Capital Finance One - Taken money from me for a debt that my Wife has! Can they do this??

[adspur82]

Good MorningThis is my first ever post here, but Ive been a regular visitor here for a good few years picking up some great advice.This is one that I cant see in any similar posts so I thought Id put it down to see what you think.Basically the background of the situation is that I have been struggling at the wrong end of the finance world recently, and have resorted to taking out a few paydays etc, Ive always paid them back or rolled and have never missed a payment or anything.Anyway I had a loan with CFO earlier in the year and then repaid it on the next payday in full no problems.....I then recently reapplied for one but was declined...again not a problem with that at all. But then to my horror last week CFO took over £100 out my account and attempted more!! When I called them to find out why they couldnt tell me, I had to wait for the items to appear on my online bank statement and then send them screenshots to prove the funds were taken by them.The most worrying part of it was the loan I had from them in early 2011 was a bank ac that I now no longer use and the money they took this week was from my new account which they would have only have known the details as they were on the declined application!!Further calls and emails later I was then told that the reason the money was taken was due to an unpaid loan taken out by my wife!! They strongly insinuated that she had fraudulently used my card details on her application!!After speaking to her she said that was total nonsense, she had taken a few pdays out a few years ago and had gotten into a mess but had never used my card details and wouldnt never had known them to anyway!My digging made me realise the start date on the card is only a year ago so if the loan was prior to that then it was actually impossible anyway and so the accusation that my Wife made a fraudulent application is totally wrong and unfair.She then called them to find out more and they confirmed the loan was Nov 09 (therefore card didnt exist) and they said in the small print of the contract they were entitled to use card details from linked people to claim repayment.Sorry for such a long post but basically I am in a position now where Im trying to resolve this without a long and drawn out battle. I am happy the "fraud" claim is total nonsense and am hoping someone can confirm if what they did in taking my details off my declined application and using them to take money off my wifes arrears is actually allowed?If it isnt I have that in my favour and the fact that they made wild accusations about my Wifes applicaiton too, I am hoping I can use these 2 reasons to possibly agree for them to accept the £100 they got as full and final settlement of my wifes outstanding loan.She says it was for £150, but when she phoned they are saying the balance (after deducting the £100) is still £580 odd now.Any help/advice is greatly appreciated and also if you think my idea of almost agreeing not to take action over the unauthorised payments in return of settling the loan is a good idea.Thanks for reading..phew I need a lie down now!

[adspur82]

Apologies for the spacing....It wasnt this bunched up on my original!!

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, what they have done is totally out of order. I'm helping someone with a CFO problem at the moment, let me see if I can check the small print. I think it says something about taking money from any card or bank details you give them - but that should only apply to you - not someone else. Hang on till I see what I can find out.In the meantime, you should report this to the OFT and the BCCA http://www.bcca.co.uk/

[Ell-enn]

This is all I can find regarding card numbers and others financially associated with you.> Did you give your wife's name at any point in your application ?..................................................................................................................* You authorise us to collect any monies owed under the Agreement from any debit card account of which you have supplied details to us. We may make theseattempts as frequently and at any time we choose while there is an overdue balance on your loan account, up until the time where the total amount collected equals thetotal amount owed. At this stage it will be deemed that your loan has been fully repaid. We do not have to give notice of these intended collection attempts.>.........................................................................................................2) If you are making a joint application or tell us that you have a spouse or financial associate, we will link your records together so you must be sure that you have theiragreement to disclose information about them. CRAs also link your records together and these links will remain on your and their files until such time as you or yourpartner successfully files for a disassociation with the CRAs to break that link.

[Ell-enn]

Sorry about the spacing in the post above, I can't get it to paragraph ??

[adspur82]

Thanks very much Ell-enn. No I didnt mention her at all in the application.The first link to my wife was this week after sending the screenshots showing the money they had taken, they called me to ask what my relationship with her was, at that point they said this was why the money was taken.Looking at the overall big picture I dont want push for this back for them to then hound my wife, do you think my idea of using the potentially illegal actions they have done as leverage to clear her debt is advisable? Or should it be reported to the correct channels and deal with the issue of my Wifes debt seperately? I didnt know about this loan of hers but obviously dont want to just wash my hands and chase back my £100 and leave her in trouble with them if that makes sense.

[Ell-enn]

Obviously CAG do not endorse debt avoidance and it's admirable that you want to clear up your wife's debt, however the behaviour of CFO needs reporting to the authorities, they can then intervene on your behalf and it will not create any more of an issue than you have now. These people are despicable in the way they operate and make people's lives a misery by emptying their bank accounts without prior notice. You need to ensure that they do not use your bank details again. The more complaints that are made about these companies, the more chance we have of getting the government to bring in legislation that curbs their unfair practices. We will never get rid of them, but they need to be made to act in a proper manner. The MP Stella Creasby is mounting a campaign against payday lender's practices - see this thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?311559-End-Legalised-Loan-Sharks./page3 post 42. Get your complaint in.

[26072004]

Report this as a fraudulent transaction to your bank and insist on a charge back, you gave them no authority to debt your card.

 

dont take a no from your bank ask for the fraud dept what CFO have done is totally illegal.

 

If your wife owes them money they will most probabley hound her anyway or pass her debt onto a debt collector who will do the hounding, also cancel the card they will continue to attempt collection from it.

[SABIA321]

OMG!!! same thing happend to me at the end of last month. they took £342.00 in 5 or more transactions and bank told me to fill in forms etc which would have taken 30 days. They took this for a debt my brother owed which I had no idea about. I was fuming and kept phoning them until they gave my money back which they did in less than a week. I have also taken legal advice about this situation as they have fraidulently taken details from applications that they declined. Same thing they was accusing my brother of taking the cards details and the funny thing is I have only had the card for about 2 weeks and he was on holiday during this period. They have cost me more money as direct debits bounced, standing orders didnt pay out and bills were paid late because of them. I am now trying to get some compensation from them for all the trouble they have caused. As I will be pursuing this further if they give me no positive outcome. I have never seen a company ever do this. The lady also kept saying sorry about million times when they came to the conclusion that they took details without permission but that is not good enough especially as they have done it to other people. I understand that people should pay back there debts but not on the loss of others.

[Ell-enn]

Was it your applications they declined after getting your card details ?

[SABIA321]

Well I don't actually remember applying at Capital Finance One directly, but on the date they are saying that I made an application which was on the 16th October which I think I made applications with other companies(third party). They also admitted that they automatically match post codes and address and just take payment which is absurd and never heard any other company ever doing that.

[sillygirl1]

Please everyone who has this happen to them GET A CRIME NUMBER from your local Police, then the bank and other authorities HAVE to do something, CFO are NOT allowed to take money from other accounts 'related' to you, if you go through that analogy you could actually do a reverse transaction from their bank account to yours as there is now a 'viable relationship'.

 

The banks are their own worst enemies in these cases as nobody cares about the legislation, and nobody wants the additional work and loss of bonus in getting the transactions reversed.

 

They are committing a crime - theft, obtaining money by decpetion, fraudulently linking accounts which have no relationship together, using 'bogus' broking companies to obtain information they are not entitled to, the list goes on and on.

 

Without that crime number - insist you need it for the bank to reverse the transaction and refund your charges - you are stuck and the company will get away with crime time and time again.

 

With the crime number contact the OFT, Trading Standards and MP Stella Creasey, all of whom should be able to take this further.

[adspur82]

Just thought I would add a quick update on this, after several phone calls to CFO they did eventually agree to refund the £100, without fully accepting they had done it fraudulently.Obviously at this point I am happy to get the money back, I am in way over my head with other PDL companies and am struggling to have the energy to fight them all so I havent pursued this any further.Thank you for all the helpful posts on this.