My bank card has been stolen

My bank card has been stolen

"My debit card issued by a local bank was stolen. It was a Saturday and I wasn't able to alert my bank quickly. On the same day, the thieves withdrew the sum of CHF 5,000 from another bank's ATM. Who's going to reimburse me: the bank, my household insurance or my civil liability insurance?

Marcel

The first question that arises in your misadventure is how the thieves were able to access your account, which is supposed to be protected by the PIN code on your card: had you deleted it or written it on your card? It should also be remembered that if a debit or credit card is stolen, the cardholder must block it as soon as he or she realises it is missing by informing the bank. In principle, a call centre is operational 24 hours a day. Why were you unable to alert your bank?

It is true that, under article 398 of the Code of Obligations, the bank is responsible to its customer for the proper and faithful execution of the mandate to keep his money and make it available to him when he needs it, but it is up to the customer not to be negligent. The bank will therefore not be obliged to reimburse you for the sum that has been taken from your account if the criminals have had too easy access to it or to your PIN code, especially if you have failed to inform it as soon as possible of the theft of your card, so that it could not be blocked immediately.

On the contrary, the bank would have to reimburse you for the amount debited if it could not be reached by telephone in an emergency or if it had been informed in time but had not taken the necessary steps to block the card, since it would then have breached its duty of care. Similarly, in the event of "skimming", i.e. tampering with payment machines and terminals to steal your card and PIN, your bank would normally seek reimbursement of the sums fraudulently debited.

In principle, your household insurance covers burglary, robbery and sometimes simple theft in your home. To cover theft outside your home, you will often need to take out specific cover. You should examine the general terms and conditions of your insurance and the amount covered, if any, stated in your policy. That said, like your bank, your insurance company may refuse to intervene if you have unfortunately been negligent.

Finally, civil liability insurance covers, as its name suggests, cases in which you are liable under civil law, i.e. when you yourself or persons, animals or things for which you are responsible cause damage to others. There is therefore no a priori reason for this insurance to be involved in the case you describe.

It follows that you should in any case lodge a complaint, in the hope that the police will find the criminals and, hopefully, your money.