Loan company stole from my account!!

NathanDyer

Hi guys. I recently enquired about some payday loans as my cars MOT was a lot more than I was expecting. After a few enquiries, I settled on Wonga which was quick easy and paid back in full the next week.

Upon checking my bank it seemed that I was £180 into my overdraft and was confused as to why. I rang my bank and they said a company called Quid24.com took the money which was a payday loan company.

I checked to see if I had taken out the loan by mistake, but I hadnt. No money was ever deposited into my bank from them. But a £15 processing fee was taken out followed 2 weeks later by a £250 payment which was to settle the phantom loan.

Ive emailed them (as they have no contact number) and they confirm I am not even on their system. I have since asked what they intend to do about it and have since had no reply.

The problem is, it has left me with no money so had to miss 1 day off work as couldnt get there or get petrol, I have since had to get a friend to take me to and from work at their expense. I have had 3 direct debits fail and also incurred charges from the companies I owed the direct debits to, charges for going into my overdraft with my bank plus my lost earnings at work.

What should I do?!

Any help greatly appreciated.

(ive posted it in the loans thread but its not as busy as this one and I guess it comes under this too, sorry.)

tallyhoh

Speak to the bank again ASAP & make it plain that its theft. Have you spoken to the Police?

NathanDyer

Hi, no havent spoken to the police as of yet. ive told them I want it sorted by this evening or I will take it further. They close at 5 so we will see but they promise to get bakc to you within 2 hourse and its been nearly 6 so im not holding my breath. Im quite confident that at some point I will be able to get my initial £265 back as its clear its not a legitimate payment. My concern is the charges and loss of money ive incurred as a result, its pushing £200 as we stand now and I still dont have a penny!

Gordon_Hose

Don't wait until later, get it sorted now.

Speak to your bank and get the payments returned.

tallyhoh

contact the bank & make sure they know its an unauthorised payment, if its direct debit the bank should sort it out under the guarantee

Gordon_Hose

If it was taken on your debit card, make a point of telling them it's a fraudulent payment, not made by you. At worst you'll have to wait a week for a new card.

Boris_Allen

Go to the police. If you've contacted the PDL company and they've chosen not to take you seriously then too bad for them. Get a CRN (Crim Reference Number) and phone the bank. Demand that every loss you have incurred be refunded. If that fails, ultimately the PDL company through their criminality are responsible for any charges you have incurred so demand that they reimburse you and send plenty of threatening paperwork (threats of court action of course...) to back it up. They'll soon start to take you seriously then!

NathanDyer

Seems a good plan of action to me Boris. I will give them the next hour to get back to me though as was my word and then kick on with the plan, im absolutely disgusted by it.

Thanks for all your replies.

tentimes

Let us know what the bank say. In my experience recently, banks don't want to know. I have had 2 cases of money being taken out from companies that I had bought something from previously, and in both cases (debit card) they sent a form out and it took about 3 months to eventually get the money back. Both banks (Natwest and Halifax) were very disinterested and made it hard work for me, even though I had not given permission for the charges.

I don't know why this is. In America banks are very happy to do chargebacks, not in the UK for some reason.

EDIT: I now mostly only pay using paypal and have only 2 direct debits. I try not to pay by direct debit since the time Eon energy took £1700 out of my account and I found out the direct debit "guarantee" is absolutely worthless and meaningless - if you sign up for variable direct debit it means they can clean you out and, again, the bank will do nothing about it.

NorthernStudent

I recently had a small fraud on my Barclays account, and I have to say I was very impressed with their treatment of me. I went into the branch, told the cashier who took me to an office and put me on the phone to their fraud department. The gentleman I spoke to was very good, immediately refunded the money, got me a new debit card sent out and I recieved the paperwork to post back 2 days later. Altogether very impressed with my branch :T

tentimes

Keep in mind that it doesn't count as fraud if you have previously entrusted the company with your card information (i.e. if there is a pre-existing relationship) even if you have not authorized the payment. This is even if it is actually a fraud.