Money frozen in bank account for 6 working days?

mycatkins

On the 21st of September two payments of £300 and £400 were taken out of my account within a minute of each other. I was not aware of these transactions and they do not show up on my online banking account (they still have not been cleared).
They were taken out by an online american clothing company.
The money was taken out of a card that was supposed to have been cancelled by the bank when i started using around the 1st of September. I still have the remains of the card and it has been destroyed.

I was unaware there was a problem until yesterday, my bank did not ring or flag up any problem or even try to contact me even though it is an uncommon and suspicious transaction as confirmed by the bank clerk.

Anyway I went to bank a cheque today and asked why my card didn't work the night before when buying shopping. She found these two transactions and the outcome has left me with no accessible money in my account and direct debits which were supposed to go out today. My bank said the investigation will take up to 6 working days, the cheque will not clear until friday.

What action can I take to get the direct debits paid before I suffer repercussions of somebody else's actions and the bank's negligence of having the issue dealt with?

what may happen if those direct debits are not paid on time, and if any charges apply will I be able to forward them to the bank?

Thankyou


Just found this

"The bank or building society that holds your account is responsible for all aspects of the running of that account. They are therefore answerable for all payments, including those made by Direct Debit. "

Does this mean that if, because of fraudulent activity (and no action on the bank's part) that they will take care of any repercussions caused by their negligence or will I be responsible for all of my Direct debits and penalties that may incur ? I currently have no overdraft and my balance is at £0.00 A relative will be putting cash in my account tomorrow. The way I see it, it is their fault for not notifying me of suspicious activity and those transactions not being available for me to see on the online banking app or mini statement from the cashpoint, I had to go into the bank to even hear about them.

Quote is from this website.

directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/FAQs/Pages/YourRightsAndSafeguards.aspx

pmduk

Contact your bank and report the transactions as fraudulent and remind them of their requirement to refund immediately under the payment services regulations. Don't muddy the water by quoting anything to do with a direct debit.

This is assuming you haven't bought anything or owe anything to the said company.

yorkshireman2

I'm sure some friendly calls to your bank will be able to get this resolved. Make sure you're speaking to the right person. Understandably, some of the counter staff may not be familiar with this kind of thing, so you really need to be speaking to someone in management or better still the fraud department.

mycatkins

Thanks for the responses, who do I need to speak to? I have already reported it as fraudulent and I have never dealt with the company who took the money out. Plus it was using my old card, out of use since the end of august. They said to me I'd have to ask a friend or relative to put money in my account. Do I need to ring my branch or the bank helpline?


Thanks guys

grumbler

Freezing an account because of some fraudulent card transactions makes no sense really, but this type of arrogant behaviour is typical for banks nowadays.

Try going to your branch to discuss the problem with DDs, e.g. giving you a temporary free overdraft. If they don't help and you suffer any financial loss or other consequences resulting from their actions, complain and demand full refund plus compensation. If needed, take it to the FOS.

mycatkins

Spoken to my branch they said that it's only some circumstances they have to refund immediately. It's under investigation. The funds haven't yet left my account so they are stuck. I am on a route 21 account and have been advised to apply for a new current account with an overdraft, they said they will refund the interest. Is this a reasonable settlement or am I running into hidden charges?
I will be changing to a student current account tomorrow since I don't have any of the documents with me to prove I'm a student today. An nus card and student Id or even my tutor is not proof enough.

pmduk

mycatkins wrote: »

Spoken to my branch they said that it's only some circumstances they have to refund immediately. It's under investigation.

This is proof of the earlier poster that said branch staff don't necessarily know how to deal with fraud. It's correct that they can't refund monies that haven't left your account, however authorisations on 21st Sept should surely have dropped off your account by now.

I'd give their complaints dept a call, ensure it's recorded as a formal complaint with a reference number.

alanq

mycatkins wrote: »

The money was taken out of a card that was supposed to have been cancelled by the bank when i started using around the 1st of September. I still have the remains of the card and it has been destroyed.

mycatkins wrote: »

Anyway I went to bank a cheque today and asked why my card didn't work the night before when buying shopping.

I'm confused.

alanq

grumbler wrote: »

Freezing an account because of some fraudulent card transactions makes no sense really,

The account itself isn't frozen. £700 is frozen.

mycatkins

alanq wrote: »

The account itself isn't frozen. £700 is frozen.

Correct, sorry could have worded it better.

It was the only money in my account. I've been given a loan from a relative and will be switching banks after I get the money back and have made a formal complaint. Thanks for all of your help.

yorkshireman2

mycatkins wrote: »

Correct, sorry could have worded it better.

It was the only money in my account. I've been given a loan from a relative and will be switching banks after I get the money back and have made a formal complaint. Thanks for all of your help.

Great news that you've made the complaint. I think that was a good move as it makes it official.

I do wish you the best of luck with this as I know from first hand experience (as do a lot of people on this forum) how frustrating the banks can be about this kind of thing.

Hope you get a nicer healthy compensation payment too so you get a round in for everyone in the student union bar :-)