 2023 via email that it would not be responsible for international payment fees, and that Mr U had referenced this email when requesting an update in January 2024. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding that Foresters had adequately communicated the potential charges and that Mr U was aware of them before the payment was sent, and that overseas residents are not discriminated against as any UK resident requesting an overseas payment would face similar charges.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Foresters was not unreasonable in deducting the international payment fee because: (1) Foresters could not have foreseen at inception that Mr U would lack a UK bank account at maturity; (2) Foresters explicitly informed Mr U in July 2023 of potential international payment charges; (3) Mr U demonstrated awareness of this information when he referenced the email chain in January 2024 before the payment was sent; and (4) any UK resident requesting an overseas payment would face similar international bank charges, so Mr U was not discriminated against based on his overseas residency status.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website