Had money taken from your account without permission?

Former_MSE_Aileen · 20 November 2014 at 11:00AM

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service are investigating the issue of companies taking money from consumers' bank accounts without their express consent (for example, hiding in hidden terms and conditions that they will continue to take payments from your account).

These are also known as recurring payments or continuous payment authorities (see our recurring payments guide for more info and help).

The regulator and ombudsman are looking to gather evidence of this practice where they believe there has been consumer detriment. For example, where a consumer has bought a slimming product online and as a result a CPA has been set up without the consumer being aware and not having given their express permission for the company to do so.

They are also concerned that consumers are struggling to cancel CPAs via their card issuer (bank/building society), even those it is the card issuer’s duty to do so.

Please share your experiences below. If possible, please try and include:

the name of the firm who set up these recurring payments
the product or service that you initially purchased
whether you ever received the product or service
if you tried cancelling the payments with the company, did they do this?
if you had any problems with your bank cancelling these payments (banks must cancel these if you ask them to do so)

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our Forum Intro Guide

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patanne · 26 November 2014 at 1:24AM

You need to speak to the ongoing Erudio victims

harps · 26 November 2014 at 8:53AM

I rang Domestic and General to cancel an insurance I had for my cooker. The renewal date was 07/09/14 and I called on 04/09/2014. I was told that the payments would stop and I would receive a refund for the one processed on 01/09/2014. However, this hasn't happened and although I have rung them again since, I am still waiting for my money.
Each time I call them, they try to sell me more insurance, cheaper than that quoted before. This is even though I have told them that I am not interested and just want my refund.

cocodude · 26 November 2014 at 10:01AM

I've had money taken out of my account from Direct Debit fraud. In other words, given just a sort code and account number, anyone can set up a Direct Debit and get money out of your account.

This, I imagine, is one major way that regular retailers continue to take money. Even if you cancel a Direct Debit, they often just reinstate it.

The Direct Debit system is fundamentally flawed in this way. Yes, you can claim funds back, but you have to notice this first, track down where funds are going to (e.g. you could have two DDs from your phone company, one yours and one a fraudster's) and then you have to wait.

Even if banks would simply send a postal message, email or SMS when a new Direct Debit was set up, it would save a lot of hassle. None seem to do this from what I could see.

DoraSchmora · 26 November 2014 at 10:51AM

I signed up for the free audio books via amazon, Kindle unlimited, for less than a month. I received my free books then cancelled or thought I had. At the end of the month I noticed an extra payment had been taken from my account, only £7.99 but that is not the point. I phoned Amazon to find out why they had taken it and they weren't able to tell me, they kept saying it was for an Amazon instant video and that someone in my family must have downloaded something. I knew it wasn't because I keep Amazon Instant Video locked down with a pass code only I know. I insisted that I speak to a supervisor/manager and all of a sudden they offered me a refund. I received an email and the money back in my account very quickly. Not very impressed with Amazon, they are chancers and will use every opportunity to squeeze the maximum amount of money from people whether it is things like this or adding large delivery charges just before you finish a purchase.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case · 26 November 2014 at 10:57AM

Another misleading Thread Title:

MSE_Aileen wrote: »

Had money taken from your account without permission?

You are actually referring to occasions where the user has given permission but is possibly unaware of this, perhaps because of not reading the T&Cs carefully.

Aquamania · 26 November 2014 at 10:57AM

MSE_Aileen wrote: »

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service are investigating the issue of companies taking money from consumers' bank accounts without their express consent (for example, hiding in hidden terms and conditions that they will continue to take payments from your account).

These are also known as recurring payments or continuous payment authorities (see our recurring payments guide for more info and help).

The regulator and ombudsman are looking to gather evidence of this practice to help their investigation.

Please share your experiences below. If possible, please try and include:
the name of the firm who set up these recurring payments

the product or service that you initially purchased

whether you ever received the product or service

if you tried cancelling the payments with the company, did they do this?

if you had any problems with your bank cancelling these payments (banks must cancel these if you ask them to do so)

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our Forum Intro Guide

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So are you looking just for example of companies that operate a CPA? :huh:

There's loads of them! Insurance, Telecoms, Magazine subscriptions, Motoring breakdown cover, etc. In fact any large business that collects regular payments probably offers this facility.

You can cancel it either by contacting the company business, or as clarified not so long ago here on MSE, by contacting your card provider.

Do you wnat details of orgainisations that operate a Direct Debit scheme too? If so, how long have you got?

Sorry, I probably don't understand you correctly ... or probably more correctly in this instance, you have not explained properly what the FCA & FOS are actually seeking.

Aquamania · 26 November 2014 at 11:01AM

cocodude wrote: »

I've had money taken out of my account from Direct Debit fraud. In other words, given just a sort code and account number, anyone can set up a Direct Debit and get money out of your account.

This, I imagine, is one major way that regular retailers continue to take money. Even if you cancel a Direct Debit, they often just reinstate it.

The Direct Debit system is fundamentally flawed in this way. Yes, you can claim funds back, but you have to notice this first, track down where funds are going to (e.g. you could have two DDs from your phone company, one yours and one a fraudster's) and then you have to wait.

Even if banks would simply send a postal message, email or SMS when a new Direct Debit was set up, it would save a lot of hassle. None seem to do this from what I could see.

You are fully covered by the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee.

Make a claim direct to your bank who will be required to refund you in full immediately.

jellybrains · 26 November 2014 at 11:23AM

I had a situation where the AA renewed my membership on a Tesco credit card that had been cancelled. I admit it was partly my fault as the renewal letters were sent to my Mum's address and I hadn't picked them up so the first I knew about it was when I received a text from Tesco telling me that my credit card payment was due. As I'd cancelled the card at least a year before I didn't have any of my log in details.
Tesco told me to take it up with the AA who did refund the money. I hadn't knowingly signed up for automatic renewals with them as I always shop around.

preveleigh · 26 November 2014 at 11:33AM

I applied for a 30 day Free trial for CreditExpert access with Experian. They asked for some payment details to confirm my identity ONLY. During the trial I found that the information and access was not all that great and so wouldn't be worth paying for ongoing.
I phoned up Experian and cancelled any further access before the end of the 30 days. I was also suspicious that this would default to opt me in and charge me.
A few months later I noticed that Experian had taken a monthly charge. When I called them they could just say sorry and that they'd return my money in 10 working days. They couldn't explain to me why my identity verification details had been passed to a billing department. Or why they had failed to have a cancellation process that worked. Or why it would take 10 days to send the money back. This felt like theft to me and I have no doubt that a lot of people would forget to cancel the free trial and get opted in by default rather than out. The whole way that Experian manage this feels unethical to me.

ericctheking · 26 November 2014 at 11:40AM

Erudio student loans.
Many victims. They don't even inform people they are taking a direct debit and the amount.
They take money when they are not entitled to it then lie on the phone about refunds.

Had money taken from your account without permission?

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