Castlebridge Credit Management - numerous unauthorised withdrawals from my account

Jon1234

Hi All,

I have recently been made Unemployed which has brought my income to almost nothing as I am on JSA which equates to around £130.00 every fortnight. When I was working full time, I took out a mobile phone contract amongst a couple of short term loans, one of which was Payday Express who I owed £280.00. They had passed the account onto a company called "Castlebridge Credit Management" who I had been contacted by explaining that they had "Taken over my debt"

As I couldn't keep up the repayments originally set up with them, I spoke to them on a number of occaisions discussing a repayment plan which was more in tune with my current financial situation. I.E - £25 every 2 weeks. Which as far as I'm aware, they have to accept.

I then recieved a letter from them thanking me for the payment :

"
RE: account ............
Thankyou for your payment. The arrears balance that Castlebridge Credit Management was collecting on behalf of the creditor is now paid and we have notified them accordingly.

Yours sincerely

J Marsden

CCM "


Obviously I was confused by this as I had only agreed with them to pay a small manageable amount every two weeks and the full balance shouldn't have been completed for a good few months!

After checking my online banking, to my horror, I realised that they had taken the FULL amount in a number of random withdrawals, none of which they had authorisation from me (the joint account holder).

The withdrawals were as follows :

£15.00 - 23 AUG - (this was the agreed fortnightly amount)
£15.00 - 06 SEPT - (this was also the agreed fortnightly amount)

---

The following are the disputed withdrawals :

08 SEPT - 25.00
- 25.00
- 50.00
- 112.50

09 SEPT - 12.50
- 25.00

None of these withdrawals were authorised by me or my partner.

This has completely wiped out my account therefore leaving me unable to pay the bills, mortgage etc...

Surely this is ILLEGAL ?

I look forward to hearing back from anyone who could provide me with any information in regards to this matter and if there is anything I can do about it.

Thanks in advance

Jon

saltnvinegar

Jon1234 wrote: »

After checking my online banking, to my horror, I realised that they had taken the FULL amount in a number of random withdrawals, none of which they had authorisation from me (the joint account holder).

Surely this is ILLEGAL ?

I look forward to hearing back from anyone who could provide me with any information in regards to this matter and if there is anything I can do about it.

Thanks in advance

Jon

Hi Jon

Is this ethical? - No.

Is this moral? - No.

Is this Illegal? - No.

Unfortunately they were perfectly entitled to take this money. If you want to know why have a read of a thread I started here:

Dealing with Payday Loan Companies

Looking on the bright side, at least you can move on now not owing this outfit any money. But you will have little joy in trying to argue that what they have done is illegal. You will be better served putting your energy into sorting out your other finances.

Best

SnV

EssexHebridean

Never EVER give card details or set up direct debits for debt repayments. Standing order is the only safe option as you then have control over what is paid, and when. You'll know this for the future I guess.

At the moment, advise your mortgage company if you're going to be late paying that, and sort out everything into priority order. Sort through all your cupboards and the fridge and freezer and write yourself a list of stuff that you HAVE to buy food-wise - look to eat from what you have for everything bar the essentials. Can you sort out a short-term overdraft or extension to an overdraft which will at least allow you to sort out the priority bills for the month?