Money stolen from account (online)

[artnada]

Hello all,

 

I am new here and registered in the hope you can help me help my friend.

 

She is a Mother of various aged children, is married, he is working, she is not.

 

Approx 3 or 4 months ago she recieved notice that money had gone missing from her account. Various sums from £300-£500, totalling £1900.00

 

She was asked to fill out various forms, etc and they investigated her and her family etc.

 

They came to the conclusion that no one in her family had anything to do with the theft of money and decided it was somehow stolen online.

 

She was advised tthat the money would be refunded to her, and was asked to fill out a claim form.

 

Now, this money, or a large part of it was rent money, and as such she couldn't pay the majority of her rent to her landlord. Her landlord was not sympathetic at all and put pressure on her to pay her rent. This she simply couldn't do, as funds were very limited, she has kids and other bills needed to be paid also.

 

Needless to say, her kind landlord served an evitction notice on her due to non payment of all her rent.

 

So, her bank keeps telling her she will be refunded but they do not know when. "it takes time".

My friend has since moved out, into another house, has had to borrow off friends and family, (inc me), to live. She has been in finanical dire straites since this money has gone.

 

The bank, STILL are saying it could take a few more weeks yet!!! This has been at least 2 months, probably 3, since the money was first discovered missing!

 

What are the rules for banks to have to pay back money that was fraudulantly removed from an account, unknown to the account holder, and proven NOT to be the account holders fault?

 

Is there are time limits?

 

If there is financial hardship as a direct result of the loss do they have to help?

 

Should they have paid the money back earlier?

 

I hope you can advise please, as my friend is pulling her hair out and this is making her ill.

 

As you can apprieciate, £1,900 is ALOT to have stolen!

 

Thank you in advance.

 

I see from the page on the FSA site it basically says the money should be repaid immediately?

 

How quickly must my bank refund me for an unauthorised transaction?

 

The bank must make the refund immediately unless it has evidence that one of the above reasons applies.**

Your bank may ask you to answer some questions and fill out a form confirming what has happened, but it cannot delay your refund while it waits for you to return the form. If the bank has evidence that one of the above reasons for refusing a refund applies, it may investigate before making a refund but must look into it as quickly as possible.

If your bank rejects your claim for a refund it should explain why.

If the transaction was on a credit card, the refund may not happen immediately. But the card issuer cannot charge interest or ask for repayment of the amount unless it can prove that you are liable to pay.

 

**above reasons

 

Why won’t my bank refund me?

 

Your bank must only refuse a refund for an unauthorised transaction if:

 

• it can prove you authorised the transaction – though your bank cannot simply say that use of your password, card and PIN conclusively proves you authorised a payment; or
  
• it can prove you are at fault because you acted fraudulently or, because you deliberately, or with gross negligence, failed to protect the details of your card, PIN or password in a way that allowed the transaction.
  

 

Edited September 23, 2011 by artnada

[citizenB]

WIll flag this for site team attention.

[rebel11]

Hi Art

 

Welcome to CAG

 

Tell her to keep all the documentation they have sent safe.

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain whats happened, what the bank has said to her, explain that the lack of a Refund has caused severe 'Hardship', give examples. Also highlight the passage from FSA. Make a complaint to the FOS, although they will say they need the bank to give a final answer before they can look into the matter.

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

 

If the FOS look into the matter it will cost the bank £450 minimum.

 

E-mail it to the CEO of the bank.

[artnada]

Ok thank you for your advice. I will pass this on.

 

Hopefully this will be settled sooner.

[rebel11]

Stephen Hester, Chief Executive

 

Stephen.Hester@rbs.co.uk