Clear View Finance Ltd - took 600 quid from account with no signed agreement - avoid!!

[rudy691]

first of all - this is my mates case at the moment, after couple of years here I'm not that stupid to do the following...

 

he was going through some financial issues and started looking around for some sort of a consolidation debt loan thingy. without any knowledge, he most likely google this company:

 

http://www.clearviewfinanceltd.co.uk

 

he called them and discussed debt management, fees, percents and all that. the stupid thing he did - he gave them card details on basis that they need to do checks and what card would be used for payments. they told him they will send him the agreement and he needs to sign it and return it. he did get the agreement, but decided he doesn't want to do it anymore, so he just ignored it. he was getting phone calls for about 3 weeks, but ignored them.

 

problem occured today, as he noticed that they took 600 quid from his account - it was a card payment. he immediately called halifax to dispute this, been told that he needs to contact them first to get a refund and halifax gave him case number, and told him to phone back. next call was to clear view finance to ask about this transaction. they told him that they've tried to contact him for some time and there was no reply. they also said that they're within their right to start the whole process, as there was no cancellation - BUT NO SIGNED AGREEMENT WAS RETURNED TO THEM. also no paperwork about the debts and creditors - this was all discussed over the phone.

 

my question is - are they allowed to this ? and what would be the next step to get this money back ?

 

Thanks

[i hate bailiffs]

Get on to the bank and get charge back

[renegadeimp]

Agreed with ihb. DEMAND an immediate chargeback. THey can chargeback now and investigate later. Do NOT let them tell you different. If they try, make sure to get the employee's names and numbers so you can get a full complaint to the banks CEO and to the regulators. Don't leave the bank without them. Even if it takes hours.

[rudy691]

is there any regulations I can throw at them ? as from what I know, they've said they can't do anything now and he needs to contact the company for a refund first - which was obviously refused.

 

also - anything we can do to 'hurt' that company now ? as this must be illegal to proceed like this

[renegadeimp]

*rubs hands*

 

There sure is my friend.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?336569-How-to-remove-a-lender-s-continuous-payment-authority(3-Viewing)-nbsp

 

See post #1 specifically http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_guide.pdf and http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_payments.pdf

 

 

Page 16 and 17 for the first PDf, second part of the second PDF, top right corner of the page.

 

 

Let me know if you need more help. We see this every day in the Payday loan forums.

[rudy691]

Nice one. Thanks

 

A trip to Halifax tomorrow then.

[rudy691]

so long story short - they MUST refund this now, while they can still investigate ? what if they say that he was stupid enough to give them all the card details ?

[renegadeimp]

Read everything in that link. Also read up on BCOBS.

[rudy691]

he had a phone call this morning from the mentioned company and spoke with the accountant. she said that she will contact the sales person who approved that and he will be refunded this week. my question is - should we wait now for them to refund it this week or should we proceed with demanding halifax to refund this ?

[ericsbrother]

do not wait, carry on with the chargeback. If they refund it will show on the Bank's system as a refund and the chargeback will automatically stop anyway.

[renegadeimp]

Eric is bang on the money. get the bank to do the chargeback, as the lender could simply be stalling too.

[rudy691]

halifax has done a chargeback on this transaction, although they weren't too keen on it until we mentioned that we discussed it with a lawyer.

 

he did inform halifax to remove the cpa too.

 

hopefully that's the end of story.

 

thanks again for the help guys.

[renegadeimp]

Make sure he gets written confirmation from halifax. Love how it took the threat of legal action to force them to follow the law. I hope your chasing this up with the ceo.

[Timpg]

I just had these clowns phone me up,with a promise of sorting my finances out as I generally do have a problem with a payday loan.she proceeded to tell me that I can't cancel CPA with my bank or lender,and that even if I cancel CPA,cancel cards and switch to a different bank,they can still get hold of my new bank account details to take money!she then had the cheek to ask why I don't sound very enthusiastic with what they can offer and asked why I don't trust them????swiftly told them I'm not interested!