Can my bank transfer money from a business account to my personal account?

Jane36

Hi,

I am new to this so will try to be clear!

I have a personal account and a business account with the same bank. I was over my overdraft limit on my personal account but had money in my business account (set aside to pay a specific bill!). My bank transferred about £250 into my personal account from my business account (even though £250 did not put me back within my limit). The bill was then paid out of my business account which meant I went overdrawn in that account as well. I was charged for going over my limit in my personal account and then charged again for going overdrawn in my business account (I don't have an overdraft for the business account). As I was unable to pay money straight into the business account I have since received two further lots of charges on that account! (All because they transferred money without my permission).

My question's are :-

Is it legal for them to transfer from a business account to a personal account without permission?

What is the best way to ask for the charges to be refunded on the business account? Should I ring or send them a letter?

Thanks

p.s. I am currently looking to reclaim charges on my personal account as well but am just gathering the data!

97trophy

is your business account in the name of a ltd company or your personal name?

Jane36

Hi,

It's not a limited company it's a sole trader name with me as the trader I think!

agsnu

Yes, they are allowed to do this.

simpywimpy

In that case, yes they can. Martin was speaking about just this this week. His advice is not to have the accounts in the same bank. The same with savings and debt because if you default on any debt, they will take the savings legally but cannot do this if its not in the same bank. This includes mortgages as well so might be worthwhile looking into changing either your personal or business banking.

for charges I would use the same process as with the personal account and write the set letters from the templates on here - they are wonderful

97trophy

The above advice is entirely correct. All banks have an offset clause - yet it is not widely known about until too late. I see lots of complaints about this.

Also, the offset rule applies to credit cards. So they need to be with a different bank then where your savings or deposits are too.

Jane36

Thanks, it just seems so wrong as they didn't even transfer enough to put me back in my limit! So I was still being charged on both accounts!

Thankfully I'm just about back on track so this should not happen again - will look at the templates to reclaim the business account charges as well.

Thanks again!