Current Account with Bank - £50 debited, NOT Authorized

rjmartin

Hi Guys & Girls,

I have a current account with my bank which I have held for around 2 years and up until now I have had no problems.

To cut a long story short, I use my debit card online quite a bit and even though I believed I was very careful I believe my details may have been accessed.

Two amounts have been withdrawn from my account (one day after the other) - £24.50 and £24.69 - obviously totalling nearly £50 which to myself is a lot of money.

The transactions are from a company called 'HLS ENTERPRISES' (anyone?) and I haven't a clue who they are. I am 100% sure that I have not processed these transactions.

Anyway I called the bank, explained that I was suspicious of this and they blocked my card and are investigating currently.

I just wondered

a) has anyone heard of the company? All the bank could tell me is that it is an American company.

b) how long will it take for the bank to conduct their investigation?

c) will I get my money back?

Many Thanks for your help

Rob

opinions4u

rjmartin wrote: »

Two amounts have been withdrawn from my account (one day after the other) - £24.50 and £24.69 - obviously totalling nearly £50 which to myself is a lot of money.

The transactions are from a company called 'HLS ENTERPRISES' (anyone?) and I haven't a clue who they are. I am 100% sure that I have not processed these transactions.

Google the name. check out worldwide responses to the search just in case it is something you have authorised.

Anyway I called the bank, explained that I was suspicious of this and they blocked my card and are investigating currently.

Absolutely the right thing to do. If in doubt, block it. Smaller transactions are often a test before they go for a more significant amount.

a) has anyone heard of the company? All the bank could tell me is that it is an American company.

There is an American web site of that name. No I've never heard of them.

b) how long will it take for the bank to conduct their investigation?

Typically 4-6 weeks. But some banks will reimburse you up front for modest amounts while they investigate. If you do have to wait you need to be patient - unfortunately we live in a world where some bank customers are not averse to claiming transactions are fraudulent when they know that they're not. So the bank does need to be thorough in establishing that the customer is not responsible and that it is a genuine fraud.

It's a horrible feeling. It's a pain. But give the process reasonable time and it should be okay for you.

c) will I get my money back?

Yes.

ScoobyLoot

Although there are companies with that name, it's probably likely that the payee for the transaction is fake. A friend of mine has recently had two payments (also around the £24 mark!!) apparently for a local supermarket, BUT the name of the payee on the statement was spelt slightly incorrectly and the shop had no record of the transactions. His bank is presently investigating.

FluffyFiFi

The banks are obliged to pay back any money taken from your account that you did not authorise, it might take a bit of time but they are usually keen to sort it out. Usually the banks own fraud department spot these transactions and contact you to tell you what they are doing.

rjmartin

Aren't the bank obliged to pay up right away and then chase the merchants for the funds so to speak? I had this once before a few years ago with the halifax and they gave me the funds back the next day and said "if it turned out I had infact made the transactions they would be debited from my account once more."

Anyone?

opinions4u

rjmartin wrote: »

Aren't the bank obliged to pay up right away and then chase the merchants for the funds so to speak? I had this once before a few years ago with the halifax and they gave me the funds back the next day and said "if it turned out I had infact made the transactions they would be debited from my account once more."

Anyone?

They're not obliged to reimburse until they have investigated.

If they do, they're being nice!

exel1966

rjmartin wrote: »

Aren't the bank obliged to pay up right away and then chase the merchants for the funds so to speak?

No they're not !

How would the bank the know if the customer has a genuine complaint until it's investigated ?

rb10

exel1966 wrote: »

No they're not !

How would the bank the know if the customer has a genuine complaint until it's investigated ?

There's no obligation to refund straight away, but for small amounts, some banks will put the money back into your account immediately, pending investigation.

They can always take it back out again afterwards if the transaction wasn't fraudulent.

KarenBB

rjmartin wrote: »

Aren't the bank obliged to pay up right away and then chase the merchants for the funds so to speak? I had this once before a few years ago with the halifax and they gave me the funds back the next day and said "if it turned out I had infact made the transactions they would be debited from my account once more."

Anyone?

If it's a direct debit indemnity claimthe bank put the money back straight away and then get the money from the merchant. Debit card payments are dealt with differently.

rjmartin

Thanks for your help thus far.

It is a debit card payment, I have spoken to the bank once again today who have said they are sending me a 'declaration form' which I have to sign to say that I did not authorise the transactions. Then the money will be refunded.

They confirmed the transactions look as though they were processed in America .... so will have to just wait now.