I renewed my car insurance in June and sold my car two months later. They were asking for £171 to cancel which was a lot more than I reasonably expected. I told them I wouldn't pay it and that I wanted a breakdown showing how they had come to this figure. I received several letters but they didn't explain anything to me. At the time of the renewal I added a named driver to my account and I had to pay approx £7 to them for this and my premiums went up very slightly I used my HSBC debit card for the £7. My direct debit money paid to Swinton came out of my Lloyd's bank account and had done for the last year. I looked at my HSBC account today to see how much wages I had and found that Swinton had taken £171 out of this account without my authorisation or my knowledge. It took all of my wages and worse still my bank let me go £50 overdrawn to pay it. They took it out on the 19 August so this will have incurred charges. How dare they take money from my bank. I feel like they have stolen this money and that surely it is unlawful. I have raised a dispute with my bank and I have to prove I cancelled the insurance. Does anyone know what I can do about this?

If you did not authorise for Swinton to debt the £171, then your bank has to refund this money to you, simply by doing a late return on the amount. It will go back to Swinton as an unpaid amount.

Threaten to report this to the Financial Ombudsman Service if your bank refuses to refund this unathorised amount.

See this link to know your rights.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/consumerinformation/product_news/banking/know_your_rights/solving/index.shtml

It is easy for your bank to do and is not a problem for them. Once you get the refund applied to your account, it is then up to you to register an official complaint with Swinton Head Office in Manchester and threaten them with the FOS. You were entitled to a full breakdown of how they calculated the £171 and they should not have debited this amount, without giving you notice or seeking authorisation.

Thank you. It feels better to know that I will get my money back at least.

I have just had a call from a very arrogant man from Swinton who said that under the terms and conditions of my agreement with them they are entitled to collect any money owed by me any way they want and if it means going to an account that I used to make a £7 payment two months ago they are legally entitled to do so. And he said he ordered me a breakdown of everything which was what I wanted in the first place. Oh to find a copy of the terms and conditions and oh to be able to understand them.

I had a similar issue and raised it in a complaint letter with Swinton in Manchester office and after a few letters managed to get cancelation charges wiped as a good will gesture. Go to your bank cancel direct debit with them. Then take all your money out. Thats what i did to protect myself