Consumer Protection in Payments

When you make a payment, whether to another person or to a business, the way you pay plays a big role in what protections you have if something goes wrong.

At one end of the scale, paying with cash offers no way to recover your money if the person you paid turns out to be unresponsive or fraudulent.

At the other end, card payments (typically made through Visa or Mastercard) include chargeback rights, which protect you if:

• You’re scammed

• You don’t receive goods or services you paid for

• Your card is stolen or your details are used without your permission

Chargebacks give you a strong level of protection when using a card, even in cases of fraud or disputes with legitimate businesses.

What If You Used a Bank Transfer or Payment App?

If you used your account or payment app to send money through a bank transfer, push payment, or account-to-account (A2A) transfer, the protections are different.

These types of payments don’t fall under card scheme rules, so they haven’t traditionally offered the same chargeback rights if you were scammed or made a mistake.

What’s Changed

Until recently, what you could expect after reporting fraud or a mistaken payment depended on your provider. Some would investigate and offer reimbursement; others wouldn’t.

That’s now changing.

The Payment Services Regulator (PSR) in the UK has introduced new rules that make protections more consistent across the industry. If you’ve been the victim of a scam and made a payment using the Faster Payment System (FPS)—the system used for most instant transfers in the UK, you now have stronger rights.

In short:

If you were tricked into sending money, you can now ask your payment service provider to investigate and reimburse you, even if you authorised the payment.

This brings push payments much closer to the protections you’d get with a card, and much safer than paying in cash.

What Are Push Payments?

Push payments are transactions that you initiate, like bank transfers or payments from your account or wallet. In contrast, pull payments (like card transactions) are started by the business you’re paying.

At Weavr, we often call push payments wire transfers. Even though they don’t always involve a traditional bank, they use the same payment rails, the underlying systems that move money between accounts.

If you use a GBP account provided through one of our embedded finance partners, your payments are processed using the UK Faster Payments Service (FPS). This system allows for quick, secure transfers between accounts and is becoming the standard in the UK, replacing older systems like BACS and CHAPS.

What If Someone Used Your Account Without Permission?

Most providers, including those in Weavr-powered programmes, already follow clear rules for unauthorised transactions. If someone accessed your account without your permission, such as through identity theft or phone theft, you can expect your provider to investigate and usually reimburse you, unless you were clearly negligent (for example, sharing your login or PIN).

What If You Were Tricked Into Sending the Payment?

The new PSR rules apply to what’s called Authorised Push Payment (APP) Fraud. That means if you were manipulated or scammed into sending money yourself, you're now covered too, even though the payment was technically authorised.

Need Help?

If you think you’ve been scammed or sent a payment by mistake:

1. Contact either Weavr directly, or the business that gave you access to the account or wallet (they partner with Weavr to provide the payment service).

2. They’ll investigate the issue and let you know if you're eligible for a refund under the new rules.

3. If you're not happy with the outcome, you may be able to raise your case with the Financial Ombudsman Service.