Help! Halifax Account Cleaned Out

dannyfs

Hi.

I have a Halifax bank account.

This morning I have found that yesterday, the account was totally cleaned out by "Transfer"

Having spoken to Halifax, this payment was made to "Blair Oliver and Scott", a solicitor whom I have an agreement with to make small monthly payments, unrelated to this account.

Halifax say they cannot help and that Blair Oliver and Scott need to be contacted to understand this.

This has not gone out as a card payment, nor as a direct debit.

Surely, they cannot transfer money from the bank account to a third party without authorisation.

Blair Oliver and Scott are demanding a review of a payment schedule before they will even discuss refunding this money, but IT'S MY MONEY. They're holding it to ransom and as a result, I'm unable to pay priority outgoings.

Can someone let me know if this constitutes some kind of fraud?

Thanks

Techhead_2

Can you just clarify, there are a lot 'this' and 'they' which makes it a bit unclear.
Who is supposed to have actioned this transfer and how did they do it?

opinions4u

I would suggest you have a read of this thread.

If I understand correctly Blair, Oliver & Scott (abbreviated BOS, coincidentally) is part of HBOS. As such, they have presumably used "Right of Set Off" to claim unpaid debts from your account.

I would strongly suggest that you open a new basic bank account with a bank that isn't called Halifax, Bank Of Scotland or Lloyds TSB and arrange for your next pay to go in to that new account.

Blair Oliver and Scott are demanding a review of a payment schedule before they will even discuss refunding this money, but IT'S MY MONEY

If you have unpaid HBOS debts, it probably isn't your money, because the terms and conditions of your account allow for right of set off.

Why not review the payment schedule with them honestly and openly? It sounds like the way forwards.

(I'm not saying they have acted correctly or fairly, I have no idea what the laws and regulations are around in-house debt collectors).

twinkle1981_2

If you had a payment agreement with them I can't see how they could legally just clear the account out of all your money. Are you supposed to live on fresh air? Something similar happened to my sister with a company she owed money to taking unauthorised payments from her bank, despite her having an agreement in place. In the end the company she owed the money to were found to be in the wrong big time and had to refund the payments back and stick to the agreement.

dannyfs

Thanks "Opinions4u". I wasn't aware that they were the same company. This makes much more sense now as it looks like a transfer that I have done from one account to another.
They have, as it happens now agreed to refund the money. (Could take 48 hours!?!)
As it happens, any reviewing of the payment schedules I have are not going to work in their favour - Costs have gone up in the last year quite significantly but my salary hasn't!

Again. Thanks