Urgent help needed with DCA and Barclays

Mr_Stroopwafel

Hi everyone

I hope this is the right section - I've reposted it from Bank Charges as its more debt related

My girlfriend has got into a really urgent problem with Barclays and a DCA that has left her with no money at all and hundreds over the O/D limit.

What happened was that a Debt agency took out the total amount owed of around £800 when they were supposed to take out £80. She called up the agency who she said were actually helpful and they apologised.

Now they advised her to put this down as fraud ( I think, she cant remember) get the money back and they would take out the £80. Should they have done this?

So she spoke to the banks fraud department to cancel this transaction which they did, and she got the £800 back. She then had to complete some paperwork for the fraud dept and return it. However the Fraud dept. now say they haven't recieved it (Yes, I know she should have sent it recorded) and the money has been returned to the agency and out of her account again so she is £800 down again.

She is obviously very upset by this as she is now hundreds of pounds over the limit, will inccur reserve fees and basically cannot pay for anything, including rent.

She called Barclays but they said they cannot do anything and are re-sending the paperwork.

Can anyone advise on what the best thing to do is in the short and long term?

many thanks in advance

DarkConvict

The advise is never give a DCA card details, or setup a direct debit.

When you give them these details they can pretty much take out whatever amount they like, some will even constantly take ~£100 until a payment bounces or the debt is paid.

However this these payments are not authorised, not entirely fraud as money is owed for goods/services received but they have taken the wrong amount.

You must control the payments yourself with a standing order or bank transfer. Standing order is preferred.

If you haven't got the money their is nothing you can do, sadly its as simple as that. Do she or you have friends for family that can help out whilst this is resolved. Rent, tax, utility bills are a priority so should be paid first based on what savings you still have. Banks do a similar thing called offsetting and take money from a saving account to pay off any debt you have with them, and there is nothing you can do about it as they are allowed to do it.
Given the bank were notified this was fraud, you should be able to reclaim any charges incurred given they let it go through again when they were already aware it was a fraudulent/unauthorised transaction on the card.

You may wish to consider taking this to the FOS, they can handle disputes between you and other financial institutions like banks/debt collectors etc.

Mr_Stroopwafel

Thanks for the quick reply

Well this debt is now paid in full but she has no savings or anywhere else to get money from. so there was no way she could afford it. I will have to pay her rent. It was a mistake to give them details, big lesson learnt there

say Barclays do give the money back to her again, is there anyway to now make sure that the DCA take the amount agreed on the phone to her (I'm guessing no as we need that in writing) The agency is Rossdales or something like that

3Dogs

The firm will be Rossendales - I have had dealings with them before, though they only ever took the correct amout from my bank

I wold get get your GF to ring the bank or call in to the branch and tell them that this was an unauthorised transaction and you want it cancelled. Confirm to the banks that the company took more than was authorised by her so they have failed in their duty concerning telephone authorised payments. They should cancel it and return the money to her account. Then tell them that she needs her current card cancelled and requires a new card as her current one has been compromised - she does not just want a new card with the same details - she needs one with new expiry date and/or number so that Rossendales can't take the wrong amount again. Tell Rossendales that she will pay the correct amount when new card details are known

Good luck mate

Mr_Stroopwafel

That's good then - she has already got the new card and cancelled the transaction once. It's just the lack of follow-up paperwork which she did return, just Barclays claim not to have recieved, that has caused it to go back through to Rossendales again.
Thanks for your help!