Moorcroft accessed my ISA and took payment withou...

[dougens]

Hi there

My girlfriend has just accessed her ISA (RBOS) and seen that £2200 has been taken from her account without permission.

Moorcroft debt recovery bought the debt from her credit card company and she contacted them two weeks ago stating that she had some money to pay them off but not the full amount (£4600)
She offered to pay them £1500 as long as the debt was fully cancelled.

She had £3100 in her ISA but needed the remainder to live on.

As far as I'm aware from looking online this is illegal.
Surely no one can authorise a payment from your account apart from the account owner.

What can she do about this?

Most info I got is from here:

http://www.money.co.uk/article/10090...nk-account.htm

So once the debt is bought and no longer owned by the bank they have to actually take you to court prior to accessing your account without your permission.

The two issues are:

Why did the bank give the authorisation?
How can Moorcroft take money without my permission?

Also, is the debt fully wiped now?

Please any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[dougens]

Any advice on this?
Thanks

[poppasmurf_bewdley]

Have Moorcroft taken out a Garnishee Order? This enables them to take money from an account without permission.

[rizla king]

Who was the card with originally? Are you sure Moorcroft have bought the debt rather than acting on behalf of the card company?

[dougens]

As far as I'm aware no.
She doesn't own property either.
The only correspondence she has had is an offer to pay a lesser amount, which she couldn't pay so she offered what she could at £1500.
I'm guessing they wouldn't have accepted the offer (we were awaiting their reply from her offer made two weeks ago) and she would have had to pay more.
Is it worth seeking legal counsel?
A friend used to work for a debt agency and he says it's illegal and if followed up the money can be recovered and debt wiped on grounds of this.
Also surely the bank is at fault as cannot allow payment to be made without any permission granted?

Thanks for replies and help.

[poppasmurf_bewdley]

For that amount of money, yes, seek legal advice.

[DS4215]

Did she provide them at any time with the details of this ISA account? - even if this was a previous payment towards the debt?

[FireWyrm]

Yes, HOW did they get access is more pertinent. Its not plastic, so they couldnt have processed a continuous payment authority.

Are we sure that Moorcroft took it? Not the bank covering a debt of theirs?

I would be onto the bank and screaming at someone to explain what the hell happened if I were you.

[dougens]

I'm not sure.
Is it best to speak with the bank or Moorcroft to find out if the debt has been fully bought?
Surely they must have to tell you legally who owns the debt now?
Thanks

[dougens]

Thanks for replies.
We contacted the bank and it was moorcroft who took the money.
She has never given any bank details or permission to Moorcfoft or the bank to access the account or take money.
She has never made a previous payment via moorcroft. She will have doen via the bank but that was years ago when the card was still valid etc.

Is it best to speak with the bank or Moorcroft to find out if the debt has been fully bought?
Surely they must have to tell you legally who owns the debt now?

Thanks agin for all your help.

[dougens]

Sorry the card was with the same bank as she banks with.
can understand them taking the money but has been bought from moorcroft, just need to find out whether it has fully been bought..... not sure if debt collection agencies can half buy debts etc.

The main thing is no one should be able to access her account without her permission no matter how much money you have or owe.....?

Thanks for replies

[tallyhoh]

I would be speaking to the bank, its they who have allowed Moorcroft access to your account.

I may be wrong here but dont think you can set up payments from an ISA.

[dalesrider]

Sounds more to me like RBOS. have taken the funds. As they have access to ALL account details and will have in the T/C the right to take funds from other accounts to offset money owed.

[dougens]

Thanks for reply.
That's what I thought but if Moorcroft has bought the debt how is that possible?
can a debt company buy a share of the debt or does it have to be the whole debt?

When we asked the bank who took the money they said it was Moorcroft, surely legally they have to tell you if it was them?

Thanks

[Treadmill]

Is the credit card company that the original debt is with connected to RBOS ?

[dougens]

Yes, the credit card was with RBOS.
However, as far as I'm aware the debt was bought by Moorcroft.
We need to asertain whether the whole debt was bought or just a proportion.
The payment, when asked the bank to whom it was paid, was to Moorcroft, or so they say.........

[RAS]

RBOS will have the right to off-set any money in any account GF holds with them. This will be in the terms and conditions of the credit card account.

If Moorcroft have been acting as their agent (on RBOS's behalf) rather than as the purchasers of the account, then this will probably be legal.

[Lensman]

Originally Posted by RAS

RBOS will have the right to off-set any money in any account GF holds with them. This will be in the terms and conditions of the credit card account.

If Moorcroft have been acting as their agent (on RBOS's behalf) rather than as the purchasers of the account, then this will probably be legal.

The owner of the account will be the one reporting on her credit file. She should check her file to find out of Moorcroft are the owners or not.

Noddle is free and paper versions cost a statutory fee of £2 from each of the three agencies.

[beadgirl87]

If moorcroft are collecting on RBS behalf, they can always pass it back to RBS to deal with and in that case RBS can take the funds from the ISA to pay the cc arrears.
If it was standard current account and the money was benefits money etc JSA HB etc, if she can prove this I think they have to give it back.
But if not it is a right the bank has without having to put it in the T&Cs of the accounts.
If it was not RBS who did it, I cannot see how a separate company would ever be able to obtain her bank details or even know she had an ISA and with what bank, also wouldn't it have to be her who authorises the transation. People can't just request payments to them from someone elses account.
It does sound more like RBS using right to offset.