united-kingdom contract-law fraud
Are Credit-Card fraud refunds legally obligated, or good customer service?
<p>Supoposing my CC is stolen, I would expect that all purchase on that card after the theft, but before its cancellation would get refunded to me.</p>

<p>Obviously the nature of that refund is going to depend on my bank and CC contract, but in broad generality do these tend to be:</p>

<ul>
<li>legally obligated by the required banking standards of the UK?</li>
<li>legally obligated by the contract, which the banks offer because that makes their contracts competitive?</li>
<li>not legally obligated, but good customer service, because that makes their business competitve?</li>
</ul>

<p>Under UK law the bank is responsible for all losses after you report the card lost or stolen. You are responsible for the first £50 before you report it but many banks waive this - in principle, it could be written into the contract that they do but AFAIK it’s done gratuitously at the bank’s discretion.</p>

<p>As a practical matter, the refund requirement is a term in the agreement between the credit card company and the customer, so additional sources for that requirement are pretty much irrelevant in day to day practice. </p>

<p>The contractual provision is frequently more generous than the legal requirement, explained by @DaleM which is something that credit card companies do, in part, out of a desire for good customer service and due to competition between credit card companies, and in part, because it makes claims easier for them to process administratively.</p>
