MNB: customer calls reporting payment fraud must be answered within two minutes

By: Trademagazin Date: 2026. 01. 19. 11:35

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According to the amendment to the Payment Services Act, banks’ live telephone customer service staff must receive customer reports regarding payment services 24 hours a day, every day of the week; The central bank expects that the customer’s waiting time until the agent logs in live should not exceed 2 minutes – the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) drew attention in a statement on Monday.

The MNB indicated that a management circular has been issued to banks in order to smoothly handle customer reports of abuses affecting payment services.

According to the Payment Services Act, consumers can report to their bank at any time, free of charge, if they have become a victim of fraud, and in the process, if necessary, they can also initiate the blocking of the bank card or the online banking interface.

Avoiding unjustified delay In order to reduce the time spent in the telephone menu system, payment service providers must have a number of trained administrators dedicated to this task, in accordance with the load observed in telephone customer services at certain periods.

It is expected that in order to shorten the time spent in the telephone menu system, the fraud report should be included in the first menu item, during the information provided prior to the live voice login, only the essential banking information required by law should be spoken, and customers should be able to select the menu item required to report the abuse before listening to telephone advertisements and other information from market participants.

Payment service providers must publish the structure of their telephone menu system on their website, clearly highlighted and in an easily accessible place, and (if any) a separate telephone number for reporting abuse. If a given bank allows a customer to restrict access to their account via mobile or internet banking, it is a supervisory requirement that it can only be unblocked through personal or telephone customer service, the MNB emphasized in the statement.