Can money be lifted straight from my account??

allenvb

I lost my job a few years back, defaulted on a Halifax Visa, this was passed to Blair, Oliver and Scott, I have been making payments of £100 a month, I missed one months payment and found out they took almost £800 from my Halifax current account on Friday with no warning or consent, is this legal???

Intergalactic_Floozie

I'd be interested in reading replies on this, this happened to my brother on 28th January, he complained to the bank and they're still "investigating it" five weeks later and he still hasn't had his money back.

Merlot

Had you recently deposited money into the Halifax account? If so they are quite well within their rights I am understood to believe to take any monies which you owe.

One should never ever deposit money into an account, if you owe the same company money especially if you have missed payments or having difficulties meeting the repayment agreement etc, they can and do take their monies owed.

Merlot.x.

dementedhousewife

The Halifax did this to me a few month ago...
I was a bit behind on my card so they went into my savings account and
took my child benifit..
Now how cheeky is that, i rang them told them that i needed the money for
my kids but they refused to give it back

bathgatebuyer

The Halifax did that to me once - I only found out when I went to make a payment to the card in my local branch and found out they'd already done it!

MrsTinks

Never ever keep your current account with your creditor... they can and will take money from ANY account you hold with them. The only money they are NOT allowed to touch is benefits and child credits. If the £800 was salary money then yes they can take it.
Set up a basic account with another bank and get your salary paid in there.

mrs-d_3

It happened to us with Lloyds. Think it was my OH c/c we missed a payment on and they took the money out of our current account. It's like Merlot says when you owed them money they'll take it from your account.

Merlot

I think this thread is very useful, very few people actually know this be legal. OP if it is any consolation, other DFW will learn from your lack of knowledge of the banking and creditors system and therefore you have highlighted the need to separate your bank account from your creditors.

I didn't actually know this to be legal either until some months ago.

OP, if you are struggling for money please post am SOA (incomings and outgoings) and we will see if we can help you reduce your outgoings, in the meantime, if you are short of cash this month, pay your priority debts first, Mortgage/Rent, Council Tax, Water, gas and electricity, and call the CCCS, a debt charity, they can advise you.

http://www.cccs.co.uk/

Cleosmum

I had a similar issue with HSBC about 4 years ago, I paid some money into my account for my mum, she was away and I didnt want to keep it at home, so I put it into my savings account and the bank used it to pay my charges on my other account. I marched straight in and told them that I had not authorised it and it wasnt my money and I wanted the account put back to its original standing - and to my surprise they did it there and then! They havent tried it since, no matter how much has been in any of the accounts, but I think thats got more to do with the fact they can earn an easy £25 out of me in charges.