Unauthorised access to funds?

[Helen Mac]

Hello, I am new here as you can see, I am not sure where to post this question.

My ex partner and I are members of the same credit union, about a week ago he contacted them making a claim that I had accessed his account and transferred money from his account into mine (apparently done a year ago) the credit union has reimbursed funds to him from my account and have extended my credit to pay him back. I was told previous to this I could not obtain a top-up loan until I had paid the current loan back in full, so how is it possible they were able to 'loan' me more money so-to-speak. I knew nothing of their activities until I logged into my account. I was never informed by any means, no text, phone call, email or snail mail, no forms or loan agreements were sent to me either.

 

My question is; do they have the right to do this without my permission just on the say-so of another member? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[unclebulgaria67]

No this is not correct at all. Your account is your account and unless you have given permission nobody can touch it.

 

Think you will need to pursue a complaint with the Credit Union concerned, as they should have a complaint procedure.

 

If the credit union are not helpful perhaps contact the Money Advice Servive for their advice, as I am not sure what the best step would be next.

 

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en

[Helen Mac]

Thank you for the quick reply unclebulgaria67, just as I thought! I did phone the the credit union in question and asked who was the person who had authorised the payment, I was told the manager did, when I requested to speak with her she was 'unavailable' and remained so for the all of Friday afternoon.

[unclebulgaria67]

The FOS can actually deal with a complaint but you would have to contact the credit union first.

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/21/credit-unions.htm

 

I suppose you could also contact the Police, if you believe that your ex and the credit union are involved in a fraud, but the Police don't often want to get involved with financial services because there are other authorities such as the FCA.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Thank you for the quick reply unclebulgaria67, just as I thought! I did phone the the credit union in question and asked who was the person who had authorised the payment, I was told the manager did, when I requested to speak with her she was 'unavailable' and remained so for the all of Friday afternoon.

Do you have a copy of any terms and conditions for the "credit union" it may be best to check these first before sending off complaints to the regulators who will expect you to have formally attempted to resolve this with the CU by way of a Formal Complaint and their response.

[Conniff]

I've moved you into the Bank and Finance Subforums:- Legalities

[Helen Mac]

I have since contacted the FCA, (who is their regulating body) based on the information I gave the FCA the CU has acted out of character. Baring in mind I do not have details to the ex's account AND the transferring of funds from his account he speaks of was done by him when he visited their office over a year ago. The member of staff who dealt with the transaction is no longer employed at the CU. There is no way to tell if the transfer was done online or in person, but the fact that they did not inform me of their recent actions causes me to question their practices, how secure is the account any other member of the CU? Would they reimburse other members if they were to make the same accusations in the future without first informing that member, or at least conduct an investigation first before making that decision. I do have a copy of their terms and conditions, I cannot see any references applicable to this current situation.