[Sundae]

Rotten luck Fresh.
At least you cancelled it in time.

I lost my debit card without even knowing I'd lost it.
I called my bank to cancel it when I tried to withdraw some money at 21.00 that evening and realised it was lost.

I got home at 15.00 (I know because I switched the tv on and a certain programme was just starting).
It turned out that at 15.30 my card was used a mile away in Walthamstow to buy an electrical item worth just under £1000
I can only assume it fell out of my car in front of my house, and the wrong person went past at the wrong time, saw it and acted on it immediately.

They informed me a couple of weeks later about the transaction, which they had cancelled the next day, and I had to pay a £50 excess because I reported the loss after the purchase.

Three months later the bank fraud dept asked me for a crime number.
They claimed that I would be liable for the full amount after all, due to my late request to cancel the card and its subsequent use. They advised me it was "suspicious" that I hadn't reported the loss to the Police.
They told me to go to my local police station and report it retrospectively - despite living in a different city by then.
I tried - they were baffled and told me I must be confused. I was lucky they didn't laugh in my face.
When I called the bank back they reiterated that without a crime number (for a crime I didn't know was committed until later) I would have to refund them for the transaction they had written off.

Luckily my Mum worked for the police issuing those numbers at the time (albeit in a dufferent location) and she phoned them up on my behalf and set them straight.

I don't bank with them any more.