DCA collecting full balance despite agreement in place

ajberry

Had a debt of 700 ish, spoke to them 2 months ago and asked them to setup a d/d for £50 a month. They said they did this. They then called me the next month, said that they needed payment. I made a payment of £10 (as I have other debts etc) and asked if they could setup the d/d again.

Come this month, they have collected the full balance without telling me so I have £30 to last 31 days, and have to pay rent next week.

I know I am in debt, but I have tried to setup arrangements, but now is there any way of me getting some of the money back so I can at least pay rent and live for the month?

Are they even allowed to take the full balance in one go without telling you?

jadex

I can't answer your question, but you basically handed over keys to your account to them - you can't control DD from your side. You should just pay them manually, i.e. log in and pay, or use SO which would do it for you on auto-pilot. I know it's not gonna help you now. Sorry.

wales2309

check as they need to give you 10 days notice of how much they will deduct, if they take more I'm sure you can claim by a form of an indemnity. Contact your bank and ask them to make a claim.

FOURCANDLES_2

Do not set up a DD with a debt collecting firm is another point that needs to be made.

ajberry

So the answer is a big fat no. Am going to try visa chargeback next, but that will take time.

Now to find the rent

RAS

Have you even spoken to the bank to see if you can get the money back?

ajberry

Not yet, I spoke to them and they suggested the chargeback (but as the transaction wasn't complete they couldn't do anything yet) as they used my crad details on file.

Still going to be stuck as from what was explained to me, it isn't a quick process

Hax

Shame they used your card - it they had claimed the money via direct debit then you could have invoked the direct debit guarantee and received am immediate and full refund of the amount taken.

As it's your card that has been used for the payment, I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to get that money back. Your best argument would be that it was an unauthorised transaction - no idea how well that would stand up though.

Good luck!

jadex

Well, so it wasn't Direct Debit but Recurring Payment which makes things more difficult.
Have a read this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments

Good Luck in getting your money back from this shysters.