Mumsnet Talk

advice urgently needed...my 19 year old sister had a 2 year old ds, is at college doing really well and receives tax credits and income support and lives at home with my mum. money is obviously tight for her at the moment while she is at college but she manages well. basically about 6 months ago, she had £50 randomly taken out of her bank account by a company she does not know...her bank (santander) refunded her money as she did not know who this company was and it had also taken her over her authorised overdraft causing other fees. the same thing has happened again today. the same amount of money has come out by the same company, after phoning santander they say they can do nothing as she must have authorised it. she most definitely has not authorised it, and upon phoning the company she has found out they are a loan company who's website she must have come across online, and the lady from this company told her the money they are taking out is a membership fee for their services even though she has no loan with them or anyone else!! they are refusing to reverse the transaction and the bank is refusing to refund the money....meanwhile they have taken half her money this week to live on. surely this is not right and this is some kind of fraud or scam?

also this company said they had got her bank details from another loan company?!

I hope she has stopped her direct debit or standing order? She needs to ask the company & the bank for copies of the paperwork that allowed for this to be set up out of her account. If they can't produce them then she needs to contact trading standards asap. Also, the police as it is possible fraud.

She needs to inform the police immediately, report suspicious activity to the bank and get the name of the person she speaks to, giving them a crime number that she can only get from the police.

As soon as she gets this sorted out she needs to close her account with Santander because they are absolutely dreadful at dealing with this sort of thing.

(Then open an account with First Direct who are absolutely brilliant).

This is criminal activity. She needs to give the police as much information about these companies as possible.

Then follow up with a written complaint to Santander.

Someone close to me was forced to empty their Santander account, from a cashpoint, with a knife to their throat.

Phoned Santander who said it was not their problem and they couldn't refund the money.

They are really awful.

The money section of the guardian on sat looks at these types of cases. It might be worthwhile emailing these details to them, to see if he will take it up for you ... I think the observer on Sunday has a column as well .

she should change her bank account.

I know it's a hassle, but it means these people can't get their hands on anything more!

Has she applied for loans?

If she hasn't then it's clear fraud and she should contact the police, don't you think?

These scams happen when people apply for loans even if they do not go through with it. Santander should refund and investigate.

yes am getting the feeling santander are awful!!! and believe me she has reported the activity to santander and she was so upset crying to the man (crettin!) on the phone. they are her bank who are meant to be protecting her money!

I can see in that case 3littlefrogs that they couldn't refund the money because it is not their error (though awful & terrifying for your friend) but in the OP's case it sounds as though there could be suspect paperwork.

yes definitely suspect paperwork, the company are saying they were passed her details from a loan company whose website she went on enquiring about loans months ago. surely this is illegal passing someones bank details around? also she has demanded all copies of paperwork from the company and they say they have an electronic signature of hers? which she says she has never given or would'nt know how to give one of them.

An electronic signature will mean that she gave the company her debit card or similar information when she inquired about loans I know two people who have signed up for 'information' and have subsequently found that they have agreed to a regular payment leaving their account. One accidentally signed up for Amazon's speedy delivery service not realising there was a subscription, the other thought she was asking for free IT support and found she was being debited monthly. Even before your sister gets the paperwork she needs to cancel whatever contract this company thinks they have with her so that they take no more payments. Then she can argue for a refund from the company.