One of the primary purposes of the ePayments Code is to determine who is liable in the event of an unauthorised transaction. Depending what has happened, a holder may be able to claim the amount of the transaction back from the bank or credit union.

An unauthorised transaction is one that is not authorised by the holder. This may happen where a person’s card is able to be used after it has been reported stolen, or the security of a pass code (such as a PIN) is breached. It is therefore very important to report the theft of a card or other device quickly to prevent unauthorised use.

Protecting a pass code is very important, and holders need to ensure that their code is kept secure, and not easy to guess. If the unauthorised transaction occurred as a result of the voluntary disclosure of a pass code, the holder is not entitled to a refund.

If the unauthorised transaction occurred as a result of a failure of a system or electronic network required to complete a transaction, the holder may be entitled to recover any resulting loss including consequential loss.