Can Swinton take money from my bank account when I'm not the policy holder???

rossfushi

Hi all, this is my first post and I need your advice! It's regarding a problem I have with Swinton Car Insurance. Back in March I helped a friend set up his car insurance with Swinton by paying the initial payment using my debit card. This was to be a one-off payment and was not being used to set-up direct debits or guarantee the policy in any way. Once this had been set-up, the account holder visited Swinton's local branch and set-up his own direct debit payments from his own bank account. Recently the account holder was unable to make a payment and was informed by Swinton that his policy would be terminated. Subsequently, and with no authorization whatsoever from myself, Swinton have decided to take £135 from my bank account. At no point had they mentioned they would be holding onto my debit card details and I certainly gave them no permission to.

Is what they have done illegal? Am I in the right to demand a full refund of the amount? In addition to this, their transaction caused me to go over my overdraft limit on my bank account and I have incurred £44 worth of charges. Would I be able to claim compensation for this amount from them?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

Ross Collins

olly300

Remove your friend's name from the post.

Secondly write a letter to the company stating what you have written here concisely, ask for a refund of the £135 and the £44 in charges. Include a photocopy of your statement showing you incurred charges due to this with everything else blacked out and state that you have included this statement in your letter.

Add at the end of your letter that if they don't refund you the full amount you have no choice but to take them to court.

Send your letter to them by recorded delivery.

After 8 weeks if they haven't refunded all the money contact these - http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/complain.html

jonesMUFCforever

Just go to your bank and get the transaction chargebacked.

The charges can then be claimed from Swinton.

rossfushi

Thanks for the tips. Do you think it was illegal of Swinton to retain my card details? The more I think about it, the more I think they had no right to even keep them, let alone take the payment.

lisyloo

I presume you did this online?

Was there a box that you had to tick to say you agree to the terms and conditions (there usually is).
Did you read all of them?

I'm jsut asking becuase I usually don't and most people usually don't.
I'm just wondering if there is a possibility you did actually agree to it without realising.

It's not unknown for there to be terms and conditions like this.
For example mortgage terms and conditions usually say that if you default on the mortgage then they can raid any account (current & savings etc.) that you hold with them.

You seem quite adamant that you didn't agree to it, but did you read every word?
It would take quite some time usually to read it all.

iceicebaby

I know of some insurance companies who retain the card number that a deposit was paid on to collect the premium from in the case where a monthy direct debit payment is defaulted on, so maybe Swinton is one of them?

It would have been explained in the T&C that you or your friend would have had to click to say you had read in order to continue and buy the policy.

oldwiring

Hmmm Was the payment made on line?
If not did you ensure that the application was both put in its envelope and posted in your presence? What's your friend's attitude to your problem?

oldwiring

What I wrote above is meant to show the potential risk of doing a favour of the type like the OP's. From years of experience I know that you can never really know a person; one of my managers commented that lending to a friend had to be carefully considered for that reason.

Therefore in this case there was good reason to ensure what went to Swinton was fully under the OP's control.

I await the OP's onslaught.

Treacle1983

You should easily be able to get the money back.
You have no INSURABLE INTEREST in the car - eg: no financial link to it. So no need for insurance and nothing to insure.

They should refund in full.