Help with international account cash card

Umer

A friend of mine (student) lived in Japan for a year and was a teacher. They had a Japanese bank account which kept her earnings, and the account came with a cash card.

They moved back to the United Kingdom 2 years ago, and have continued to use the cash card over here. They have withdrawn a lot of money, much more than what they had in the account, but they are still able to use the card.

They have tried to contact the bank company, but their UK offices do not deal with personal accounts.

What is the risk of them continuing to using the card? If they have gone into the red on their account, why has the bank not blocked the use of the card?

Thanks for any help anyone can give!!

ioscorpio

Why did they continue to withdraw cash when they knew they had no funds? Why did they not contact the bank in Japan as that is where the account is held? I think you already know what the risks are of continuing to withdraw cash, I can't see any court if it came to that, believing that your friend thought that after two years they would still have funds in the account. A bank in this country would make you repay it even though they have made an error in allowing the money to be withdrawn. There's 2 choices, stop using the card and hope that you don't hear anything or own up and repay the money.

Umer

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not condoning their actions, I'm just worried what could happen if they continue doing it. She has been tempted to taken the money because she is a bit in debt (student). She was never sure how much money was available in that account, but is sure that she has gone over that amount. But says she won't being using it again.

Is it likely that the Japan bank will go after her to collect the money if its a sum of less than £1000? I guess theoretically they do not know where she lives in this country, and would have to track her. Why is she still able to use the card if the account is still in debt?

As I said before, I know it was silly of her to take the money - but am just worried about the consequences.