Direct Debit Rebate. Is this legal?

Bullcantona7

I contacted a company about ppi. They looked at 6 years of bank statements and told me I was due some direct debit rebates. Apparently, some of the companies have set them up wrong!

Ok I said fine. Get it back for me. Yesterday they rang the bank for me with me present and this morning I have £9000 in my bank. This is scary. How can this be right? And can the company now pursue the £9k off me.

The company say they have the necessary documentation to support my claim and nat west wouldn't of paid me it back if they wasn't happy with my claim. The company also told me I am due another £10.000 in wrongly set up direct debits.

I can't spend the money it's on my mind that much. I've googled the company -claimsmadesimple.com. Well established company who have been doing claims/ppi/bank charges for years. I cannot find any bad press or any information on this direct debit rebate.

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!!

So scared of the outcome!

Thank you

amersall

Hang on to that money, if I am correct, the Bank will want this back when they realise the Direct Debits were correctly taken.
You will get a bill from the company that you will have to pay and will end up out of pocket.
Hopefully someone will post who knows more about this "scam".

Bullcantona7

That's what I am thinking. My other issue is that I have to pay a % to the company for getting me this money. So if I get £5000 I have to pay this company £1800. But if I pay this company £1800 to get me the money BUT I then have to pay it back, I'm £1800 short. Got to be a scam and I think the company getting me the money are gonna say. We said we could get you the money, but it's nothing to do with us if you have to pay it back, we did our bit!!!!

dunstonh

Ok I said fine. Get it back for me. Yesterday they rang the bank for me with me present and this morning I have £9000 in my bank. This is scary. How can this be right? And can the company now pursue the £9k off me.

This is a known scam.

The company say they have the necessary documentation to support my claim and nat west wouldn't of paid me it back if they wasn't happy with my claim.

Natwest have no choice but to pay you back. It is part of the direct debit guarantee. What happens after refunding you is that they go to the originating company and ask for the money back from them or evidence that the mandate was set up correctly. In 99% of cases then mandates are set up correctly and Natwest will take the money back from you about 30-120 days later. Where the mandate is not set up correctly, the firm will pay Natwest the money back and then come after you for payment which you will legally owe them. Direct debit is a means of payment. An error by the means of payment does not mean you get away with no paying what you owe.

The bank may also consider that you have committed attempted fraud against them and remove your banking facilities.

I can't spend the money it's on my mind that much. I've googled the company -claimsmadesimple.com. Well established company who have been doing claims/ppi/bank charges for years. I cannot find any bad press or any information on this direct debit rebate.

Its an outright scam. You are being ripped off. We have seen it mentioned several times on this site by people caught out by it. It may not even by that company that cold called you. There is a lot of impersonating going on out there with cold calls.

You pay the claims company their share after receiving the refund thinking you are better off. Then many months later you find yourself overdrawn because the bank has taken the money back from you. When you go back to the claims company to get your money back from them, you either find they have gone or they continue to fob you off for a period until they do vanish.

amersall

Thanks dunstonh x I knew you would know.
Could these companies be reported at all?.

Bullcantona7

LEGEND MATE thank you. I Knew this was the case, fckn knew it. I will refuse to pay them today for their work. Go to my bank and tell them the score. I'll be fine... I've been honest and brought it to their attention. Even if the money just stops in my account I can give it back, I wasn't deluded enough to spend it or pay these rats, but now it's sat there in my bank reality has hit home and this "!!!! just got serious"

dunstonh

Could these companies be reported at all?.

They should be reported to the ministry of justice for attempted fraud. Action Fraud is another it can be reported to online.

The direct debit guarantee scheme is a protection to make people feel happy to use direct debits knowing that if something goes wrong, the bank will immediately refund and investigate. It is not a pot of compensation but a temporary refund to protect the scheme. There are only two outcomes. 1) the bank refunds and you owe the company the direct debit was to or 2) the bank refunds and then takes the money back some months later after it is was found to be ok.

It is not and never will be money that you will have in your pocket for long and if you pay the dodgy claims company, you will end up out of pocket for that amount.

Here is the direct debit guarantee: http://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/DirectDebitGuarantee.aspx
The third bullet point covers the refund you got. It is explained more here: http://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/Incorrectpayments.aspx

[Deleted User]

This is such a pernicious fraud to perpetrate. If the OP of this thread had continued through to spending the money and paying the commission, then he would have been £9K out-of-pocket!

Surely Banks should also be pro-active in protecting their customers from this? If large "refunds" of Direct Debits are made, shouldn't the Bank warn the customer that the money will likely be clawed back in the near future?

dunstonh

Surely Banks should also be pro-active in protecting their customers from this?

Its not a widespread fraud and these sorts of thing probably occur across many branches of different banks and the individual staff members may not have picked up a trend yet.

I do believe that the banks do warn in their letter that the money will be collected back if there is found to be nothing wrong.

Bullcantona7

Update. Def fraud on so many levels. Now sat in the police station. I knew I was right NOT to pay these guys commission. It's happening on a large scale. It's a loop hole in the system where the direct debit indemenity requires the bank to pay the money back straight away. They will then investigate it and when they find out that the money was rightly paid by you using direct debit. They WILL come for the money.... Great scam!!! Thanks everybody

Bullcantona7

In the mean time you have paid these guys and that's a whole different matter and YOU will be out of pocket by thousands