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

Gaz83

forgotmyname wrote: »

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.

Yep. As much as it's galling to take, in most similar situations explained on MSE it does usually turn out that the person HAS attempted to find a loan, and either can't remember or lies about it.

If it's genuinely the case that you haven't, then either your card's been skimmed, in which case you need to think about any dodgy places you've used it, or someone's done it with your card. The details can't be guessed.

kirstymckenziex

Thank you for the replies everyone

I have attempted to contact the companies over the phone and have been able to get in touch with all but one of them. Each of them seemed flustered and "had no idea why this happened". The first loan company that took money out said that they will be sending me a letter in order to get a refund (this was on Tuesday) still not got anything yet so they better move it! They've caused my overdraft to go into an unplanned one and it's costing me £10 a day (this is the third day) and I don't have any way of paying it back.
The thing that's frustrating me the most is that I genuinely have NO idea where they got my details from. I know that I haven't ever looked for a loan and if I needed one I'd go to my bank and get a regular one. I know that I'd never go near a payday loan company, and if I was that desperate I'd go to a well known and popular payday loan company. The ones which are taking money are ones that I've never heard of - googled one of the addresses and it's ran out of a run down, back alley garage in Cardiff! Clearly dodgy and it's SO difficult to find their phone number/get in touch with them in any way. I went to the Bank of Scotland fraud department and they're looking into the first two incidents but they don't seem to care about what is now happening. I found out about a third company taking money and phoned them up and told them about it, and they told me that the other companies were trying to take money from my bank but they didn't seem to care that I said I've never looked for a loan. I'm currently waiting on a letter from the fraud department explaining how the company got my details. My parents keep telling me that I will get the money back and the expenses incurred from the unplanned overdraft but I don't think so, unless I get a refund from the companies.
I can't close the account completely because I have no way of paying off my overdraft so I need to make do . I'm not sure if I should contact the police because I think that the bank thinks it's my fault - however I don't know this because I need the letter from them they refunded the money from one of the loan companies but not from the other two companies (both at first but then a couple days later they took the money back off me, and the third one hasn't been looked at by them I don't think).
Civas sounds like a great idea but I don't have £20 to put myself on it :P. The type of withdrawal the companies took was called "card not present" if that adds anything? I hadn't seen one like that before. Also, I have two credit cards - a capital one card and a Bank of Scotland student credit card. I haven't used these before and only recently got them like within the past week so I don't think that they have anything to do with it. However, I looked up my direct debits on my online account and in addition to two that I know about, I have seen a Vanquis one? I don't have anything to do with Vanquis and neither does anyone in my family. Is it perhaps something to do with the credit cards I have or is it something suspicious?
I don't regularly use my card - just at hole in the wall machines but the only ones I used were ones in a shopping centre, the one on campus and a Tesco one. Haven't used it for anything else aside from in the clothes stores New Look, Primark and Select, and in Tesco, Asda and Superdrug. I live on my own and so no-one else had physical access to my card.
How does a card get skimmed? There has been people talking about that in my area about 4/5 months ago.
Sorry for my very long reply! :P

honey10

Your bank need to be doing alot more to help you.

First step, report it to the non emergency police number, that way you can get a crime number.

Second, tell your bank you believe that your card has been cloned. (this can happen at cash machines, very easily. mine was cloned at the machine attached to my local tesco express. it was stopped by the bank when i was used in Argentina 10 minutes after I used it here)

I would then open a basic bank account to have money paid into whilst this is sorted out. If you keep being paid into the same account then you will end up in a situation where you have no cash on payday.

Tell your bank that you want them to change the account number and stop all continuous payments on that card.

Speak to Vanquis and ask them about the direct debit, you will have to explain to them that you think it has been fraudulently obtained.

The fraud team at your bank should help, if they don't, report it to the ombudsman. I think they should refund any charges that have been incurred because of the debits.

Spend £2 and get a copy of your credit report from each of the agencies and see whats on there. Someone should be able to tell you how you go about reporting it so it doesn't affect your credit.

Sorry about the wall of text, hope it helps :-)

forgotmyname

Did they have your details all correct including date of birth etc?

PeacefulWaters

kirstymckenziex wrote: »

Thank you for the replies everyone

I have attempted to contact the companies over the phone and have been able to get in touch with all but one of them. Each of them seemed flustered and "had no idea why this happened". The first loan company that took money out said that they will be sending me a letter in order to get a refund (this was on Tuesday) still not got anything yet so they better move it! They've caused my overdraft to go into an unplanned one and it's costing me £10 a day (this is the third day) and I don't have any way of paying it back.
The thing that's frustrating me the most is that I genuinely have NO idea where they got my details from. I know that I haven't ever looked for a loan and if I needed one I'd go to my bank and get a regular one. I know that I'd never go near a payday loan company, and if I was that desperate I'd go to a well known and popular payday loan company. The ones which are taking money are ones that I've never heard of - googled one of the addresses and it's ran out of a run down, back alley garage in Cardiff! Clearly dodgy and it's SO difficult to find their phone number/get in touch with them in any way. I went to the Bank of Scotland fraud department and they're looking into the first two incidents but they don't seem to care about what is now happening. I found out about a third company taking money and phoned them up and told them about it, and they told me that the other companies were trying to take money from my bank but they didn't seem to care that I said I've never looked for a loan. I'm currently waiting on a letter from the fraud department explaining how the company got my details. My parents keep telling me that I will get the money back and the expenses incurred from the unplanned overdraft but I don't think so, unless I get a refund from the companies.
I can't close the account completely because I have no way of paying off my overdraft so I need to make do . I'm not sure if I should contact the police because I think that the bank thinks it's my fault - however I don't know this because I need the letter from them they refunded the money from one of the loan companies but not from the other two companies (both at first but then a couple days later they took the money back off me, and the third one hasn't been looked at by them I don't think).
Civas sounds like a great idea but I don't have £20 to put myself on it :P. The type of withdrawal the companies took was called "card not present" if that adds anything? I hadn't seen one like that before. Also, I have two credit cards - a capital one card and a Bank of Scotland student credit card. I haven't used these before and only recently got them like within the past week so I don't think that they have anything to do with it. However, I looked up my direct debits on my online account and in addition to two that I know about, I have seen a Vanquis one? I don't have anything to do with Vanquis and neither does anyone in my family. Is it perhaps something to do with the credit cards I have or is it something suspicious?
I don't regularly use my card - just at hole in the wall machines but the only ones I used were ones in a shopping centre, the one on campus and a Tesco one. Haven't used it for anything else aside from in the clothes stores New Look, Primark and Select, and in Tesco, Asda and Superdrug. I live on my own and so no-one else had physical access to my card.
How does a card get skimmed? There has been people talking about that in my area about 4/5 months ago.
Sorry for my very long reply! :P

I appreciate that you're distressed by this. If you are communicating with the bank and these loan companies in such a rambling manner they are probably losing the will to live.

Get back to the bank.

Tell them you have not authorised any of these transactions and you have not given your card details to any online broker or similar. And report the Vanquis direct debit as unauthorised too.

As such you expect speedy reimbursement.

That's it. They should comply. If they don't complain. If the complaint is unsuccessful take it to the FOS.

Honey's excellent post above gives you one or two other proactive actions to help get back in control.

Gaz83

OP, does anyone else have access to your card?

pvt

kirstymckenziex wrote: »

Civas sounds like a great idea but I don't have £20 to put myself on it :P.

It's CIFAS not Civas. If there is evidence of a DD having been set up your account that you didn't authorise, then that would suggest evidence of ID fraud. On that basis you can ask your bank to make a "category 2" (Victim of ID theft) notification to CIFAS, so it would cost you nothing.

kirstymckenziex

I do apologize if you think my reply was rambling but I just tried to get all the information in so that people wouldn't need to keep asking lots of questions. No need to be so rude. As I said in my rambling posts I have been to the bank and told them that the payments were unauthorized and I hadn't given my details to anyone. However I'm awaiting a letter from the fraud department telling me where the first loan company got my details from (the one that said they got it from the electoral roll). I told the bank & fraud department about the third lot of money taken from my bank but they said they couldn't do anything and that I'd need to phone the companies myself. I did that, but I don't think the bank should leave it there. The other companies haven't refunded me as of yet anyway.
Thanks for the extra information about CIFAS, I'll be going to the bank on Monday to see if they can help me out more.
No-one else has access to my card as I said I live alone and no-one but me has physical access to it ��
Thanks for the reply Honey10 will do as you said.
And the one company that gave me my details got everything right aside from my birthday, which was way off. Although they didn't tell me what bank details they had of mine.