Lloyds TSB..

chris230978

This is a tricky one..

I was victim of a fraudulent card transaction on my current account 6 months ago which left me heavily overdrawn. The bank investigated and refunded the £3500 that was taken last month but im now receiving solicitors letters demanding that i make a £507 payment to prevent recovery action. I recently applied for a mortgage and showed up a default on their searches although i've never personally borrowed from them.

When questioned, Lloyds TSB say that they have refunded the fraudulent transactions, but not the charges incurred as a result of them for being overdrawn. I have 2 current accounts with Lloyds TSB and until the fraud on my account i was always in credit with both.

I have written emails, letters and visited the branch who put me onto their call centre in Mumbai to no avail as they hardly speak a word of English.

Is there anything i can do? It seems like Lloyds TSB aren't interested in making an effort to help. I really need to get this sorted as its begining to affect my credit rating and crippling my chances of getting a mortgage.

Im really tempted to transfer to another bank and tell Lloyds TSB where to shove their account. The transactions were to a company called "Western Union" who i've personally had never heard of myself. Also more to the point - shouldn't Lloyds TSB make you aware of any unusual spending patterns??

hippey

Have the solicitors 'proved' the debt, do you know it is as a result of the fraud? Or are they just saying you 'owe' the money but haven't said why?

In essence you have to get the debt collector to contact Lloyds as they could be chasing a debt that can't legally be enforced. Or go to court and counterclaim for damages, as if they can't prove this debt they ain't going to win!

reech

chris230978 wrote: »

When questioned, Lloyds TSB say that they have refunded the fraudulent transactions, but not the charges incurred as a result of them for being overdrawn. I have 2 current accounts with Lloyds TSB and until the fraud on my account i was always in credit with both.

I encountered this with old TSB; my chequebook was stolen, cheques were written and cashed in between me getting the book stopped. They refunded the amount that had been stolen, and then suggested that I needed to pay for the unauthorised overdraft.

I successfully challenged this (in branch, face to face during an appointment with an account agent) with the claim that if they had not honoured the transactions, I would not have gone overdrawn. The key thing here was that the bank had acknowledged that the actual fraud amounts were not mine, therefore by extension I could claim that the fees were not valid, as they were specifically incurred due to those amounts that took me into unauthorised overdraft area.

I think the bank may be having a slight brain-difficulty here; it's likely that due to your normal use of your banking services AND the fraud, you've gone into a situation where you will be charged, but this actual dip was by one of your OWN transactions AFTER the fraudulent one - so their automated brains suggest that 'oh, this is because of YOU not because of the fraudulent withdrawal'.

If you can do some quick sums about things spent around that time, and show them that without the fraudulent transactions, you wouldn't have gone over into charges, then they should relent - but I can't overstress the importance of showing this working out to a real person, rather than a support droid. Support droids that you might speak to in the phone, or just in passing in the bank are, sadly, not given too much free will (it's something to do with Asimov's law of customer service robotics) and will default to 'the bank is right'. Speaking to a person you've arranged an appointment with should work better.

If it doesn't work, just ask them for a letter to confirm they can't do anything, and you can then go via the Ombudsman. Good luck with that, I hope!

jonesMUFCforever

I would agree get in touch with the Ombudsman.

chris230978

I have looked through my bank statements for the month or so leading up to when my account was scammed and have discovered 2 transactions of £30 made out to O2(UK) prepay Slough. I have my mobile phone contract with Orange and have never dealt with O2 so im wondering whether the Western Union transactions and O2 ones are the work of the same person??

As for Lloyds TSB, i have changed my salary account to one with Natwest now. I tried to speak to someone in the branch today and was put through to someone in a call centre (in India i think). After half an hour trying to explain, and then the account manager within the branch trying her best to explain what has happened, i ended up having to walk away frustrated before losing my temper and trashing the place.

jonesMUFCforever

chris230978 wrote: »

I have looked through my bank statements for the month or so leading up to when my account was scammed and have discovered 2 transactions of £30 made out to O2(UK) prepay Slough. I have my mobile phone contract with Orange and have never dealt with O2 so im wondering whether the Western Union transactions and O2 ones are the work of the same person??

As for Lloyds TSB, i have changed my salary account to one with Natwest now. I tried to speak to someone in the branch today and was put through to someone in a call centre (in India i think). After half an hour trying to explain, and then the account manager within the branch trying her best to explain what has happened, i ended up having to walk away frustrated before losing my temper and trashing the place.

Very grown up of you just for £60! If it had been £600 or more I could understand.
I hope that you can rejoin this group when you are released :rotfl:

chris230978

Its just frustrating that i have to work to earn an honest living to try and get a mortgage and decent standard of living for my family while the bank allows people to steal from my account.

The £60 was taken before a fraudulent £3500 transaction was debited from my account. Surely alarm bells should have rang. Not everyday that a £3000+ transaction is made on a card and my spending patterns are no-where near as extravagent! I have a very strong gut feeling who it is (i paid for a meal for with the card - the card was swiped at the till, after the chip and pin machine supposedly declined it).

Im just wondering whether it may have been the same people just testing that the card was still active with the mobile top ups before hacking into my account. The most annoying thing is that Lloyds TSB bank seem to employ people who work from a script in the branch then pass you over to their collections call centre when you fire questions at them. Not just any people either, on the other side of the world so the language barrier causes problems!

Im in the process of contacting the ombudsman this week, hopefully they should be able to help. I can prove beyond doubt that the transactions led me into an unauthorised overdraft resulting in the charges yet Lloyds TSB are adamant that i WILL pay or face legal action for them.

Natwest telephoned me to confirm that i was actually making a £6000 car payment transaction in person on their debit card before they allowed it to clear - Lloyds TSB would have probably let any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry empty my account no questions asked!