**urgent advice needed**

ADIE2805

Hi All

I really need some urgent advice regards a continuous payment authority!

Last week my partner instructed the Natwest to cancel a CPA regards a to a payday loan(no she's not cancelled it with the lender yet) so no advice regards that please!
Now, when she went to cancel this the bank said because it is a Visa debit card they can't cancel it but can only 'MONITOR IT ONCE A MONTH'?? But if we notice it being taken to advise them straight away and the money will be returned to the account immediately.
Well this morning she got a text message thanking her for payment from PDL so she went straight to the bank to sort it out. But the bank as said it can't see the transaction yet and until it does it can't return the money? Which could take several day's!? But, she told them with it being the 1st of the month tomorrow we have direct debits and standing orders to be paid and not enough money! 'Hard luck' was their response and we should have sorted it earlier! But we was never warned of this!?

Anyway what we want to know is the bank right or are they going against the code? What do we do? How quick should it be sorted?

Advice please

sacha28

Which bank is she with? I'm only asking as both my partner and I got into lots of trouble with a payday loan company and both of our banks had very different ways of dealing with it!! I bank(ed) with Halifax who were pretty on the ball with it and refunded the money straight away, my oh banks with Nationwide who dealt with it in the way you have described.

Although Nationwide didn't refund the money until they could 'see it', they placed a note on the account that meant if his DD's failed he wouldn't get charged as there was action pending.

In both cases we put, in writing, that we wished to terminate the CPA with the company and that any funds removed from our accounts would be treated as fraudulent. We also tried to contact the company but they proved to be impossible to speak to (if we finally got through on the premium rate number, the mere mention of terminating the CPA would cause the line to go mysteriously dead!!).

We did have a couple of hiccups along the way, where money was taken despite the CPA being terminated, but these were very easily sorted by a visit to the branch (don't bother phoning as it's like speaking to a brick wall!!).

HTH

pmduk

Has your available balance been reduced by the payday loan amount? If the instructions to the bank were in writing, they've no justification for not refunding the money immediately it's taken. Use the complaints procedure.

ADIE2805

Thanks for your reply sacha28. The bank in question is the Natwest. They keep quoting that because its a Visa debit card they can't cancel it? But are we not right in quoting back 'However, you have the right to cancel them directly with your bank or card issuer by telling it that you have stopped permission for the payments. Your bank or card issuer must then stop them' Which is from the FSA and she also took a copy of this and showed them at the bank. Why are they saying they can only monitor it? Surely to me cancelling is just that cancelling

And thanks also to pmduk. Yes the balance has reduced but they say until they can actually see the transaction on the account they can't refund and unfortunately the cancellation was in the bank and over the phone but not in writing. Will this have a bearing?

Regards
ADIE

pmduk

ADIE2805 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply sacha28. The bank in question is the Natwest. They keep quoting that because its a Visa debit card they can't cancel it? But are we not right in quoting back 'However, you have the right to cancel them directly with your bank or card issuer by telling it that you have stopped permission for the payments. Your bank or card issuer must then stop them' Which is from the FSA and she also took a copy of this and showed them at the bank. Why are they saying they can only monitor it? Surely to me cancelling is just that cancelling

Precisely why I suggested using the complaints procedure. Many banks' staff training in this area is woefully inadequate.

ADIE2805 wrote: »

And thanks also to pmduk. Yes the balance has reduced but they say until they can actually see the transaction on the account they can't refund and unfortunately the cancellation was in the bank and over the phone but not in writing. Will this have a bearing?

Regards
ADIE

It shouldn't, unless the bank deny your cancelling it. Hopefully that won't happen. They're right in that they can't refund until they've paid it however.

stclair

Call 0845 366 0391 and ask them to cancel it for you.

If it's the first time the payment is being collected they may not be able to action your request until it's actually been collected.

PH7

ADIE2805 - cancelling CPAs with banks seems to be a minefield, and it seems you have to be lucky to get someone who has actually received some training to get any joy.

When I phoned up NatWest about this issue I was lucky enough to talk to a lady who told me her department was set up specifically to deal with CPAs following the clarification from the FSA. She took the details of my Visa debit card, checked the details of the CPAs I wanted to cancel (broadband, loan and magazine sub) and that was that! I am fairly certain that it was one of the options on the admittedly labyrinthine telephone banking menu, but I can't remember for sure.

Good luck.

ADIE2805

stclair wrote: »

Call 0845 366 0391 and ask them to cancel it for you.

If it's the first time the payment is being collected they may not be able to action your request until it's actually been collected.

Thanks stclair. That's the number we called to cancel but when we called they're actually saying it's not actually cancelled but it will be monitored once a month!?
But we pointed out that the PDL could call for the monies at any time and they said just keep an eye on your account and contact us if any monies are taken!?
So effectively we do all the work

One other thing! They have taken the money today and say it show's up on our account Wednesday, bank refund, PDL notice this and on Friday they request the money again. Refund next Tuesday.....and so on? That can't be right CAN IT :eek:

ADIE2805

Thanks PH7. Will have a look at that.

sacha28

We wrote the letter from a template we got from CAB, took it into the branch and asked the advisor to hand-write a letter (on headed paper) to say that they have received the request to terminate the CPA and that any further monies taken from our accounts would be refunded immediately. This was all advised by the CAB(AMAZING ORGANISATION, DO NOT GET ANYWHERE ENOUGH CREDIT FOR WHAT THOSE GUYS DO!!)

PH7 is absolutely right, it's pot luck whether you speak to someone in the know. The first person my OH spoke to at Nationwide was a total goon, didn't know the back end of a calculator to the front, but OH was insistent on seeing someone else who knew exactly what was going on. What we did learn is that there is absolutely no point in trying to sort it out on the phone, when I spoke to Halifax on the phone the man told me that there was no such thing as a CPA and, his exact words......'I have no idea why this d!ckhead at the CAB thinks he knows banking better than I do, but there is no such thing so how am I supposed to cancel it?'

Queue grovelling apology from some manager woman and £50 credited to my account for 'distress' after listening to the recording of the call (I actually thought this was a lie they told everyone so they behave themselves!!!)

Both of our cards were also visa. Mine a lowly electron, his a debit. Didn't think this would make much difference?

Sinhanada

My advice with PDL is to ensure that you report your bank card as lost or stolen. That way they cannot take the funds - you will get a replacement card shortly and it removes the issues of banks not following their words \ promises.

With regards to the PDL - you certainly know what they are doing and how to resolve, but please do remember that there are a lot of free advice out there, CAB and or Stepchange are amazing

Oh and well done with the compensation from the bank - very nice touch at the end!