Loan companies won't stop taking money from my bank!

kirstymckenziex

Hello - I feel like this is my last resort, I just need some advice and no-one has been able to help me.
So, a few weeks ago £100 was taken from my bank account (debit card) by two different payday loan companies. I have NEVER heard of these companies, and have never looked around or applied for a loan. I told this to my bank and they got my money refunded, and someone was looking into it. However, a couple days ago I went into my bank because another random loan company was attempting to take £8.99 from my account. I was told that four other companies were attempting to take a total of around £250 from my account, but they couldn't because of insufficient funds. I was told to phone the companies and get them to cancel these payments/refund me my money.
I was continually being asked whether I had applied for or looked for a loan and my answer was always the same - NEVER, not that I need a loan and I wouldn't go near any dodgy unknown payday loan companies. However, no-one seemed to believe me (I am a student and there would be no way I'd be able to pay back any type of loan, never mind a payday loan). I then phoned up the companies which I could reach (some of them won't answer/don't have a legitimate phone number) and requested a refund/them to cancel the payments and to remove my details from their system. I asked how they got my details and one said "from the electoral roll" (???? I had no idea my bank details were on the electoral roll???) and another said "from a third party". This doesn't help me at all because I can't tell where the original loan company got my details from.
I have just checked my bank account to find that the money I had been refunded from the original payment has been taken out of my bank account by the financial/fraud company or whoever deals with that at the bank. My overdraft was maxed and it has now gone over by £40. I am only 19 and I have never felt so hopeless in my life - I am so upset about this whole ordeal and I just can't stop crying, I need it to go away... so yeah, anyone got any advice on what I should do now? The bank doesn't seem to want to help me and I don't know where to turn to now.
(I stopped the card from which the companies were getting the money from yesterday and requested a new one in the hope that I can keep my overdraft, but also stop the companies taking the money off of me. I can't cancel the card because I have no way of paying my overdraft off and I will be refused for one in a new account)

forgotmyname

Taking money via a debit card. Used you card anywhere dodgy? Anyone else got access to your card?

kirstymckenziex

Not that I can think of - I rarely shop online and if I do it'll be from websites like New Look/Boohoo (established shopping websites) & if I use eBay it's through PayPal, but I hardly ever use eBay. It's just me that has access to the card that I know of. Do you have any idea why one of the companies said they got my info from the electoral roll?

Pixie5740

It sounds like there is a Continuous Payment Authority set up on the card. These loan broker companies do that so they can take a monthly membership fee for doing SFA. Speak with your bank and make sure they cancel that as cancelling the card doesn't automatically cancel a CPA.

The electoral roll doesn't have your bank account details on it so that, as you probably already suspect, is total BS.

If your bank have a fraud department it might be worth getting them to investigate. Go through your bank statements in case there are any small transactions for £1, something you could possibly have overlooked.

Lastly, get hold of your £2 statutory credit reports from Experian, Equifax and Call Credit (the Call Credit one you can get free from Noddle) just in case any more lines of credit have been fraudulently opened in your name.

poppasmurf_bewdley

It sounds to me as though someone (probably who you know) has taken out a loan in your name using bank details they have gained from you (either finding or asking for details).

You should close the account completely and open a new one. Speak to your bank, tell them fully what is happening, and ensure they refund you all the money taken. If the local branch dilly-dallies, then contact head office.

But once you do this, be prepared for a deluge of letters threatening you for not paying these loans. Maybe you should also report it to the police and get a crime number.

Enfieldian

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

IMaybe you should also report it to the police and get a crime number.

Unlikely that the Police would be prepared to do anything other than direct the OP to here:

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

DCFC79

kirstymckenziex wrote: »

Do you have any idea why one of the companies said they got my info from the electoral roll?

No financial info is held on the ER, only data like name and address so what you was told is cobblers lol.

Hope you get it sorted.

longtermplanner

In addition to what everyone else has said, I suggest you should register yourself here to help prevent future fraud : http://www.cifas.org.uk/pr_for_individuals

magpiecottage

You would probably do better to make formal complaints to the companies attempting to debit your account. You can do this via their websites or e-mail in most cases - it does not need a letter or recorded delivery.

That puts the onus on them to prove you really did take out the loan (which, if you didn't, they will not able to do).

If they fail to do so wihin 8 weeks you can take them to the Financial Ombudsman Service which will be free to you but cost them £550 as soon as FOS starts to look at it.

Keep copies of everything (pdf copies are fine, you can keep a separate folder on your computer for each company). That way if the same company tries again you can link the two incidents.

This may sound a bit harsh on the loan companies but they made a commercial decision not to properly check that the person they were lending to really was who they said they were and presumably accept this risk "in the same casual way" - as the judge always told Norman Stanley Fletcher at the start of Porridge.

rizla_king

Complain formally to the bank as well.

Do BOTH.

Your bank can only refuse a refund for an unauthorised payment if:

• it can prove you authorised the transaction – though your bank cannot simply say that use of your password, card and PIN conclusively proves you authorised a payment
• it can prove you are at fault because you acted fraudulently or, because you deliberately, or with ‘gross negligence’, failed to protect the details of your card, PIN or password in a way that allowed the transaction, or
• you told your bank about an unauthorised payment 13 months or more after the date it left your account, so make sure you contact the bank as soon as possible

Prove in the above does mean prove.

If they can't the MUST refund you immediately and they are not allowed to grab it back, ring-fence, or otherwise hang on to it unless the can prove.

forgotmyname

Its not usually online where your details are obtained. Where have you used your card in person?

Or someone you know may have used it.