Advice needed- money taken without permission

[jimmyk83]

Hi

 

I had an account with JBDR in Glasgow. I was due to get a loan through on the Friday, however it didnt go through, so i spoke to JBDR and gave them my card details (foolishly), and they said theyd put it through on Monday.

 

The loan still hadnt cleared by Monday, so they phoned me back and said it had been declined. I apologised and said it should be there by the Tuesday. He said that was no good and if i didnt pay by 4pm that day (monday), the account would be defaulted. I made no further paymnet arrangement, and did not give them any instructions to take payment with my card

 

I phoned up on tuesday to make the payment and was offered a settlement of £401, which i decided to take. Only later did i discover that a few hours earlier they had taken a payment of £200 with my debit card, without my permission, and they did not tell me this when i spoke to them on my phone.

 

Is there anything i can do about this? The £200 less in my account has left me shafted for some important bills. Can they get away with taking money from my account without my explicit permission?

[Pinky69]

No they cannot take money out of your bank account without your permission.The first thing you need to do is get your card changed so they cannot do it again. Get in touch with your bank and tell them the money was taken without your permission and you want it refunded.

[jimmyk83]

Just spoken to my bank and they say they cant refund anything since ive given them my card details at some point. Spoken to JBDR and needless to say the are doing nothing to help.

[Pinky69]

Well your bank is out of order. Does that mean if a thief stole your details there would be no refund on the grounds you must have given them your details sometime? You may have given them your details for a future transaction yet to be determined but you did not authorise the payment they took. I would demand to see the bank manager and kick up a stink about the bank making an unauthorised payment. They should refund your money and get the money back from the company.

[PGH7447]

try the bank again if they still refuse then contact the FSA and report them - and tell the bank this

[jimmyk83]

Appreciate your replies, ill get onto the bank again and see what they say.

[sam614]

and tell us what bulls*it bank made this stupid statement

[jimmyk83]

For info, i bank with Natwest

[emandcole]

Correct, although the bank is technically right also as you did enable access to your account by providing account details. Best thing is to ensure the bank refuse any future requests for payment from JBDR, if they then do it's their fault and absolves you of further liability. Save your time as the bank have not actually done anything wrong and although you may claim it was without permission the banks defence will always be "Well why did you give them your details?". Yes it sucks but thats banks for you.

 

Spend your time principally on JBDR as this is the direct source of difficulty.

 

Can you elaborate a little? You say £401 was offered as a settlement figure by them, was this a full and final figure to settle this account or the amount they would accept this month? Also, do you have anything in writing (guess not but have to ask).

 

You say JBDR had already taken £200 and you then made another payment of £401. Have you actually paid them £601? What is your contractual obligation regarding payment? What type of agreement is it also? Lot's of questions but will all help to get to the bottom of what they've been up to

[jimmyk83]

Yes the £401 was a full and final settlement.

No, nothing in writing from JBDR

Yes, total payment made on tuesday was £601 (obviously i wouldnt have paid the £401 if id known the £200 had been taken)

 

Sorry but im not sure exactly what you mean with the last 2 questions. I had no agreed payment plan with them. The £200 was supposed to be the initial payment

[emandcole]

Hi Jimmy,

No problem, was asking if the payment they wanted from you was part of a formal agreement in writing etc. Just keen to see that you are not being taken advantage of.

 

You say the £401 was a full and final payment but then say the £200 was supposed to be an initial payment, suggesting it was an intermediary or first payment. Just trying to be clear on whats happened. Have you sent them a CCA request to check the debt you are paying is all legitimate etc?

 

You write there is no agreed payment plan with them? Just wondering what the arrangement is as we need to understand it in order to put together a considered request for them to give it back to you. Technically speaking if there is no formal agreement but you owe xyz amount they could just claim you willingly offered it to them as an extra payment to clear a debt total. Appreciate I'm playing devils advocate but need to deal with it objectively in order to make the right moves.

 

Of course I may be complicating matters as you also said the £401 was a full and final payment suggesting the account is in fact now clear. If that's the case then sure, the £200 extra they've had is not owed and we can take steps to get that back to you asap. Is that the case, is it that simple?

 

Apologies for any vagueness here, sometimes hard to understand someones situation with limited info!

 

Edited December 10, 2009 by emandcole