Help! Money taken from credit card

tightasagnats

I am working with a client who had money taken from his account without his knowledge or consent last year. £1500 was withdrawn over 3 days in a part of town nowhere near his home. He is disabled, on benefits and reported it immediately to the police upon getting his statement and I have a copy of that report. 8 months on they are still demanding the money despite a review following a letter from me as they requested detailing his circumstances. I am a health advisor but not a debt specialist. They informed him that because his pin was used correctly and he cannot provide an explanation as to how the pin was used they cannot rule out it was done with his consent. He says he never had the pin and never took money out from the card ever. It could easily have been stolen from the post. And *please*, don't post telling me he could have taken it. Yes he could, but he didn't. I need advice about onus of proof etc.

Any advice - anyone had anything similar happen?

Best wishes, T

Markyt

tightasagnats wrote:

I am working with a client who had money taken from his account without his knowledge or consent last year. £1500 was withdrawn over 3 days in a part of town nowhere near his home. He is disabled, on benefits and reported it immediately to the police upon getting his statement and I have a copy of that report. 8 months on they are still demanding the money despite a review following a letter from me as they requested detailing his circumstances. I am a health advisor but not a debt specialist. They informed him that because his pin was used correctly and he cannot provide an explanation as to how the pin was used they cannot rule out it was done with his consent. He says he never had the pin and never took money out from the card ever. It could easily have been stolen from the post. And *please*, don't post telling me he could have taken it. Yes he could, but he didn't. I need advice about onus of proof etc.

Any advice - anyone had anything similar happen?

Best wishes, T

Was it taken from a machine or withdrawn from the bank? Is the withdrawal location covered by cameras, or if an ATM was that camera active & is a copy available? Is the machine accessible to him, given he is disabled? Can he show he was elsewhere at at the time of any of the withdrawals, or can someone vouch for the fact he wasn't at the bank at the times the withdrawals were made?

Bokken_2

This type of advice should have been given in copiuos amounts when the original theft was reported by the call taers or the police officer dealing with the theft.
I would call the Citizens advice Bureau(CAB) explain your disability and see if they will visit you if not you will have to explain yourself over the phone or visit but this is definately the first port of call.then once you have that advice you can respond to the banks demands with the help of the CAB.
Re-contact the poilce and see how they have progressed the investigation of this theft or have they justed "Screened " it out and filed it?
CAB is in your local directory ,open normal working hours.

tightasagnats

Thanks folks I will look into it. The thing is not whether *he* actually took the money from the ATM, but whether he might have allowed someone else to. They aren't saying he did.

Alfie_E

tightasagnats wrote:

They informed him that because his pin was used correctly and he cannot provide an explanation as to how the pin was used they cannot rule out it was done with his consent.

That’s the bank’s fallacy. Simply saying something is possible is not enough. The bank couldn’t rule out the possibility that extra-terrestrials took the money, but no reasonable person is going to say that’s a plausible explanation. The bank need evidence that, on the balance of probabilist, your client made the withdrawals or authorised someone else to make them. Saying he was careless, or even grossly negligent, still isn’t enough. See the Financial Ombudsman Service’s using plastic cards as credit-tokens.

Crucially, you haven’t said whether your client lost possession of the card. As you can see from that article, where the card was could be significant. Of course, it’s possible for a card to be taken, used, then returned. As your client is disabled, were there any professional health or care workers who regularly went to your client’s home?

Your client needs to go back to the bank, and demand that the transactions are promptly reversed. If they won’t do this, he wants a “letter of deadlock” - basically, stating that the bank is not going to consider the matter any further. He should then complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

James is the MSE member with most to say on why PIN security and liability is flawed. Have a look at the threads he’s started or posted to.

tightasagnats

Thank you. I believe that he is in possession of the card. He did write to the ombudsmen, and I believe the bank has stated that will not look into it further - so I shall follow up the ombudsmen. Best wishes