Bank fraud refund: getting paid back by your neobank

Yes, in most cases, and faster than you would think. A transaction you did not authorise must be refunded to you by the end of the first business day following your report. Here is the procedure, the real deadlines, and the Belgian detail that changes everything when your account sits with a neobank.

Does the bank have to refund bank fraud?

Yes, as long as you did not authorise the transaction. Article VII.43 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law requires the provider to refund immediately, and no later than the end of the first business day following your notification. One way out is provided: a reasoned suspicion of fraud, which must be reported in writing to the FPS Economy, the Belgian federal public service for economic affairs.

The text is clear. Applying it is much less so, because nearly every case turns on a prior question rather than on the deadline: was the disputed transaction authorised, or not?

In January, someone close to me clicked on a fake parcel tracking message and typed his codes into a page that copied his app pixel for pixel. Three hundred and eighty euros left in two payments, in under an hour. Dispute filed the same evening in the app, money back two days later, no argument.

Unauthorised or authorised: the line that decides everything

An unauthorised transaction is one a third party carries out in your place: stolen codes, a counterfeited instrument, a remote payment approved without you. An authorised transaction is one you confirmed yourself, with your code or your fingerprint, even if a voice on the phone talked you into it.

The second category is the one that keeps growing. Febelfin, the Belgian banking federation, puts at 49 million euros the sums taken through phishing in Belgium over 2024, and notes that fraudsters increasingly try to get the victim to make the transfer herself. The sector says it detected, blocked or recovered 75 % of the transfers coming out of those frauds, which still leaves a considerable amount lost.

Position as of 18 September 2026, based on Book VII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law and the SEPA rules applying to direct debits.

What should you do in the first hour?

Six moves, in this order. None of them costs a euro.

1. Block the card and the access in the app: freeze the card, then log out every active session.
2. Change the password of the account, and the one of the mailbox used to recover it.
3. Export the history of the disputed transactions, with date, time, amount and beneficiary.
4. File the dispute in the app, stating that you did not make the transaction, not that you did not receive the goods.
5. File a police report at your local police zone, list of transactions in hand.
6. Report the fraudulent message to Safeonweb, the Belgian cybersecurity awareness service, so the trap link gets blocked.

Step 4 is where cases get lost. Ticking the wrong reason moves your request into the commercial disputes queue, which runs through a different team on different timelines, and nobody will warn you about the switch. I watched a file drag on for five weeks at N26 for that reason alone.

If the physical card itself has gone missing, the order of moves is different, and we set it out in our article on a lost or stolen neobank card.

Fraudstop, Card Stop and neobanks: who blocks what

Since 22 June 2026, the Card Stop number doubles as Fraudstop. Dialling 078 170 170 now blocks access to online banking and to the banking app, not just payment cards. The service runs around the clock.

One caveat, and it concerns you directly. At launch, public broadcaster VRT pointed out that most Belgian banks take part, but that a few newer banks are not connected yet. Card Stop, for its part, identifies you by your bank account number or by your postcode and date of birth, and only acts on instruments issued by affiliated institutions. For a Revolut, N26 or bunq card, blocking happens in the app.

One Sunday in June I dialled the number for a bunq card, out of curiosity as much as reflex. The operator searched, then said there was nothing he could block. The app had done the job in thirty seconds.

How long does the neobank have to refund you?

One business day after your notification, for an unauthorised transaction. The rest of the procedure runs on its own clocks, and nobody gathers them in one place.

Recorded on 18 September 2026 from Book VII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, the European payment services directive and the complaint procedures published by the institutions. The four neobanks active in Belgium that we track, Revolut, N26, bunq and Wise, handle the dispute inside the app, with no branch and no Belgian emergency line.

Gross negligence: can the neobank refuse to pay?

That is the argument you will be served, and 2026 weakened it considerably in Belgium.

The notion is defined precisely nowhere. A PIN written on the back of the card, nobody argues. A code given over the phone to someone posing as your bank is far more debatable, and Belgian courts do not all rule the same way.

On 26 May 2026, the Antwerp business court ordered, in summary proceedings, the immediate refund of 49,958 euros to phishing victims, restating that article VII.43 leaves the provider only one way out, a suspicion of fraud reported in writing to the FPS Economy, and not gross negligence. Refund first, argue later, and the burden falls on the institution to prove the fault if it wants the money back. Test-Achats, the Belgian consumer organisation, covered the decision; the Court of Justice of the European Union is also seized of a related question, on which the advocate general delivered his opinion on 5 March 2026.

One rule is not open to debate: after your notification, nothing is charged to you, even where gross negligence is alleged for what came before.

A file I followed at N26 was refused at first, with an automated answer citing a transaction "validated by the cardholder". A written complaint quoting article VII.43 and the police case number was enough to turn it around. Three weeks, but refunded in full.

What if the refund is refused?

Three routes, in order, all free. A written complaint to the provider's complaints department. Then Ombudsfin, the Belgian mediator for financial disputes. Then the FPS Economy, whose Economic Inspectorate can be contacted about a payment service.

Before writing, build the file. The pieces that make the difference:

• The screenshot of the history, with the date and time of every disputed transaction.
• The timestamp of the freeze on the card or of the session logout.
• The police case number and the police zone where the report was filed.
• The original fraudulent message, email or text, kept as is rather than forwarded.
• The exchanges with customer support, exported out of the app's chat thread.

One neobank-specific point deserves to be stated plainly. When the institution is licensed abroad, Ombudsfin's competence depends on its membership, and the file may have to travel to the home-country mediator through FIN-NET, the European network of financial mediators. It works, but it stretches the timeline, and the procedure sometimes runs in another language. We explain how licences work in our article on banking licence versus e-money institution, and the suspended account case in the one on a frozen neobank account.

For a Visa or Mastercard credit card issued by a Belgian bank, the dispute goes through the dedicated form on macarte.be, not through the neobank.

In short

The question is not whether you were careless, but who carried out the transaction. Payment made by a fraudster with your codes: refund due by the end of the first business day after your report, a €50 deductible at most before notification, nothing after, and 13 months to dispute. Transfer you approved yourself: the law provides nothing, report it immediately all the same. Block inside the app rather than on the phone, file a police report, and keep everything in writing. Where a refund is refused, a written complaint followed by Ombudsfin settles most cases. To choose a neobank with support and appeal routes in mind, our comparator puts the offers side by side.

This article provides general legal information and constitutes neither legal advice nor investment advice.

Sources: Book VII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, articles VII.39, VII.43 and VII.44 (implementation of the European payment services directive); FPS Economy; Wikifin (FSMA); Febelfin, online fraud figures for 2024 published in 2025; VRT NWS, launch of Fraudstop on 22 June 2026; Card Stop and Worldline, frequently asked questions; Test-Achats and Belgian press, Antwerp business court judgment of 26 May 2026; opinion of the advocate general at the Court of Justice of the European Union, 5 March 2026; Ombudsfin and the FIN-NET network; Safeonweb; complaint procedures of Revolut, N26, bunq and Wise consulted on 18 September 2026.