Can I "charge" a debt company for taking money they weren't entitled to?

cattie1

Just wondering if I could charge a company they way they did to me, as I paid a debt off in full to NDR(debt transferred from Littlewoods) recently, firstly they took the amount of £546 (this is quite high to me!)from my account twice and I had to wait 3 days for it to be returned.

While I was on the phone I explained to the lady I had set up a payment plan on their website to pay £46 per month, she said she would cancel this there and then, however come to the end of the month and £46 was taken from my account from them.

I then went on to their website to try to cancel payment plan (again) but it said "your account is no longer with us" so I rang and was told exactly the same, that my account had been transferred back to Littlewoods, however it was NDR that took the monthly payment that was no longer due as I had paid balance off in full.

I rang again on the 4th March, (I know this as it was my birthday and had no money!) and the lady I spoke to said it would be back in my account withing 3-5 working days, it is now the 14th March and I still do not have it back.

As they were very quick to charge me £12 late payment fee plus £12 underpayment fee EVERY month I was wondering if I could do something along the same lines of this as I have had to wait so long for my money that they were not entitled to but not sure of the legalities?

Any advice?

Thankyou

Hannah_10

Well they're out of order but I don't know of any official proceedure for you to charge them. What I would suggest is that you put in a written complaint and then if the response is not satisfactory contact the FOS because it's basically theft.

Also phone your bank right now and make sure that Direct Debit is cancelled- through your bank.

This illustrates why you should never let a creditor set up a direct debit from your account. Standing order is fine because you set that up with your bank yourself and it's at a fixed amount on a fixed date, which you can cancel at any time. Direct Debit though is a flexible amount and a flexible date. This allows the unscrupulous (that'd be most of them then) to take another payment, or a double payment. Techincally they're meant to have your permission but you try proving you didn't give it, it's usually impossible.

barbiedoll

Do you have anything in writing to state that the balance has been paid off? You could try contacting your bank quoting the "direct debit guarantee" (it may be worth quoting this to Littlewoods too) and getting a chargeback?
I'm not too sure how this works, others should be along soon who will have more information on this.
At the very least, write to Littlewoods complaints department, keeping a copy for yourself and also, complaining to FOS wouldn't go amiss either. You may be able to claim compensation for your inconvenience!
(Keep your bank statements showing the payments that they have taken, too)

cattie1

Thank-you for your replies, I maybe didn't explain properly sorry, it isn't a direct debit, it was a payment plan set up via their website which you do yourself, so not sure if this would be classed as a standing order?

Hannah_10

There are only so many ways a company can dip into an individuals bank account. Call your bank and check out which way they have used because although they might be calling it a payment plan there are set types of access, they can't just make the rules up as they go along, they'll be bound by one of sets of rules or other.