Cifas advice

jonny9999

Hi,


hoping somebody can help,
I sold a car some time ago and accepted payment for this through bank transfer.
The bank then froze my account, and wouldn't give me much information - just that I could no longer use it.
I have now been advised that the payment made was apparently fraudulent & they have registered details with CIFAS.
I cant even get accepted for a basic account anywhere.
I have explained the situation to the bank and they have advised it will be hard to prove this and wont remove the data against me.


Any help would be appreciated

JuicyJesus

Have you made a formal complaint to the bank, and/or have they told you you have the right to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service? If not, make a formal complaint; if yes, go to FOS. There isn't much more advice that people here can meaningfully give you, because CIFAS records are more or less entirely at the discretion of the bank.

Do include with your complaint (and anything you send to FOS if it gets that far) details of the sale of the car and anything else that backs up your story, such as copies of messages from the "buyer" of the car. The problem is that as far as they are concerned you received funds from someone else's hacked account so are wary; they/FOS will need to be convinced that you are an innocent victim in this rather than a knowing participant.

grumbler

Is it possible to sue the bank for libel via the Small Claims Court?

newfoundglory

Not being an expert on these things, my immediate thoughts would be using the courts. i would if it happened to me, particularly if I was left account-less. But there is a cost to legal action, and i'm not sure I would be looking for compensation rather some sort of injunction or ruling to get any markers removed immediately.

GingerBob_3

The thing to remember about the abomination that is the CIFAS database and application, is that you're guilty until proved innocent. British justice is, of course, slowly but surely also heading in that direction, but CIFAS got there first by a long shot.

mt99

the other two places to go for advice are CAB and your MP - it should not be possible in this day and age not to have a bank account.

JuicyJesus

newfoundglory wrote: »

Not being an expert on these things, my immediate thoughts would be using the courts. i would if it happened to me, particularly if I was left account-less. But there is a cost to legal action, and i'm not sure I would be looking for compensation rather some sort of injunction or ruling to get any markers removed immediately.

Probably an idea to go to FOS for free first before spending money on a court action with little guarantee of success. FOS is far more consumer friendly.


Court is only really a viable option when the FOS process has been exhausted all the way up to ombudsman level and you really, genuinely believe that FOS (who work on a looser basis than the courts as they have to take into account fairness and balance of probabilities rather than just statute and facts) have screwed up completely, you can evidence this somehow and that a judge taking into account the same facts as FOS did would come to a different decision AND you are willing to lay your own personal money on the line in court fees (and potential legal costs for the other side should you lose) in order to do so. That's not likely to be the case.

eskbanker

grumbler wrote: »

Is it possible to sue the bank for libel via the Small Claims Court?

No....

1. As every pedant knows (;)) there isn't such a thing as the Small Claims Court, see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/small-claims-court and ignore the title!
2. More importantly, you can't sue anyone for libel via the small claims procedure, it's for claiming tangible financial losses only.
3. How would this be libel anyway, unless the bank published something about this that could be demonstrated to be false?

Apart from that, go ahead!

grumbler

eskbanker wrote: »

No.... How would this be libel anyway, unless the bank published something about this that could be demonstrated to be false?

If what the OP says is true, then the bank obviously published something that is false=libellous.

JuicyJesus

grumbler wrote: »

If what the OP says is true, then the bank obviously published something that is false=libellous.

Can you provide any example of this argument ever succeeding ever, either in court or with FOS?

worried_jim

What happened to your car? Aren't you more concerned with losing all that money, or more concerned with being rumbled in the scam you were party to! Just sayin.;)