Can a bank say I owe them money I didn't agree to borrow?

rihsc102

I just found this on the citizens advice website:

About signing an agreement to borrow money

When you borrow money you should be asked to sign a credit agreement. This is a legal document which sets out what both sides are agreeing to, including how the money you're borrowing should be paid back.

Borrowing money includes things like using a credit card, taking out a loan or a bank overdraft, buying goods on credit and taking out a mortgage.

To find out more about borrowing money, see Types of borrowing.

If you're asked to pay back money, it's important to check you're the person responsible for the debt before you agree. Otherwise you may end up paying back money when you don't have to.

To be responsible for paying back a debt, you must have signed a credit agreement. Before agreeing to repay money, take a look at the original credit agreement to make sure you signed it, check what you agreed to and to see if anyone else also took out the credit with you.

You may not be responsible for paying back the debt if:

you didn't sign the credit agreement
someone else used your name to get credit
you are being chased for a debt taken out by someone else with the same name as you
you are being chased for a debt which your partner took out in their own name only.
There may be other reasons why you might not have to pay back money you are being chased for. To find out more about these, see How to dispute a debt.

You may be responsible for paying back the debt if:

you signed the credit agreement as a guarantor
you signed jointly with someone else
you're a catalogue agent.
For more information about signing a credit agreement as a guarantor, see How to dispute a debt.

It says I may not be responsible for paying a debt if I didn't sign a credit agreement. It doesn't explain what "may" means.

Arleen

rihsc102 wrote: »

How would I go about doing that? And what steps can I take if the bank refuse to refund the money?

The bank is RBS

Give them a call and explain what you've explained here. And while time for DD guarantee is way past, if what you said here is true then what they did was at the very least gross negligence. If they will blew you and refuse to move on with your complaint then go straight to financial ombudsman.
Keep in mind that in order to be successful with the ombudsman route you will most likely need solid evidence of what happened, the more the better, so start getting your paperwork together.

glentoran99

rihsc102 wrote: »

I just found this on the citizens advice website:

About signing an agreement to borrow money

When you borrow money you should be asked to sign a credit agreement. This is a legal document which sets out what both sides are agreeing to, including how the money you're borrowing should be paid back.

Borrowing money includes things like using a credit card, taking out a loan or a bank overdraft, buying goods on credit and taking out a mortgage.

To find out more about borrowing money, see Types of borrowing.

If you're asked to pay back money, it's important to check you're the person responsible for the debt before you agree. Otherwise you may end up paying back money when you don't have to.

To be responsible for paying back a debt, you must have signed a credit agreement. Before agreeing to repay money, take a look at the original credit agreement to make sure you signed it, check what you agreed to and to see if anyone else also took out the credit with you.

You may not be responsible for paying back the debt if:

you didn't sign the credit agreement
someone else used your name to get credit
you are being chased for a debt taken out by someone else with the same name as you
you are being chased for a debt which your partner took out in their own name only.
There may be other reasons why you might not have to pay back money you are being chased for. To find out more about these, see How to dispute a debt.

You may be responsible for paying back the debt if:

you signed the credit agreement as a guarantor
you signed jointly with someone else
you're a catalogue agent.
For more information about signing a credit agreement as a guarantor, see How to dispute a debt.

It says I may not be responsible for paying a debt if I didn't sign a credit agreement. It doesn't explain what "may" means.

Forget about persuing the "illegal route" you did have a credit agreement with the bank otherwise you wouldn't have had an overdraft, Them allowing you to go into unauthorised overdraft would be covered too, although I am very very surprised it was 4500 worth.


you need to write to the bank, as said explaining what happened and take it from there


if they refuse they next step is FOS

bris

Seems to me like a business account so you have no consumer protection. You need to seek legal advice on this.


You had a contract with Google have you read that contract? You can't just say I'm not paying anymore it doesn't work like that so there is a very good chance the money was owed.

rihsc102

Ok thank you for the help!

jonesMUFCforever

OP are you sure it was a direct debit and not a debit card transaction?

glentoran99

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

OP are you sure it was a direct debit and not a debit card transaction?

Neither should have went through to the tune of 4500 over authorised overdraft

CKhalvashi

bris wrote: »

Seems to me like a business account so you have no consumer protection. You need to seek legal advice on this.

Completely an utterly wrong.

If OP's business has fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet below €2 million (about £1.5m), then they are fully covered by the FOS as a consumer. This is the majority of UK businesses.

How this would have worked for the Direct Debit guarantee I don't know, but I assume there are similar rules?

You had a contract with Google have you read that contract? You can't just say I'm not paying anymore it doesn't work like that so there is a very good chance the money was owed.

The FOS has decided that it is irrellevant whether the money is owed or not.

eddddy

CKhalvashi wrote: »

How this would have worked for the Direct Debit guarantee I don't know, but I assume there are similar rules?

The OP could almost certainly still make a direct debit indemnity claim, if an error has been made (the time limit is 6 years) :

If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society

So, for example, if the organisation told the OP they were going to collect £600, but collected £6000 - that would be an error covered by the guarantee.

But if the company told the OP they were going to collect £6000 and then collected £6000 - but the OP doesn't believe he owed them £6000 - that's probably a contractual dispute, not an error. So probably not covered by the guarantee.

CKhalvashi wrote: »

The FOS has decided that it is irrellevant whether the money is owed or not.

In the upheld complaint, the bank made an error. The bank paid a DD payment after the customer had cancelled it.

jonesMUFCforever

glentoran99 wrote: »

Neither should have went through to the tune of 4500 over authorised overdraft

I agree with you but it would be easier for the bank to have returned a direct debit - sometimes a card transaction can be forced through.