Cancellation Hero Article Discussion

gpatrick900

flawsy wrote: »

I have had an account with these theiving ****s since february 2007. They were new to the area, and i took a £300 advance on my salary via them, opting to pay back monthly in increments. After doing a little research, I decided them having a DD wasnt the safest thing to do, so I cancelled the arrangement, and told them i would pay in branch. Silly me missed the hidden section of the agreement that said they could take payment from my debit card, which they surupticiously gained by saying they needed to photocopy it for ID purposes. This card was duely cancelled, and i informed them i would pay in person at the store where I took the loan. Due to ill health over the new year, I thought it would be easier to make a 1 off payment from an account we dont use, which i did, stating at the time to not try and take extra from the account, as it was always empty. They took their payment of £10, then proceeded to take a further £30, leaving me overdrawn and with bank charges of £90 (which were given back) We cancelled that card also, and all has been quiet since may 08. But this morning, Loan Store have taken £468, from an account with 24p in it. My first thought is, how have they been able to take £468, why did the bank not decline it. Secondly, how have they got my new card details after 4 months of silence.
I have spoken to the Loan Store directly, who are their usual abrasive selves, told me I must have given them the card details (yeah right) and what they have done isn't fraud, and that as i asked to be only contacted by letter, they suggest i do the same with them and hung up.
It is worth mentioning that this card they have taken funds from, is from an account that is no way tied to the original account used for the initial agreement. Also, it might be worth mentioning that the account is in my wifes name, and the agreement is in my name only. We have spoken to the bank(lloyds tsb) once before regarding the smaller amounts, and they refused to do anything about it, saying it was our fault for giving out the info.

These funds were earmarked 2 days ago, and we reported them at branch as possible fraud then. I fear as this account shows transactions to the loan store back in may, the bank with say its not fraud.

any ideas?

Contact a lawyer. Also before you do, both of you change banks and give them a letter that you will not be responsible for any charges coming from that company.

Did you write them a check for payment from your wife's account or did you wife do it? If they are doing direct debit(As we call it in the US Ach transaction) they got the number from your check. Still that was not authorized if the did that, but it could say if your late, you authorize use to electronically withdraws from your account. Now, if it is debit card or credit card it should be considered fraud. If my bank calls me a liar. As soon as the funds clear, close my accounts and find another bank.

I am not a lawyer please check with one before taking my advice.

flawsy

To my surprise, the bank sorted this immediately. They looked over transactions against each card we have had on the account and it was ruled spurious debit card activity and was returned to the account. we just had to filled out a standard delcaration form. Job done

gpatrick900

flawsy wrote: »

To my surprise, the bank sorted this immediately. They looked over transactions against each card we have had on the account and it was ruled spurious debit card activity and was returned to the account. we just had to filled out a standard declaration form. Job done

That is good to hear. I hope they canceled or hot carded that debit card and issued a new one with a new number.

Freebie_Manor

Great Article thanks, my mums experience of a recurring payment was an insurance on a fridge with General Accident which auto renewed after 3 years and took payment quarterly, only a letter to the chief executive secured the return of the three payments.

expat_mike

Two points of interest, one to do with utility direct debits and the other recurring credit card payments. Firstly on DD's, ensure the annual utility bill quote is real and not padded out as most companies try to do and ensure you do this first before actually starting a DD. Having obtained a realistic annual cost, then start a direct debit arrangement for electric/gas in the autumn. Never start a DD in spring as they'll owe you for 6 months before you break even rather than the other way around. Starting a DD in the spring time gives them loads of your money to make interest on. On the point of credit card recurring payments, if you're getting no where with either the company or the bank to cancel a recurring payment, get a new credit card first, then cancel the old one.

King_Drax_I

One other thing to watch for with Direct Debit 'agreements' is where they say that if your payment is refused then they will charge you £20 or whatever.

I used to pay my professional society subscription fees by direct debit, administered through a credit agency who charged a small fee [about £5] each year for the service.

Then one year they changed their small print - which being a bit of an anorak I did read - and I noted that they would charge this fee of £20 if one of my payments is bounced. This of course would mean that I was not completely in charge of my payments; not that they would be able to get the £20 off me anyway if I'd switched off my Direct Debit [quite how they'd have gone about it I don't know] - but still the threat of this was enough to make me cancel my direct debit [yes I did tell the credit company] and pay the subs as a lump sum instead.

The moral is, yes, I know that Terms and Conditions are boring [and yes I think they are made deliberately so in order to dissuade people from reading them] but you do need to read them in case there's a catch like there was in my case.

I am really pleased that Martin's website here exposes the sometimes dastardly practices of financial companies, and explains what we can do about these often immoral people.

tapeworm

hi everyone. im dealing with two well known debt collection agencies, lowell and debt managers. i tried setting up a direct debit to go from my bank account but they both said that this was not available even though it was advertised on official letters. so now ive got a recurring payment on both accounts and the thing is, si that they keep upping my payments which i cant affordas im on disability benefits. how can i get it stopped and get a normal direct debit set up instead?

any advice would be appreciated.

behappy_3

if your just purchasing somthing on your d/c,c/c,whats
stopping the company from making it a recurring payment.or is there an agreement set up verbaly.or in writing,to say the person agrees to the recurring payment.:mad:

RayWolfe

Nothing. But then the same applies to any payment by whatever method - except cash or cheque!
Now, how long they could get aways with it is another question.

bekki0405_2

I wanted to alert people who bank with Lloyds TSB, to an issue with their interpretation of the direct debit guarantee.
I had a direct debit, well 3 actually, which came out of my account, on the same day. I called the bank and reported the error, and asked the to refund the amount. They told me they would look into the problem, and credit the account, but it could take 8 days.
Later I was talking to my wife who pointed out the Direct Debit Guarantee, and that I should have been given a full and immediate refund. We checked the direct debit guarantee wording, and agreed this was the case.
I called Lloyds again today, who then informed me that due to a backlog of cases, I was not due to hear from them until the 23rd August. I told them that I felt I was due an immediate refund. Interestingly, they never informed me of the fact they were moving the date back.

I then spend the best part of 45 minutes, some of which was after they'd called me back, to-ing and fro-ing about whether I was due a refund or not. It appears that Lloyds insist on investigating the case, before refunding. This is completely against the guarantee scheme, which I pointed out, but I wanted to publicise this fact that Lloyds are not following the scheme, and seem to be making up their own rules.

I spoke to a number of different people, so it must be their policy, and not one staff members misunderstanding.
I can't really understand if this is a blanket policy or not. Their reason for not paying out to myself, was that when I called, I did not know why 3 DD's had been taken from this company. They stated that this may not be an error, and they would investigate the matter. This was in spite of me telling them that I had not received notification about this DD, as I should have done, and I was stating that it was an error.

Eventually I asked to be put through to Customer Relations, (as directed by my wife, who was by this time jumping up and down in fury!) They then went and listened to the original call I made on Tues last week, and then agreed to refund the amount by tomorrow.

I would be interested to hear about any other people who have either had issues with DD claims, or anyone who knows more about this, maybe from someone who works at the big banks.

Even better, maybe someone at MSE would be able to confirm the DD guarantee, and what it means to customers.

Martin, I think we need some help!!!!:money: