Regulator orders Banks and mutuals to review complaints about not cancelling recurring payments from November 2009.

Consumers who have set up a regular payment from their account will now be able to successfully cancel that arrangement by contacting their card provider, the Financial Conduct Authority said.

The FCA has been examining how easy it is for customers to cancel Continuous Payment Authorities (CPAs) due either to payday lenders or for other regular payments such as subscriptions or gym memberships.

CPAs, which are also commonly called recurring transactions or recurring payments, are relatively easy to set up but can be hard to cancel, causing problems for consumers trying to manage their finances,the FCA said.

Now, following the FCA review of how the largest high street banks and mutuals process requests to cancel CPAs, they have agreed that they will ensure that when a customer asks for a recurring payment to end, that will be sufficient to cancel the arrangement. They have also confirmed that should a payment go through by mistake following cancellation by a customer the customer will be refunded immediately.

In addition to securing this commitment, the largest banks and mutuals have agreed to review every individual complaint they have received about the non-cancellation of a CPA and to pay redress where payments have continued to be made despite the customer cancelling the arrangement. This applies to all complaints since November 2009 when the Financial Services Authority, the FCA’s predecessor, began regulating banking conduct.

Clive Adamson, the FCA’s director of supervision, said: “It’s important that consumers are confident that banks are meeting their everyday banking needs. Today customers can be confident that when they ask for a Continuous Payment Authority to be cancelled – it will be cancelled - and that it can be done easily.

“We recognise that historically this is an area where some customers have struggled but the banks and mutuals have responded positively to our work on this issue. From now on we expect them to be getting this right. In addition, they have committed to review past complaints.”

http://www.ftadviser.com/2013/06/28/regulation/regulators/fca-banks-have-to-cancel-recurring-payments-if-requested-UxbeHUuYQIy0SEYbGRE4tJ/article.html

great news esp with Lloyds & their policy!!

dx

It's not a direct debit, it's not a standing order, it must be a... continuous payment authority? Banks ordered to cancel monthly debits on request and thousands could get compensation

• Recurring payments are often used for magazine subscriptions, gym memberships or payday loans
  
• New rules should make it easier for customers to cancel the payments
  

Banks obliged to cancel recurring payments

Continuous payment authorities are used on products such as breakdown recovery membership and payday loan repayments, and are notoriously difficult to cancel

The FCA also said that about 30,000 consumers who lost out because a bank failed as requested to cancel a CPA are in line for compensation.

This applies to all complaints made since November 2009 when the old FSA began regulating banking conduct. Consumers who lost out but didn't complain should now do so.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jun/28/banks-cancel-recurring-payments

Lets see what Santander and halifax do now.

Lets see what Santander and halifax do now.

Yes, indeed - these are probably the worst offenders.

The BBC article provides a telephone number for the FCA

Those affected can phone the FCA helpline, which is free, on 0800 111 6768.

I wil say this, the FCA in their first few weeks/months of life seem to have done more than the FSA did. They seem to be focusing on the important points that affect a lot of people, and not on frivolous things that affect a few.

I wil say this, the FCA in their first few weeks/months of life seem to have done more than the FSA did. They seem to be focusing on the important points that affect a lot of people, and not on frivolous things that affect a few.

Yes they do seem to be flexing their muscle - lets hope it continues.

From Credit Today

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?395566-Lenders-face-redress-bill-over-CPA

Lets see what Santander and halifax do now.

Are there many cases of both these refusing to cancel on the forum?

I used to bank with Santander but had a problem with money coming out of my account due to a payday loan lender.

Reading the contract, these payments appeared to me to be a breach of contract in both the amounts and the dates

and I disputed them with the lender and not only that, but they were going through with no money left in my account!

Obviously nothing happened on the lender side so

I contacted Santander and asked to stop all activity from my account because I thought these breach of contract payments should be considered fraudulent - they refused.

Ended up with £500 of banking fines etc in total as I'd withdrawn all my money and yet they kept honouring these payments which took it way beyond my overdraught.

I'd not heard of CPAs at that point so didn't make a specific request to cancel it.

Can I claim on these grounds now, rather than the more general fairness Banking law?

Are there many cases of both these refusing to cancel on the forum?

Almost every single poster who banks with them has had issues.

Thanks for the reply - I'm looking deeper into this now.

I previously was putting off the whole Banking code/ legal duty of fairness complaint in order to reclaim.

I believe the PDL did indeed commit fraud with fake authorisation codes, thanks to a mention in one of the posts about Halifax..

also

and, the oft debt guide was revised recently ish to include misuse of CPA

'the OFT updated its debt collection guidance in October 2011, and a revised version was published in November 2012 setting out the OFT's revised position on the misuse of continuous payment authority (CPA). The CPA section is at paragraph 3.9(m)'

http://www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/...ebt-collection

nb 'Under the Payment Services Regulations, the debtor can cancel a CPA at any time up to close of business on the day prior to collection, and can do so either with the creditor or with the payment service provider. If monies are taken without informed consent, or otherwise in breach of the agreed authority, the transaction will be unauthorised and the payment service provider must refund the payment and any ancillary charges' oft guide

fca info re cpa

http://www.fca.org.uk/news/continuous-payment-authorities-your-right-to-cancel