Un-Authourised Payments Taken from Bank Account 24 September 2022 at 8:02PM in Credit cards 14 replies 1K views

Adrian_T_B

Hi Guys,

I had a Zable credit card. I ran in to financial problems and sought help. I was advised (Advice Shop, Bathgate) to report my debit card as lost, this giving me a new card with a new number, therefor no payments could be taken. I also contacted Zable to inform them of my situation. 3 months later, money has been taken from my account by Zable. I contacted Barclays and explained the issue and they said "it doesn't always work that way". How did Zable get my new card details? I certainly didn't give them it. Is it just a case of calling Barclays and asking for peoples card details and they are like "sure, here you go"? I can't think how else it would be possible.

Where do I stand here? Any advice would be gratefully received. 

MovingForwards

Continuous payment authority means the details move from old card to the new one, the only way to stop CPAs is to tell your bank to stop the payment/ authority.

comeandgo

You got bad advice from the Advice Shop, you can’t stop continuous payment authority, it does follow on to the replacement cards.  Wonder what else the Advice Shop got wrong.

Adrian_T_B

MovingForwards said:

Continuous payment authority means the details move from old card to the new one, the only way to stop CPAs is to tell your bank to stop the payment/ authority.

Thanks for the reply.

Will I be entitled to getting the payment returned, as it put's me in the brown stuff regarding direct debits? I called Barclays this morning, but as the payment is pending, they said they can't do anything and I can't contact Zable until Monday. As far as I'm concerned, I did not authorise this payment. However, I am aware about small print and stuff. Where do I stand? I'm clearly not the sharpest tool in the box. 

Adrian_T_B

comeandgo said:

You got bad advice from the Advice Shop, you can’t stop continuous payment authority, it does follow on to the replacement cards.  Wonder what else the Advice Shop got wrong.

That's the scary bit. Around here, if you need advice, that's the direction you always get pointed in. TBF, they have done me good in the past, but it's the luck of the draw really. I'm happy to accept I should be smarter with these things, but they are there to advise and should be smarter with that also.

eskbanker

Adrian_T_B said:

Un-Authourised Payments Taken from Bank Account

You should probably edit the thread title to reflect the fact that you did authorise these transactions but (wrongly) thought you'd found a way of avoiding them being processed.

comeandgo said:

You got bad advice from the Advice Shop, you can’t stop continuous payment authority, it does follow on to the replacement cards.  Wonder what else the Advice Shop got wrong.

You can stop CPAs, but just not by reporting a debit card as lost:

https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/continuous-payment-authorities-it-your-right-cancel

Adrian_T_B said:

Will I be entitled to getting the payment returned, as it put's me in the brown stuff regarding direct debits? I called Barclays this morning, but as the payment is pending, they said they can't do anything and I can't contact Zable until Monday. As far as I'm concerned, I did not authorise this payment. However, I am aware about small print and stuff. Where do I stand? I'm clearly not the sharpest tool in the box. 

If you've borrowed money from Zable on the basis that you'd be making monthly repayments by CPA, you can't unilaterally withdraw from your obligations, unless Zable agreed to some alternative repayment plan - what did they say when you contacted them?

Adrian_T_B

eskbanker said:

Adrian_T_B said:

Un-Authourised Payments Taken from Bank Account

You should probably edit the thread title to reflect the fact that you did authorise these transactions but (wrongly) thought you'd found a way of avoiding them being processed.

comeandgo said:

You got bad advice from the Advice Shop, you can’t stop continuous payment authority, it does follow on to the replacement cards.  Wonder what else the Advice Shop got wrong.

You can stop CPAs, but just not by reporting a debit card as lost:

https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/continuous-payment-authorities-it-your-right-cancel

Adrian_T_B said:

Will I be entitled to getting the payment returned, as it put's me in the brown stuff regarding direct debits? I called Barclays this morning, but as the payment is pending, they said they can't do anything and I can't contact Zable until Monday. As far as I'm concerned, I did not authorise this payment. However, I am aware about small print and stuff. Where do I stand? I'm clearly not the sharpest tool in the box. 

If you've borrowed money from Zable on the basis that you'd be making monthly repayments by CPA, you can't unilaterally withdraw from your obligations, unless Zable agreed to some alternative repayment plan - what did they say when you contacted them?

I authorised the original payments. When I ran in to financial problems (lost job etc), I contacted Zable and told them that I couldn't afford the repayments every month. They said they would put my repayments on hold for 2 months while I sought debt advice. I sought the advice and followed that advice. Now I am here with even more financial issues.

eskbanker

Adrian_T_B said:

I authorised the original payments. When I ran in to financial problems (lost job etc), I contacted Zable and told them that I couldn't afford the repayments every month. They said they would put my repayments on hold for 2 months while I sought debt advice. I sought the advice and followed that advice. Now I am here with even more financial issues.

I'm confused - are you saying that Zable said (verbally or in writing?) that they would defer two months worth of repayments but failed to honour that and still took them anyway during that time?  Where does trying to change your debit card number fit in with this?

Adrian_T_B

eskbanker said:

Adrian_T_B said:

I authorised the original payments. When I ran in to financial problems (lost job etc), I contacted Zable and told them that I couldn't afford the repayments every month. They said they would put my repayments on hold for 2 months while I sought debt advice. I sought the advice and followed that advice. Now I am here with even more financial issues.

I'm confused - are you saying that Zable said (verbally or in writing?) that they would defer two months worth of repayments but failed to honour that and still took them anyway during that time?  Where does trying to change your debit card number fit in with this?

Zable said they would defer 2 months repayments verbally and by email. They honoured that. No problems on that front. During that time, I sought debt advice from the Advice Shop. The advice I received was, since my debt was for a really small amount, Zable would not come after me for it and basically my credit score would just take a hit. The Advice Shop woman also told me to get a new card and then they wouldn't be able to take money from my account, as they wouldn't have my new card number.

I now know that was not good advice, but it's still put me in a situation where I can't cover my direct debits, because money has been taken from my account that I hadn't covered for. Zable is not at fault here. The advice I was given is. Now I'm screwed.

eskbanker

Adrian_T_B said:

eskbanker said:

Adrian_T_B said:

I authorised the original payments. When I ran in to financial problems (lost job etc), I contacted Zable and told them that I couldn't afford the repayments every month. They said they would put my repayments on hold for 2 months while I sought debt advice. I sought the advice and followed that advice. Now I am here with even more financial issues.

I'm confused - are you saying that Zable said (verbally or in writing?) that they would defer two months worth of repayments but failed to honour that and still took them anyway during that time?  Where does trying to change your debit card number fit in with this?

Zable said they would defer 2 months repayments verbally and by email. They honoured that. No problems on that front. During that time, I sought debt advice from the Advice Shop. The advice I received was, since my debt was for a really small amount, Zable would not come after me for it and basically my credit score would just take a hit. The Advice Shop woman also told me to get a new card and then they wouldn't be able to take money from my account, as they wouldn't have my new card number.

I now know that was not good advice, but it's still put me in a situation where I can't cover my direct debits, because money has been taken from my account that I hadn't covered for. Zable is not at fault here. The advice I was given is. Now I'm screwed.

As you say, Zable aren't at fault here and so my original remark about the thread title stands, i.e. the payments weren't unauthorised, and your issue, as you now recognise, is simply with being given poor advice, so you may wish to pursue that with the Advice Shop.

If your finances are marginal enough that you effectively have the choice between servicing a 'really small' debt or paying your other bills, then you'd probably get more accurate and valuable advice by posting on the debt-free wannabe board on here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

MalMonroe

Hi, I think you need to get some proper advice from one of the free debt help agencies -

StepChange - https://www.stepchange.org/

National Debtline - https://nationaldebtline.org/

Citizens Advice - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

You still owe the money, even if you've lost your card.

I think that 'Advice Shop' needs to be closed down. They are going to cause a lot of people to get into a lot of financial difficulty.

Whatever your adverse financial situation, you can speak to someone at one of the free agencies. It's a free phone call and they are non-judgemental. I'd use StepChange for preference because they helped me out of a terrible financial mess a few years ago.

All the agencies can advise you and you can either accept their advice or not. But at least you'll be able to get some idea of the options that are open to you. All is not lost. But you need to start taking control and by coming here, you've taken that first step.

I'd definitely recommend contacting one of the reputable debt help agencies.