Fraud - Lloyds TSB

seasidepom

Hi. Wonder if anyone can help. During March, my Lloyds TSB Amex card was used to make payments to an Italian energy company to the tune of £3k (Lloyds TSB allowed this to happen even tho my credit limit is £2k and continued to allow it to happen after I reported it!). I have made umpteen phone calls to them and each time I am assured it is being put right, but the money hasn't been credited to my account and I can't use either the Amex or the Mastercard. I am being harrassed by the collections department to make payment even though I keep being assured that there is a marker on the account to stop this happening. I have written to them saying sort it or else I'll go to the ombudsman and I've received a holding letter from them. I had another phone call from collections today hassling me for payment and I was rude to say the least. What is now worrying me is that I have my current account with Lloyds TSB. Can they just take money out of my current account without my permission to pay the bill? This is costing me a fortune in phone calls to these people as it is but if they rip my current account off too, I won't be able to eat or travel to work. :mad:

PROLIANT

Open a new bank account with another bank, move you salary into the new bank and wait until the Muppets at LTSB sort this mess out, remember you come first not the bank, you need to eat and pay your way don’t allow LTSB the option of taking money from your account.
Good luck I really hope that you get it sorted.

seasidepom

Thanks for the advice. I'd only moved all my business to them 6 months ago because they have a branch where I live rather than me having to drive 20 miles if I wanted to pay a cheque in to my old bank and I've had nothing but trouble ever since! I just can't believe how aggressive they're being in trying to get this money from me when I didn't even spend it in the first place and they've acknowledged this.

ALIBOBSY

Go to the ombudsman and complain. This is ridiculous that they have treated you like this when its not your fault.
good luck
ali x

balchder

I don't know about ltsb but I used to work for HBOS and we could definately take it from any other account you held with us! Good Luck

seasidepom

Aargh. Looks like I'd better hotfoot it down the high street and pick me another bank quick smart. Hope Martin doesn't read this - I know he frowns on the "all eggs in one basket" strategy!!!!

MABLE

seasidepom wrote: »

Hi. Wonder if anyone can help. During March, my Lloyds TSB Amex card was used to make payments to an Italian energy company to the tune of £3k (Lloyds TSB allowed this to happen even tho my credit limit is £2k and continued to allow it to happen after I reported it!). I have made umpteen phone calls to them and each time I am assured it is being put right, but the money hasn't been credited to my account and I can't use either the Amex or the Mastercard. I am being harrassed by the collections department to make payment even though I keep being assured that there is a marker on the account to stop this happening. I have written to them saying sort it or else I'll go to the ombudsman and I've received a holding letter from them. I had another phone call from collections today hassling me for payment and I was rude to say the least. What is now worrying me is that I have my current account with Lloyds TSB. Can they just take money out of my current account without my permission to pay the bill? This is costing me a fortune in phone calls to these people as it is but if they rip my current account off too, I won't be able to eat or travel to work. :mad:

This happened to my brother and the fraudster got away with £2,000. However he reported it to Lloyds and they refunded the amount back to his account within a few days. As you are still waiting I get the impression that they think you are trying to con them. They are obviously not happen with the situation otherwise your account would be refunded by now.

NickX

Yes they can raid your Current Account and even go into any overdraft facility - its all in the Terms and Conditions.

I would move all the money out imediately and request the overdraft facility is removed.

nogard

I have had a similiar experience and went as far as quoting from lloydstsb own terms and conditions and sayiny
eg will complain, move the account,(I was so desperate - over a 4 month period they allowed 4 payments to be made from my account that I had not sanctioned)
Even thogh I'd written on no less than 5 sepertate occasions,sent emails and made countless tel calls i did not get a response until last week - no apology,no mention of reimbursement - even though i had proven this was fraud - and only a rather facile,half hearted "solution".In essence it told me that they had written on my behalf but had to give 15 days for a response.And then telling me that if further payments are made from my account i should contact the helpdesk.(which will cost me 6 pence a minute with the pleasure of having to explain everything at least twice to someone whose first language is not english).
I am having nightmares over this!!

seasidepom

Thanks to everyone who's commented on this. Despite the "rules" for waiting until the organisation has had a chance to resolve matters, I have today written to the ombudsman with copy statements, correspondence and details of all the phone calls I have made. I can't really move my money because I've got nowhere to move it to where I could then access it - I can't take cash out of my savings account, it has to be moved to the registered current account.

An interesting point is that apparently a lot of Lloyds TSB customers are having transactions appearing on their cards relating to the same Italian energy company. This being the case, why hasn't it been stamped on?

seasidepom

Just thought I would update this little tale and possibly cause a laugh or two although I don't feel like it myself!

LTSB have now refunded £1800 of the fraudulent transactions but can't refund the other £880 because "they can't see them on the screen" WHAT?????????? Do they want to borrow my glasses??????

Anyway, there the balance sits at £880ish until this morning when somehow it has increased by £54. No further transactions showing, it is simply a case of the figures not adding up. I checked my calculations again and sure enough, my figure was right and theirs is £54 over.

I have sent forth another vitriolic letter congratulating them on not only giving appalling service (they still have not replied to any of my letters) but now they can't even perform simple addition!

The ombudsman unfortunately won't touch this case yet as LTSB have not had "the required time to respond".