Unauthorised transactions

tomtontom

HappyMJ's advice is sound - you either report the transactions to the police as fraudulent or you accept them and pay them. What else do you think should happen?

On a side note the way you talk about your wife makes for uncomfortable reading, it comes across that you treat her like a child. Maybe her spending is a reaction to this? It does sound like you could both do with some psychological support.

SnowTiger

Waldemar wrote: »

I am aware of the details around what you have posted and whilst I might look at talking to action fraud and the credit reference agencies to provide detail on the situation, possibly a crime reference number and potential involvement of financial ombudsman there is no way I will be pursuing a criminal conviction against my wife who as I stated in my above post I love very much and am not seeking to destroy our family thank you very much!

You can insist the transactions are treated as unauthorised, make a complaint to your card provider and take the matter to the FOS if you don't get the response you want.

However, if the transactions are treated as unauthorised your bank and/or PayPal because victims of the fraud. They may wish to have it perused as a criminal matter. It would be out of your control then.

When you report unauthorised transactions to a card issuer they send you a form to sign, confirming you didn't make the transactions and that you will assist with their investigation.

What do you want to happen here? For your card issuer and PayPal to cancel the debt and take the loss?

Podge52

I would be careful if reporting to the police, they may take the option to pursue your wife out of your hands. It is fraud after all.

Waldemar

Hi Grumber

Your 1st quote of my original post refers to our current accounts which are a mess and are being sorted out this week.

My current account = Lloyds basic current ( joint access )
Wife's = TSB gold ( joint access was with Lloyds but split to TSB when banks demerged )
My Credit Cards = Lloyds

Basically both of our current accounts are joint and in practice that has meant when my wife has been in danger of going over her overdraft limit money has been transferred from my current account to her current account. This will stop next week when both of our accounts will no longer be joint accounts. My plan is to then set up a separate joint account perhaps at another bank if need be that is not linked in any way shape or form to our individual current accounts so the scenario of where over 7K has left my account to hers will not happen. This new joint account will be used to pay household bills, mortgage, food ect and will have a budgeted amount go into it each month.

Thank you for your understanding and like yourself I don't sleep with my wallet or bathe with it. I was beginning to think I might be the only one who didn't

Anthorn

grumbler wrote: »

Not to mention that most spend at least nights at home and don't keep their wallets under their pillow.

Depends on their paranoia level. I admit mine is fairly high. But I suppose any unauthorised person opening my wallet would be attacked by the moths

BlondBoy

Obviously sympathetic to your situation, Waldemar. But as others are saying, you've only got 2 choices really - and neither are ideal. You either report it as fraud, with all the problems that could bring to your wife. Or you repay the debt. There really isn't another option in this case.

And as Snow Tiger says above, be careful how far you pursue the fraud line, as at some stage events will be taken out of your control. Once you start that ball rolling, it's not always going to be your choice whether criminal charges are pressed.

FWIW, difficult as it is, I'd get as much of the debt on a 0% card and pay it off. That's probably the easiest bit. The harder, but probably the most important part, is getting to the reasoning behind your wife's behaviour and getting her the help she (and you) obviously needs. Might be worth starting with you having a chat together with your GP.

I wish you well and hope you get things sorted.

Waldemar

Hi Moneymaker

The whole paypal thing really is far too open too abuse and in my opinion not enough is done to protect the cardholder. I am aghast that my credit card company did not pick up on the pattern of spending and that it was so easy for my wife to do as you said take my card details once and have them stored on her paypal to use whenever she wanted.

Regarding reporting to the police, which you said is inadvisable in so many cases I feel that you are right as you are basically handing over control to police / cps even if I decide not to pursue a conviction myself

Thank you for your post.

tomtontom

Waldemar wrote: »

Hi Moneymaker

The whole paypal thing really is far too open too abuse and in my opinion not enough is done to protect the cardholder. I am aghast that my credit card company did not pick up on the pattern of spending and that it was so easy for my wife to do as you said take my card details once and have them stored on her paypal to use whenever she wanted.

Regarding reporting to the police, which you said is inadvisable in so many cases I feel that you are right as you are basically handing over control to police / cps even if I decide not to pursue a conviction myself

Thank you for your post.

Did you not notice your wife was having a manic episode? I can't understand why you would blame the bank when you failed to pick up on this yourself - mania would be evident in far more ways than just her spending.

grumbler

Waldemar wrote: »

My plan is to then set up a separate joint account perhaps at another bank if need be that is not linked in any way shape or form to our individual current accounts

Do you mean converting joint accounts to sole ones?
Do you understand that with a new joint account you remain solely and jointly liable for any debt and that it keeps linking your credit histories together?
That said, having it with another bank won't make any difference compared to opening a new one with your current bank. It's even easier to open a new sole account and keep the old joint one.

Waldemar

Tomtontom how on earth do you deduce that I treat my wife like a child?

Anyone who know's my wife would know that she is a formidable character and not to be trifled with. She is intelligent, hardworking, loving and whilst I do trust her still that is something we need to work on when it comes to money which she would be the first to admit that she has never been great with.

When it comes to the issue at hand though, please in your infinite wisdom enlighten me as to how you would deal with it!

As to your support of HappyMJ do you understand the implications of taking such a course of action? Are these in fact the only options open to me? You paint it as a very black and white issue with no details of the grey between!