Money taken without my permission- what can i do?

jimmyk83

Recently a debit card transaction has been put through on my account for £200 which i did not give permission for. I have contacted my bank about this (Natwest), and they said that as i had given them my card details they could not do anything about a refund. Just to clarify, i had given them my details previously to put a transaction through, which failed. I did not give them permission to put the transaction through again.

This has left me short for my bills for the month, and the company that took the money will not do anything about it. What are my rights? Should the bank refund my money? And if so how long should it take to do that?

All help much appreciated

cifpower

What was the transaction for? Did you get what you paid for?

onlypaddy

so the company hadn't been paid yet? you must have known they would still take the money.

legally, unclaimed money for services paid for on a debit card can be taken out up to 6 years after the original transaction

if you got what you paid for, you have no recourse.

jimmyk83

It was a payment to a debt recovery agency. I have complained to them but they are having none of it. I got what i paid for in as much as the debt recovery company have received the funds, but i phoned up and paid them again, when i didnt know the first transaction had gone through (as i didnt authorise it). This has obviosuly left me short of funds in the short term, and i dont know where i stand in terms of my rights with the bank

gordikin

When you gave them your details the first time surely that is authorisation? If you've paid twice in error your problem is with the debt recovery people. How did you pay?

Bogof_Babe

We are having a similar problem. A hotel we stayed in last August in New York suddenly debited nearly £400 to my husband's Lloyds Visa card last week. This accommodation was paid for by our travel agents in advance of our trip, but you have to give card details on check-in, and apparently they keep them on file.

We have phoned the hotel and they say it was an error and has been credited back, but this was a week ago and the money has still not hit OH's account. He has had to cancel a job on the car, and a magazine annual subscription, because it has left him short of funds.

There doesn't seem to be anything we can do except keep ringing the hotel at overseas call charges :mad:. I doubt Lloyds would be interested as it isn't actually fraud because we did give the hotel the card details. I am tempted to get the card cancelled once the credit arrives, so they can't do this again.

onlypaddy

as that is an american hotel, wont the refund take longer than the normal 3-5 day period to be returned? have you asked your bank how long it should take?

McKneff

If you gave authorisation for the first transaction and it failed, to be honest it stands to reason that if something fails, you try again. Dont think you have to have permission for retrying.

dont think theres much you can do about it to be honest.

onlypaddy

jimmyk83 wrote: »

It was a payment to a debt recovery agency. I have complained to them but they are having none of it. I got what i paid for in as much as the debt recovery company have received the funds, but i phoned up and paid them again, when i didnt know the first transaction had gone through (as i didnt authorise it). This has obviosuly left me short of funds in the short term, and i dont know where i stand in terms of my rights with the bank

oh lord, so a debt recovery agency has a continuous payment authority on your debit card? do you have a written agreement which states how often and how much you will make payment?

if not then brace yourself, DCA's arent the most sincere of companies and a continuous card payment authority is basically a licence to dip into your account as often as they please. see this link......

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments

you need to push hard to level the playing field and set it up as a standing order if possible, then you are in control.

Bogof_Babe

onlypaddy wrote: »

as that is an american hotel, wont the refund take longer than the normal 3-5 day period to be returned? have you asked your bank how long it should take?

If it's not in by Saturday we are going to go and [STRIKE]create merry hell[/STRIKE] make further enquiries.

td_007

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

If it's not in by Saturday we are going to go and [STRIKE]create merry hell[/STRIKE] make further enquiries.

If you have no joy, dispute the transaction with the CC company and they will be obliged to investigate on your behalf and refund.