Urgent Help Required - Money Taken From My Bank Account Without Permission

simonsj07

Hi

I am sorry to take up valauble space on the forum but I could really do with some assistance to establish whether or not one of my creditors has acted illegally.

I have a debt with a company calld Aktiv Kapital in respect of a Burton Menswear account that I held with an outstanding balance of £840.09. They sent me a letter and I called and said that I could pay back at £25 a month and I made a debit card payment for this amount and requested that I be put on an arrangement for this amount. They then continued to send me a letter stating that I had to pay it back within ten months and that I needed to pay £84 a month which I couldn't afford.

I sent a cheque for £25 to them this month and was horrified to find that a transaction for £125 had gone through my bank account to Aktiv Kapital by debit card yesterday!!!! They obviously have held my account details and put a payment through without any regard to my circumstances. I have called the bank and they have said as the funds were available the transaction was honoured. Aktiv Kapital state that they are allowed to do this but surely people can't just help themselves to money from an account. Is this legal? Is there anything I can do. Sorry for rambling but this has really upset me and what is to stop them doing it again and making me totally broke?

Regards
Simon

jo1972

I have no advice just wanted to say poor you, and don't apologise for posting cos that's what the board is here for!

I hope someone can come along and give some good advice soon. I'm interested to know the outcome too.

Good luck

Tootie_Fruity

simonsj07 wrote: »

Hi

I am sorry to take up valauble space on the forum but I could really do with some assistance to establish whether or not one of my creditors has acted illegally.

I have a debt with a company calld Aktiv Kapital in respect of a Burton Menswear account that I held with an outstanding balance of £840.09. They sent me a letter and I called and said that I could pay back at £25 a month and I made a debit card payment for this amount and requested that I be put on an arrangement for this amount. They then continued to send me a letter stating that I had to pay it back within ten months and that I needed to pay £84 a month which I couldn't afford.

I sent a cheque for £25 to them this month and was horrified to find that a transaction for £125 had gone through my bank account to Aktiv Kapital by debit card yesterday!!!! They obviously have held my account details and put a payment through without any regard to my circumstances. I have called the bank and they have said as the funds were available the transaction was honoured. Aktiv Kapital state that they are allowed to do this but surely people can't just help themselves to money from an account. Is this legal? Is there anything I can do. Sorry for rambling but this has really upset me and what is to stop them doing it again and making me totally broke?

Regards
Simon

Try contacting your bank and tell them that an unauthorised transaction has taken place on your account.

darich

on the face of it, it looks like theft.

you authorised £25 but they took 5 times that. Your banks excuse that the money was there so they honoured it must surely have breached a guideline or rule. since when did your balance dictate what you should pay to any given company.

i think your main gripe here is with the bank - you owe the company money so you should be paying them back as agreed. But the bank should only pay out what you've agreed.

i'd be writing to the manager asking what authorisation he had to release funds without permission. Difficult to claim money back from the company who are due it but the bank is different.

file_wizzard

A prime example of why you should NEVER give card details to Aktiv, (or any other DCA for that mater).

If you have not specifically given authorisation for this transaction then report it to your issuing bank as fraud, you should also request a new card so that the old details are cancelled and unusable.

In terms of getting these funds back from Aktiv then legally yes you can, but in practice you will struggle to get anywhere with them.

In respect of the original debt, if you admit and accept the whole amount of the debt then continue to pay at an amount which is financially viable to yourself, if this is £1 a month at present, then so be it.

Aktiv are in no position to demand amounts which are not affordable to yourself, they know full well that as long as you are paying a realistically affordable amount to them they have little further recourse for any other recovery action.

As a side note, for any one else dealing with Aktiv (or Thames credit their other trading name) always, always, always get proof of debt and a statement of account before you make any admission of debt or payment, the likelihood is that if Aktiv have purchased the debt it is generally unenforceable due to non availability of the original credit agreement, or the debt is time expired under the limitations act.

HappyGoLucky_2

Demand (as an official complaint) that your bank obtains proof of your authorisation for the £125 debit, report them to the Financial Ombudsman if they fail to refund. Report the theft from your account to the police.

Close the account to stop them attempting to extract further monies. Request the CCA from Aktiv before you even consider paying them again.

Madnessa

This is totally illegal. You only authorised the first transaction and they used your details to take more money but if you did not authorise this then it is ILLEGAL!

Tell your bank you did not authorise this transaction and that it was fraud.

Though I have to say the chances of them giving the money back is very small. On the other hand you made 5 months worth of repayments in one go... therefore if you agreed on £25 per month you don't need to give them another penny for five months. That is if you still owe them anything?

Might be worth checking with your bank if they can recall the money though. i once made a mistake with a transfer of funds and the bank just recalled them for me. Not sure if you can do that with a debit card transaction though.

Also get your card cancelled with your bank and never ever ever give out your card details to a company like this ever again. They have no morals and will keep taking money off you whenever they can. They don't really care whether or not you can eat!

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

OliveOyl_2

Your bank cannot do this, and if you say it was an unauthorised DD they will put the money back in your account and take it back from the merchant. DD's have very strict protection precisely because it puts control into the non-account holder. We've successfully reversed incorrect DD's this way.

To emphasize:don't bother arguing with Aktiv, cancel the DD with your bank, (very simple if you bank on-line) and advise the bank that this particular transaction is unauthorised.

Good luck.

SPANIEL36

definatly get onto the bank, like others have said, you only authorised one off payment via your debit card of 25 quid nothing else. technically it is fraud. good luck

Crown

|Ive hada similair thing happen to me with my debts to the Halifax,. They "took" money from another account I had and put it against the debt what I later found out that they have every right to do. In my case it was my months Salary and I was left with around £5 for the month.

I havent really got any further advice from what has already been given but just to let you know set up Standing Orders to these comapnies and NEVER a Direct Debit as this is a classic example of what lengths the DCA will go to to collect the money owed.

Madnessa

Just to clarify... this wasn't a DD payment or standing order. It was a debit card that was used. The account details from OP's debit card were stored and then used again later to make a payment. That is how I understood it anyway. If it would have been a DD payment then this would not have been illegal as the OP would have given the company permision to take money.

No permission and the company taking money was not the bank where the account is held (they have a right to take money from your account if you owe them) therefore - ILLEGAL