Not upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against TSB Bank plc

Decision detail

Summary

Miss H complained to the FOS about TSB's repeated payment blocks and declined transactions between June and December 2025 following the opening of a Spend and Save account. The blocks affected both low-value everyday transactions and larger payments, despite Miss H pre-warning TSB about some of them. TSB applied these blocks as part of its automated fraud prevention systems, including due to Miss H having a digital payment card registered on multiple devices. TSB had already compensated Miss H £190 for the inconvenience. The ombudsman found that TSB's actions were permitted under its terms and conditions, that the security measures were reasonable, and that the existing compensation was fair, therefore not upholding Miss H's complaint for additional compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that TSB's payment blocks and declined transactions were permitted under its terms and conditions and were part of legitimate automated fraud prevention systems. While acknowledging the inconvenience caused to Miss H, the ombudsman determined that TSB was entitled to apply security checks, even for low-value everyday transactions and even when Miss H had pre-warned the bank about larger payments. The ombudsman noted that TSB's security systems are not obligated to match those of other banks and that the payments were released promptly once verified. The ombudsman concluded that TSB had already provided fair compensation of £190 for the inconvenience and that no errors or financial losses had been identified that would warrant additional compensation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website