Advice Please (disgraceful situation)

tinacee1

My son went to his Lloyds bank hole-in-the-wall to withdraw some money today (29th November 2007). I was with him as I had accompanied him earlier to the doctors after he had been discharged from a lengthy stay in hospital. He could not get any money out of the machine, so he went into the bank to find out why he could not withdraw anything. When the bank teller looked at his account she stated that all the money he had in his account (£250) had been taken out and paid online to a company called UNIBET INTERNATIONAL whom he had never heard of on 27th November 07( 2 days previously) . On closer inspection the card number on the onscreen statement was different from the card number on his card. The card number next to the £250 transaction was the card number of the stolen Lloyds card which he had lost in November 2006 and which he had reported to Lloyds when he reported it lost in November 06.

When the cashier in Lloyds turned the computer screen towards us it showed onscreen the word STOLEN Card on his account next to a November 06 date.

We spent quite a long time getting through to The Debit Card Fraud Team from a room in the bank. My son started to explain what had happened and that he couldn't understand why the money had been released to a company he had never heard of based on his stolen card details. The official at the Debit Card Fraud Team said the transaction wasn't authorised by them/the bank and that the money which was stolen would probably be put back into his account. As he is convalescing from a serious illness all this has just set him back again. How could this happen when he had reported the loss/theft of his card directly to his bank last year? He is very; very apprehensive about allowing any payments of any monies i.e. Invalidity Benefit/Disability Living Allowance to be paid into his account now and expressed this to the local Lloyds branch bank official who had been made aware of the situation after he had spoken to the Debit Card Fraud Team . He asked if a new account could be issued but she seemed reluctant to do this. We left the bank and he then opened a Post Office account at the local Post Office in the town in order that future payments could be made into a new account in the future as he has lost confidence in the bank. When we got back home a strong letter was there from Lloyds to tell him that they had been asked to make a number of payments from him on 27th November and that there was not enough money in his account to cover all of them. The letter then went on to say that they have provided him with an Unplanned Overdraft to cover the payments they made and that they would be charging him a fee of £31 now and daily fees of £15 until the overdraft is paid back to them ! The knock-on effect of this ‘unauthorised transaction’ by the bank is horrifying.

There are some things that I would like you to clarify for his peace of mind;

1. Could you please reassure us that as it is the bank's fault that the money that was taken out of his account will be returned to him

2. What did the official in the Debit Card Fraud Team mean by the 'transaction wasn't authorised by them/the bank'

3. Could you give us some indication of why this has happened?

4. How can he get assurances that it won't happen again on a card that was declared to the bank 'LOST' last year!

5. How do we get assurances from the local Lloyds that he will not incur these Unplanned Overdraft charges as a result of this fraud?

Your advice would be much appreciated as this situation is causing him much concern and worry. Thank you.

Terrylw1

Hi,

Thats quite bad and the bank is surely at fault here.

I would say for your own piece of mind, stick with a new account. By doing that, the acount number on the stolen debit card is no longer the account you use. That means his cash cannot be stolen again.

They should refund his cash but it won't be quick. My dad's mate had a similiar issue and he had £1000 stolen in 1 transaction. It took him closer to a month to get it back off his bank. He got it though.

Sounds to me like they have not physically cancelled his card. I know when I had my details stolen, I started getting transactions from the US in small amounts. Barclaycard told me that the transaction would keep rolling in until they physically cancelled the card as they had been authorised.

I think they are taking the micky now charging you and they will now be pursueing him for overdraft fees as someone is clearly using that card. I would definately get that account closed as they could use the bank details as well, not just the card and they tend to be printed on them.

I think you now need to speak to a manager if the fraud people won't 1) refund the money 2) get rid of this overdraft and any assumed charges.

Honestly, you won't have a problem getting your bank charges back by involving the Ombudsman or threatening them with legal action.

P.S. suggest you move the thread to the bank charges & credit cards boards where people may have discussed similiar issues.

Good luck

mrcow

Welcome to the forums

I can answer with regards to the money that he's had taken.....yes he will most surely get it back. Lloyds can actually put it back into his account whilst it's in query (they did for me) and they have the capacity to reverse the charges etc straight away. Unfortunately, the only way to quickly ensure they do this is to get on the phone and insist that it is done. Otherwise they will fob you off.....but I can assure you that they can and do do this if you are persistant enough (I'm living proof that Lloyds will do anything to get certain people off the phone );)

With regards to the lack of trust left, well I don't suppose it's ever going to be there again. He was wise to open the new account, if it were me, I'd just stick with it.

Try calling Lloyds in the morning......as I said, they absolutely have the power (and the information by the looks of it!) to sort this out immediately. If he's unwell, you're best off getting him to authorise you to speak with them to sort it.....and make sure that you get the name and direct number of whomever you speak with (as you'll have to go through an escalation process).

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].