Advice Needed

mttsclly

Hi,

I am new to this thread so please forgive me if I am not posting in the right section this was the closest place I could find.

I am just wondering if banks can overturn decisions they have made on an account? i.e. fraud that was resolved in your favour from several months ago?

Cheers~

dunstonh

You are going to need to give more detail.

e.g. if you have a disputed transaction and they refund you but later find information that it was you then they can take the money back. However, without knowing the context, it is hard to offer more comment.

mttsclly

Yes of course, sorry for the lack of information!

This was almost 14 months ago, Lost my card and chequebook in london. I had called to notify the bank that my card and chequebook had been lost/stolen. They asked me if I had ever written any cheques; I said no.

I then called back the bank and found that lots of money had been debited from my account (even though I only had a £750 overdraft) and I was -£5000, the woman was really rude and being only 20 years old at the time I was stumbling and stuttering and basically made a complete muppet of myself in that phone-call getting completely confused etc,

Fraud team got back to me and said I was liable for the charges and it was passed onto Metro debt. collection.

I still contested it, for almost 7 months saying it wasn't me, but always being met with a firm "it was."

A year passed, I had been locked out of my account and couldn't get access even when I went to branches several times to try to unlock this. Many letters went back and forth. Finally I got bored of this silly game and went to the FOS; they contacted the bank.

It was then that a Fraud manager contacted me to say he would look into this and didn't know why it took so long to sort out.

Happy days! received a letter saying that I would not be held liable for the fraud on my account; all charges were claimed by the bank through VISA. Done and dusted.

Two months pass and I then make complaint to the bank saying I want compensation, I now find out that they are looking back through all my telephone calls. I have no idea why, I am just not wanting another repeat of what happened before.

Little_Mo_70

mttsclly wrote: »

Yes of course, sorry for the lack of information!

This was almost 14 months ago, Lost my card and chequebook in london. I had called to notify the bank that my card and chequebook had been lost/stolen. They asked me if I had ever written any cheques; I said no.

I then called back the bank and found that lots of money had been debited from my account (even though I only had a £750 overdraft) and I was -£5000, the woman was really rude and being only 20 years old at the time I was stumbling and stuttering and basically made a complete muppet of myself in that phone-call getting completely confused etc,

Fraud team got back to me and said I was liable for the charges and it was passed onto Metro debt. collection.

I still contested it, for almost 7 months saying it wasn't me, but always being met with a firm "it was."

A year passed, I had been locked out of my account and couldn't get access even when I went to branches several times to try to unlock this. Many letters went back and forth. Finally I got bored of this silly game and went to the FOS; they contacted the bank.

It was then that a Fraud manager contacted me to say he would look into this and didn't know why it took so long to sort out.

Happy days! received a letter saying that I would not be held liable for the fraud on my account; all charges were claimed by the bank through VISA. Done and dusted.

Two months pass and I then make complaint to the bank saying I want compensation, I now find out that they are looking back through all my telephone calls. I have no idea why, I am just not wanting another repeat of what happened before.

Perhaps it might have been as well to leave things as they were.

I know what you mean about being flustered on the phone, I went through the jumping hoops procedure just to transfer some money from one account to another on the phone; during the interrogation I got mixed up with my dd's and s/orders and was told that I had failed the security questions and they wouldn't carry out my request. I then realised my mistake and gave the correct answer but no go. Arhhhhh! I got on the bus and went into town to do the transaction over the counter.

It's very intimidating to be interrogated in this way about your own account, you almost feel guilty phoning about your own money. I know they have to do it but I often wonder how on earth do the fraudsters get away with what they do - all the time?

mttsclly

Ok, just a quick update on this:

So I received the final letter about the fraud from my bank, they said it was now officially closed and I wouldn't be liable, they also gave me £700 compensation in the means of not having to pay back my overdraft, not bad. But I have now been told that VISA are conducting their own separate investigation into this, and will want to take me to court!? If HSBC have already finished all their investigations is this even possible? It feels like hell on earth!

Little_Mo_70

mttsclly wrote: »

Ok, just a quick update on this:

So I received the final letter about the fraud from my bank, they said it was now officially closed and I wouldn't be liable, they also gave me £700 compensation in the means of not having to pay back my overdraft, not bad. But I have now been told that VISA are conducting their own separate investigation into this, and will want to take me to court!? If HSBC have already finished all their investigations is this even possible? It feels like hell on earth!

Who has told you that Visa may want to take you to court? The bank? Anyway, you haven't done anything wrong. This is what I would do:
I would write out the whole thing out as it happened, who you spoke to and how they dealt with it. If you think the woman was rude write that down and explain that you felt intimidated by her attitude and, in certain circumstances, you can be made to feel very self concious for no reason at all and it makes you flustered. Write what you can remember about all your phone calls / made and received. Get all your records of correspondence from all parties involved - debt collectors, bank, FOS and anyone else) together. Familiarise yourself with all the events and you will be prepared should it go to court. You have all the proof you need to finalise this for good. Put it all in a file until you hear. People get robbed of their cards/money/cheque books all the time. They have to prove you have done something wrong and, think about it, in this case, they can't. Stop worrying. I don't think the bank would have given you £700 comp. if they didn't believe in you.:)

mttsclly

it just sometimes has to leave you wondering what on earth is going on in the world these days, i haven't heard anything yet so maybe it won't get that far and has been dropped, it almost feels like someone is trying to wind me up!

banks get away with murder in regards to how they treat consumers, seriously.

meer53

Little_Mo_70 wrote: »

Who has told you that Visa may want to take you to court? The bank? Anyway, you haven't done anything wrong. This is what I would do:
I would write out the whole thing out as it happened, who you spoke to and how they dealt with it. If you think the woman was rude write that down and explain that you felt intimidated by her attitude and, in certain circumstances, you can be made to feel very self concious for no reason at all and it makes you flustered. Write what you can remember about all your phone calls / made and received. Get all your records of correspondence from all parties involved - debt collectors, bank, FOS and anyone else) together. Familiarise yourself with all the events and you will be prepared should it go to court. You have all the proof you need to finalise this for good. Put it all in a file until you hear. People get robbed of their cards/money/cheque books all the time. They have to prove you have done something wrong and, think about it, in this case, they can't. Stop worrying. I don't think the bank would have given you £700 comp. if they didn't believe in you.:)

Without knowing every detail of this case, how can you make these comments ? You can't possibly say that the OP hasn't done anything wrong or that he has all the proof he needs to finalise this !

What you're saying is very irresponsible.

The bank may be happy to give the OP £700 in compensation but if Visa are prepared to take him to court, then they must have some evidence which they feel proves something else.

The OP should take expert legal advice from someone who knows what they're talking about, and definately ignore yours !

magpiecottage

It would be for VISA to tell the OP that they were taking them to court, not the bank.

It is also possible they simply want him in court as a witness in pursuit of the real criminal.

Little_Mo_70

meer53 wrote: »

Without knowing every detail of this case, how can you make these comments ? You can't possibly say that the OP hasn't done anything wrong or that he has all the proof he needs to finalise this !

What you're saying is very irresponsible.

The bank may be happy to give the OP £700 in compensation but if Visa are prepared to take him to court, then they must have some evidence which they feel proves something else.

The OP should take expert legal advice from someone who knows what they're talking about, and definately ignore yours !

I advised what I would do in their shoes so that the OP has peace of mind. Looming court cases can be very intimidating and I feel that this person, being quite young, is very easily intimidated.

No where on these forum pages does it say 'Replies from Expert Legal Advisors' only'.

I believe this forum is where we try to help one another. We are not all legal experts and sometimes we might not always give the correct advice but it is not for me to judge someone who has lost their financial documents as being a fraudster.

I'm sorry you felt my statements were very irresponsible.
Do you feel yours regarding Visa taking the OP to court because they must have evidence to prove something else, in contrast to the bank's findings, any less so?

I feel the next poster after yours hit the nail on the head and the court just needs evidence from the OP to help catch the real fraudster.