A&L - Illegal "authorization hold" on my money!

Fjords

Hi,

To make my story short. In my account I had circa £10,000 last week. I then purchased a car last week for £5300. I just logged into my bank account this morning to discover that my available balance was -£600!!!! I.e. all my money has gone!!

I phoned by bank immediatly who said that the dealer I purchased the car from had taken £5300 for the car I purchased. In addition there was an "authorization" hold for ANOTHER £5300 from the dealer!!! They told me to phone the dealer to ask them to fax my bank a confirmation that they did not need the authorization anymore. The dealer refused to do anything. Typical dealer, once they have your money there is no service to get from them! The dealers says the bank has to sort it out and the bank says the dealer has to sort it.....

I phoned my bank again and they said it could take up to 10 days for the authorization to expire and the money to be sent back to my account.... Although the chap on the phone said he would "see what he could do".

What do I do now... I have no money for petrol, food or anything else!! It's payday on thursday which will take me back into plus but 3 days with no money....

How can I resolve this quickly???? There is no point starting an official complaints procedure because that would take more than 10 days and by that time the money will be back in my account. I need it now.....

Any help is much appreciated. The bank is alliance and leicester by the way.

Extant

I don't know where you got "illegal" from - since this most certainly isn't.

Your first point of call needs to be the dealer. They're the one that controls the authorization. Your bank will be less than keen to get involved, because it is essentially a guarantee on their part - for all they know, you may have received goods for this £5300 and won't want to interfere.

willo65

Can you get o/draft from bank to cover you for 3 days?

Fjords

I don't know where you got "illegal" from - since this most certainly isn't.

Your first point of call needs to be the dealer. They're the one that controls the authorization. Your bank will be less than keen to get involved, because it is essentially a guarantee on their part - for all they know, you may have received goods for this £5300 and won't want to interfere.

I did not authorise them to take more than £5300 from my account. That is what I entered my pin number for and that is what the car cost. Nothing more. The fact they have put a hold on an EXTRA £5300 on top of what they already took is illegal!

What you're saying is that I can go into a shop and buy £10 worth on my card by entering my pin. Tesco can add another £10 just in case? Makes no sense.

The dealer doesn't want to know. They say they only have 1 authorisation code and won't even talk to my bank.... Let alone with me. They have my money and as all dealers they move on to the new target. Aftersales service is non-existant.

I have borrowed some money from my wife to cover me for the next few days until I get paid and this authorization is cancelled.

simon_templar_2

Phone the police and get them to arrest the car dealer

jimbobboi

It is definately the dealer who has caused this.
Judging by past experienece what has happened is this, the dealer has requested authorisation and something has happened to make that authorisation appear to go through to the bank but the dealer was never returned an authorisation code, at this point the bank moves the money in preparation to pay the dealer (through the card company). The dealer has then put another request in for authorisation (since the first didn't work) and this one has worked.
Unfortunately due to the silly banking system in this company there is very little that can be done, the money will automatically be returned as the bank will never get the request from the card company for the first batch of money.
If you wish to know more let me know.

talana

Fjords wrote: »

I did not authorise them to take more than £5300 from my account. That is what I entered my pin number for and that is what the car cost. Nothing more. The fact they have put a hold on an EXTRA £5300 on top of what they already took is illegal!

Er no, still doesn't make it illegal.
It makes it an error somewhere down the line, nothing more. And not necessarily on the part of the bank.
Go and talk to your bank (calmly and clearly, don't go in ranting and accusing them of acting illegally) and I'm sure they'll provide a temporary overdraft or offer some other solution to tide you over for 10 days.

Fjords

talana wrote: »

Er no, still doesn't make it illegal.
It makes it an error somewhere down the line, nothing more. And not necessarily on the part of the bank.
Go and talk to your bank (calmly and clearly, don't go in ranting and accusing them of acting illegally) and I'm sure they'll provide a temporary overdraft or offer some other solution to tide you over for 10 days.

I'm ok now. I "only" went over with a few hundred pounds so my wife is covering me until pay day or until the money is returned. I did actually speak very calmly to the bank. It's not the fault of the person on the phone. I have worked in a call center myself a long time ago and know that being angry and ranting to the person on the phone gets you nowhere.

Back to your point about legality. If the dealer for some reason were to "accept" the pending authorization they have then charged me double for my car. And that is legal?

I just find the whole thing bizarre. I belive it when I hear that the money will be returned to me, but i find this practice utterly ridiculous. What if I had no one who could help me out financially? What if I had went shopping not knowing that I had no money due to the "pedning authorization"?

Sorry, call me silly, but this makes no sense to me whatsoever. Why can the bank not cancel this pending request...

Extant

Fjords wrote: »

I did not authorise them to take more than £5300 from my account. That is what I entered my pin number for and that is what the car cost. Nothing more. The fact they have put a hold on an EXTRA £5300 on top of what they already took is illegal!

An authorization is not a debit. They have not taken an extra £5300 at all.

If they authorized twice, debited twice and then refused to give back one amount? That would be theft, fraud, etc. and would then be illegal.

An accidental double authorization is not.

What you're saying is that I can go into a shop and buy £10 worth on my card by entering my pin. Tesco can add another £10 just in case? Makes no sense.

No, I didn't say that at all. Please show me where I did.

I realize that it's a lot of money for you, and as such you are understandably emotional about it. Step back, however, and look at it rationally: no money has gone. This is an error. It sucks. But it will be done with in a week.

The dealer doesn't want to know. They say they only have 1 authorisation code and won't even talk to my bank.... Let alone with me. They have my money and as all dealers they move on to the new target. Aftersales service is non-existant.

Find a better dealer. They are out there, welcome to the free market.

Extant

Fjords wrote: »

I'm ok now. I "only" went over with a few hundred pounds so my wife is covering me until pay day or until the money is returned. I did actually speak very calmly to the bank. It's not the fault of the person on the phone. I have worked in a call center myself a long time ago and know that being angry and ranting to the person on the phone gets you nowhere.

Sensible and admirable, well done.

Back to your point about legality. If the dealer for some reason were to "accept" the pending authorization they have then charged me double for my car. And that is legal?

What part of the law do you think this is illegal under? It's certainly not theft.

I just find the whole thing bizarre. I belive it when I hear that the money will be returned to me, but i find this practice utterly ridiculous. What if I had no one who could help me out financially? What if I had went shopping not knowing that I had no money due to the "pedning authorization"?

Then you would be potentially embarrassed and have a legitimate complaint against the dealer for it.

Sorry, call me silly, but this makes no sense to me whatsoever. Why can the bank not cancel this pending request...

Because, in this situation, the bank only has your word for it.

When a debit card authorization is made, the bank is basically saying you're good for that money. They are thus duty bound to reserve it for the dealer for a certain period, in case you purchase the goods.

They don't know the intimacies of your dealings with the dealer, nor is it their business to.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Guarenteed the dealer has tried to process it and got a refer code which will have put an authorisation onto the system and hold on these funds.

the dealer being too lazy to call and get that will have thought the banks systems would be different second time (likely :rolleyes: ) and reswiped it then admitted defeat and tried again.

the Dealer must through his own merchant services supplier that the second hold is not required and can be removed.