Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Miss T complained that Nationwide Building Society allowed her to make gambling payments despite having a gambling block applied to her account. She had arranged the block in January 2026 due to a gambling problem but found that overseas gambling companies were processing payments using incorrect merchant category codes that bypassed the block. Miss T also argued that Nationwide should have monitored her account and intervened. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding that Nationwide has no control over the merchant category codes used by merchants and that even if Nationwide had intervened, it would not have likely stopped Miss T's gambling spending given her compulsive behavior and access to multiple payment routes.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Nationwide cannot be held responsible for merchants choosing to use incorrect or non-gambling merchant category codes, as Nationwide has no control over MCC selection. While Nationwide could have monitored for unusual transactions, even if it had intervened, the payments would likely have been made anyway as Miss T was authorizing them and they did not appear fraudulent. Given Miss T's compulsive gambling, she would likely have circumvented any block by using different entities or means. The ombudsman acknowledged Miss T's vulnerability and noted that Nationwide did provide appropriate support and signposting.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website