CPA refund from bank

TophatNoodle

Hello all, I’ve been a lurker for a while but finally decided to make an account! 

This is a bit of read so I apologise in advance.

So… I ended up in a bit of a bad way with payday loans and I’m in the process of starting with StepChange. I contacted my bank on the 3rd of April to cancel the CPA’s to the two payday lenders. The bank confirmed future transactions would be blocked to those two, and any payments taken refunded by the end of the next working day. All good I thought, pretty straightforward. 

However, the payments were then taken on the 5th of April. I thought maybe this happens and I’ll just need to ask them to refund it manually. Now, though, the bank is stating that because i didn’t cancel it with the 2 companies, they can’t stop payments - despite them in writing saying that they have (the bank). I asked to speak to a manager and was denied, because he ‘want in a customer-facing position’. Fair enough, no one wants to speak to someone when potentially making a complaint, but was there no one else senior who could have responded to me? 

I rang the bank up a few days ago to ask for clarification on what was happening, stating that I had cancelled the CPA’s and was promised a refund if any payments were taken. The advisor on the phone said they would look into it within 5 days. I repeated the rulings from the FCA and the Payment Services Regulation which state that these payments, as they were unauthorised, required immediate refunding. The advisor then started quoting regulations back to me saying that I need to go through the 2 companies to cancel the payments. 

I’ve even read a case study on the Financial Ombudsman’s website which is very similar to my experience. The Ombudsman upheld a complaint against a bank and even said that despite whatever contract the person had with a lender, the bank was at fault for not cancelling the CPA when instructed to do so. 

Apologies again for the long ramble, it’s just starting to get in my nerves. 

How can I get through to the bank that they do in fact legally have to refund me? Not only this, but 2 of their advisors have outright lied to me by promising dates of refunds and failing to follow through with them. 

I have called and live chatted multiple times, only to be told that because I am in contract with the 2 companies, only they can cancel the payments - the FCA, PSR and Ombudsman all refute this, but my bank are adamant.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don’t want to take this to the Ombudsman if I can help it, purely because I believe it’s a long-ish process. But I will if I have to. 

Thanks again for reading my longest piece of text since I graduated years ago! 

sourcrates

You are 100% correct, and your bank is not.

Continuous payment authorities: it is your right to cancel | FCA

Looks like you`ll have to go via the complaints route and as far as the FOS if your bank remains indifferent.

TophatNoodle

Sorry should have said the manager ‘wasn’t in a customer-facing role’. 

TophatNoodle

Thank you sourceates, I’ve read a lot of your replies during my searches. 

Have you any experience going through high-street bank complaints procedures? 

Thanks again. 

sourcrates

TophatNoodle said:

Thank you sourceates, I’ve read a lot of your replies during my searches. 

Have you any experience going through high-street bank complaints procedures? 

Thanks again. 

Do bears !!!!!! in the woods?

Yes, quite a bit actually, you make your feelings known, describe why you are complaining, its best done in writing, be clear and concise in what the issue is, what you want them to do about it, and what is expected of them in return.

Be prepared to go all the way to the FOS, and just let them get on with it.

They have 8 weeks to issue you with a final response, once this gets to the complaints level, the error will be realised, and the bank will be cap in hand to you, offering recompense for their inadequate employee training.