Hi

HELP PLEASE

I have a loan with the Loan Store and have been having money troubles. I have had my benifit paid ino my bank account, and they have taken the lot out of my account and left me with £7 to last me for 2 weeks, i have my prioty debts to pay eg electric and water rates and shopping. I have phoned them and they said they cant refund it and i asked to spek to the supvisor but wouldnt put me through. What can i do?

Contact the benefits agency & have your money paid into another bank account & if you need time to open another use a friend or relatives. Don't forget to cancel any DD which they will be using to take your money

Thanks for that, im on the job now to open a new bank account, but how can i get the money back, surley they cant take all of the money, because now i have nothing left.

How did they take the money, ie; Direct Debit, Debit Card, some other method?

Was the correct amount taken as per the DD instructions? If not you can ask your bank to refund the amount (under the DD rules) and claim it back from the loan company.

they took the amount from my card details. It a visa elecrton. I cancelled the dd ages ago due to my money probs. They must have been watching my bank details for them to take money as soon as it goes in. The original dd payment was £73 pr month and they have taken £93. They did the same in Dec 07 but they took £212 and that was the day b4 xmas eve, but they refuned some of that back.

You know, that is basically a crime, but the bank wont back you up. The original intention of a debit card was a convenient alternative to a cheque, and should only involve one transaction. If a retailer did the same they would find the fraud squad knocking at the door.

Whatever you can or can't do, is not going to help you with £7.00 left to last you two weeks.

My advice is to contact the benefits agency and apply for an emergency loan. They are bound to ask why it is needed, at which point you should explain what has happened. I think the agency will take a dim view of their actions, and may well be able to pressure them into returning the money.

They are not actually allowed to take money from your benefits by the way.

Nasty - you have our sympathy.

If you are on benefits you should seriously consider a Post Office card account. You will need a note or letter from the benefits people (whichever benefit you are on) which you take to the PO and simply ask to open the account. Very straightforward but can only be used for benefits.

Once opened contact your benefits people with the account number. Your benefits will then be safe as the only person with access to the account is you.

There are brochures in the Post Offices so pick one up when you next go to the PO.

If you cancelled the direct debit in writing with your bank then you can claim your money back under the direct debit guarantee. I'm not sure if you also have to have sent cancellation to the other company as well.

Hope you get it back, ridiculous state of affairs when you can be left with £7 to live on. I hate direct debits.

Its not a Direct Debit.

Get in touch with the bank and tell them they have taken money from your card without permission. Explain you had previously made a one off payment but they have saved your details and taken an unauthorised payment from your account.

Also go to the police and tell them they have taken money on your card without permission. Insist they look into this and don't be fobbed off. Do not leave the police station till you are satisfied. Insist they give you a crime number then pass this number to your bank. The crime number will make the bank realise you are serious.

they took the amount from my card details. It a visa elecrton. I cancelled the dd ages ago due to my money probs. They must have been watching my bank details for them to take money as soon as it goes in. The original dd payment was £73 pr month and they have taken £93. They did the same in Dec 07 but they took £212 and that was the day b4 xmas eve, but they refuned some of that back.

rippedoffagain

Sounds like charliegirl79 had a direct debit set up on a debit card to me, but if they took the money straight from your card as a single payment then as minconverter says a trip to the police station is the way to sort this..

in an attempt to speed matters contact them by phone & tell them you have made enquiries & now understand their actions may have been illegal & unless they return your money you will report them to the police ...... you never know it might work

The crux is, is this fraud or theft, or neither. To my mind this is theft, it has happened to me, but the banks response is "they can debit if there is an outstanding balance". If it is fraud, under the new "rules" only the bank can report this.

Pretty much a no win in the short term, which is what counts at the moment. Perhaps JonCris has a point, it would cost nothing to try at any rate. Main thing is not to give them any further opportunity.

As soon as you have new bank account set up, report the debit card as stolen, that might cause some embarrassment should they try again. In any event you must cancel the card, or the next time, your bank may charge you for a declined transaction.

Hi everyone,,

Just phoned the Loan Store and spoke with someone, and explained about being on benifits and not having no money for next 2 weeks etc, and guess what he wasnt even bothered. They wont refund any of the money - oh n by the way they took the last £7 from my bank yesterday!!!!!!! So now i have 5p to my name!!!!! Just waiting fot my new card to come with new account num on etc.

So as you can expect iam at my wits end and very very very anoyed.

How do they know how much is in your account to be able to take it all out without exceeding the balance? Sounds very suspicious to me.

Just a question ? Why not do a chargeback as it seems that whoever took the money took it without authorisation and also under false pretences ?

Hi

They must have been snooping into my account because as soon as my money went into the bank it was taken out by them in 3 installments. There was £7 left in and when i checked the balance yesterday they had even took that. Like i have said i have phoned them and they r not even intred#sted in talking to me about this.

What is a chargeback?

if you are using a debit card for this call your bank and report you card as lost so they send you a new one, there will be a new card number on it and will stop this company raiding your account at will!

Also send a CCA request to them as well to place the account into dispute and make sure their credit agreement adheres to legislation, at the very least this will give you some breathing space, you might not get this money back but you CAN stop them doing this again!

If you dont want to go the CCA route then when you get your new card DONT GIVE THEM THE DETAILS!

ask for a payment book or card so YOU can control your money not them!

Hi

 

They must have been snooping into my account because as soon as my money went into the bank it was taken out by them in 3 installments. There was £7 left in and when i checked the balance yesterday they had even took that. Like i have said i have phoned them and they r not even intred#sted in talking to me about this.

 

What is a chargeback?

Chargeback is where the bank will refund your money back to your account. This happens in cases of where money has been taken without your permission.

You must report this to the police. It is THEFT. If you haven't authorised the transaction and they refuse to repay the money they can't even claim a mistake was made. It makes no difference if you owe them money or not they can not take what they want at will. They wouldn't just walk into your house and take money if you owed them money.

They have taken money from your bank account without authorisation with the intention of permanently depriving you of it, this is THEFT.

Get of your arse now and go to the police station and make a complaint do not wait another minute do it NOW. Do not be fobbed off by the police it is there responsibility to investigate.

Just phoned the loan store as my bank gave me the transaction numbers and told me to phone them n ask for the merchant bank. The loan store wouldnt give the number, so i asked if they would send the paperwork that i supposidley signed to say they could take money from my account, and they said i had to pay £15 for this!!!!!!!

tell 'em to stick that demand where the sun don't shine & unless they provide the documentation to prove your consent your off to report them to the police for fraud

Stand ur ground with the loan company and the police.

If u want to have one more chance at being nice to the company tell them this. I am giving you one more chance to give me back the money u have taken out of my bank account without my permission. Unless i recive a cheque/the money back in my account with 24hours then i am reporting u to the local police station for fraud and to my local trading standards, oft and the FOS. I would then remind them that the FOS will charge them £400 for the privilage of being complained about.

See what they say then.

The reason meationed the OFT is because they are currently doing a investigation into loan companys and there excessive interest rate. Ok i will admit it is mainly payday loans but ist still the same when ur putting the frigters up a company.

BBC NEWS | Business | Call for action on payday loans is the link for the report on the loan companys investigation.

hi, i just had something similar happen to me, on tuesday i noticed my account was down by £200 so foned up LLOYDS to see wot was goin on, they cudnt tell me but they cud tell me tht sum1 had took 3 payments of £50 and 5 of £10 n said i wud have to w8 for them to clear on my account b4 they cud do anything. got home today and lookd on at my account and it was wonga who had took the money. i never authorised them to take money from tht card and cant even remember where they cud of got it from....

so i foned wonga up and asked where he got the number from and he said i must of put it into the internet site at sum point but then deleted it, so i asked if he realised tht wot they had done was fraud and theft because i hadnt authorized it and he said it wasnt and it wudnt matter! i then asked him for proof of me authorizin them takin money off tht card and he said it wud take 2-3wks to sort it! i then put the fone down in anger!

foned lloyds up wen i had calmed down and spoke to sum1 there and they said wot they had done was illegal and are returning my money to me within 3 workin days.............