Nationwide, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander customers warned of possible £100 charge from today

New banking rules coming into force

Banks will have the power to hit certain customers with a £100 excess charge under new rules. The penalties could apply to victims of fraud.

Banks are being forced to reimburse most people who fall victim to fraud under a new code, as much as £85,000. The new protections apply when a transfer is made to and from a UK bank account.

However, banks can choose to add an excess of up to £100. This means the amount victims are paid back could be cut by £100.

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This is an optional charge, so it all depends on who you bank with and if they choose to have this in place, the Mirror reports. It's possible it could include some of the biggest banks. The changes come into force from today.

The excess cannot be applied to vulnerable consumers. Under the new rules, banks will be required to reimburse fraud victims unless they have been grossly negligent or the customer is vulnerable.

In general, you should be reimbursed within five business days of making a claim. It can take longer if banks need more time to investigate - but a final decision must be reached within 35 business days. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) - which is overseeing the new fraud rules - says the £85,000 limit will cover more than 99% of claims.

Where more than £85,000 is lost and not reimbursed, fraud victims could choose to lodge a claim with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which has a compensation limit of £430,000.

The new rules have been brought in following a surge in people falling victim to Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams. APP fraud happens when a victim unwittingly sends money to a scammer who is pretending to be someone they know. The total number of APP cases was up 12% to 232,429 in 2023, according to UK Finance data, with total losses of £459.7million.