Sisters debt in South Africa

morrit

Hi,

sorry if this isn;t the correct forum but I'm in a quandry...

My sister has gotten herself into financial difficulty owing a car company money for a payment. If the payment wasn;t made a debt collector would take the vehicle. I was able to obtain the bank account details from the debt collector via email and duly sent the money to the account provided.
2 weeks later I receive an email demanding money again because the details she provided were wrong. I contacted the bank and the money has gone to an account, and they would have to charge £20 to correct this.
I've said to the debt collector in South Africa that I would happily perform the change, upon receipt of the £20 fee my bank will charge from them.

She has emailed back saying she has given the correct details twice, and only gave the wrong details once.

Looking through the emails, it is a case of them providing the standard bank details, me asking for IBAN details again, them sending the bank details minus IBAN number, me asking for the IBAN and Account details, them sending the IBAN number and the incorrect banking details, me sending them proof of payment.

Their excuse is she put the correct number twice before and I should have checked to make sure the account was right, I have said no, as it is not up to me to ensure they give me the correct details.

The correct number ends 022, the incorrect one, the money went to, ends 002.

Am I correct in this approach? Why should I pay for their mistake? the money was paid in good faith, and they have proof of the payment.

Again, sorry if this is in the wrong area.

Cheers.

JasX

Hell will freeze over before the debt collection company will send YOU (the debtor) any money.

If you're really going to push this you could try reversing** the payment yourself, then sending the DCA the required amount minus the fee you paid along with evidence of the additional fees incurred

(**whilst this is still possible ie before the money is spent in whatever account it landed in -YOU are delaying things here)

(or at the very least you should reverse the payment ASAP to get the money back and have it in your posession rather than being spent by whoever's account it lands in whilst you bicker with the DCA)

JasX

PPS looking at the email chain if they sent you inconsistent bank details and you didn't properly check both instances you'll probably not have a leg to stand on

ONLY if they sent you incorrect bank details FIRST and you made payment BEFORE the first time they sent you correct details will you have any case at all

sourcrates

If you sent money, from your bank account, then you can't get the payment reversed, once it's gone, it's gone.
You can only do a chargeback if you used a debt or credit card.

morrit

Thanks for the reply.

They did send the wrong details before payment was made. They emailed today to say the account number they gave was wrong and that it needed sending again.

The payment was made 26th June, 7 working days to clear, but only picked up yesterday that it was missing. They said I should check my account to see if it has been refunded. I said it hasn't and they said I needed to send the money to the correct account this time and gave me a new number. I pointed out this number was different to the one they gave me last time, they said that they had typed it incorrectly only the once. However that one time is the email I used to complete the transaction as it had all the details to make the international transaction; the IBAN number, the reference number, the (unknown to be incorrect at this time) account number, sort code and bank name.

Is it reasonable to presume that one wouldn't trawl through past emails to check they hadn't made a mistake especially one so minor? If I was requiring payment I would triple check the number I was sending just to make sure. Further, the receipt I provided them at the time of payment had the number on and the debt collector didn't pick this up.

I think this is where the debt collector and the creditor need to agree that it was their mistake.

If I retrieve the money then I would be paying a large sum again for the transfer fee. The change in details is the cheapest option for them. I could send the money back again minus fees but they charged a ridiculous amount and they would then have grounds to remove the car. As it stands the payment was made in good faith, I have provided a way to obtain the funds and the fault is theirs surely?

morrit

sourcrates wrote: »

If you sent money, from your bank account, then you can't get the payment reversed, once it's gone, it's gone.
You can only do a chargeback if you used a debt or credit card.

I did think this that's why I contacted my bank. They told me that in such circumstances a £20 fee applies to change the details of the transaction. I guess if it gets spent the bank reclaim the money somehow... I dunno...
in a way it would make things simpler... They gave the wrong info... moneys gone...

sourcrates

Unfortunatly DCA's are notoriously difficult to deal with, you could make a written complaint to them, bit awkward as its South Africa, follow there complaints procedure, but been a foreign company, they may not be as well regulated as a UK firm would be.

I would make any future payment to them either via PayPal, or use a credit card, gives you more protection if things go wrong.

morrit

sourcrates wrote: »

Unfortunatly DCA's are notoriously difficult to deal with, you could make a written complaint to them, bit awkward as its South Africa, follow there complaints procedure, but been a foreign company, they may not be as well regulated as a UK firm would be.

I would make any future payment to them either via PayPal, or use a credit card, gives you more protection if things go wrong.

Agreed. I presume this is the one and only time. I have been swotting on SA regs and they aren't too dissimilar from our own. It seems the common sense approach usually works.

morrit

And of course.... PayPal.... why on EARTH didn't I think of that??? Well... actually it wasn't offered... but totally agree... For future knowledge!!

rogue999

Are you sure that the bank can just 'Change' the bank account the money has gone into? It doesn't sound quite right to me - are you sure they didn't say they could 'Trace' the money? I send international payments in my job and have never hear of changing the details once completed. If the bank account the money went to didn't actually exist then the money would come back to your account (eventually - often this takes a little while with overseas payments) and they would charge you to send it again. Might be worth just double checking - could be completely legit i've just not heard anything like that before.


As for the £20 charge (if it's right) i'd just pay it and get it over with, not worth the stress.

JasX

morrit wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

They did send the wrong details before payment was made. They emailed today to say the account number they gave was wrong and that it needed sending again.

This is not the point, did they send you ANY instances of the correct bank details before payment was made?