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Original poster

Can someone help, credit card company have 'lost' £4000 of my money.

68 replies

tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 11:54

Such a long story, I can give more detail where needed but I'm nearly in tears so apologies if this makes no sense.

So, long story short.

  • paid off credit card in full (£4000) in August 2023.
  • random direct debit taken by credit card company this month for £300. After nearly 3 hours of phone calls, we've now established that the payment made in August was flagged as fraud (not sure by who) so wasn't actually paid off of my account. This wasn't communicated to me in any way.
  • more phone calls, credit card company are saying that the £4000 was returned to me in January 2024. But it wasn't. It doesn't show on my statement and I've even phoned my bank who say that it definitely has not been returned.
  • credit card company are refusing to budge, won't refund me back the £300 which has left me with no money and I'm still being charged as though I owe £4000 on my credit card.

My last phone call today I asked to speak to a manager or someone higher, apparently early there is no one in until Friday.

Any suggestions?

CC company wont even accept me sending them a bank statement as proof I haven't received it.

OP posts:
tattychicken · 10/04/2024 11:57

No suggestions re the missing £4k but you claims back the £300 taken by DD under the DD indemnity guarantee scheme via your bank. And then cancel the ongoing DD.

WalkingThroughTreacle · 10/04/2024 11:58

I'd speak to the bank again. You should be covered by the direct debit guarantee and be able to have the bank both recover the unauthorised £300 and cancel the DD. Not my area of expertise but I believe that is how it works.

tattychicken · 10/04/2024 11:59

www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-guarantee/

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General money General shopping
Snoozvwert · 10/04/2024 11:59

I would ask your CC company for a copy of their complaints process. Go through this and if no resolution then a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/). Companies tend not to like this as they have to pay a charge.

Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:01

@WalkingThroughTreacle will it still apply here though because the credit card company think they are right.

OP posts:
Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:02

@Snoozvwert I've already made a complaint online, but it says it can take 8 weeks and I have to wait for them to respond first.

OP posts:
LIZS · 10/04/2024 12:03

Complaints process then financial ombudsman. Did your statements show the 4k as outstanding? Where did the £300 come from?

Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:05

@LIZS yes, statements clearly show the payment paying off the credit card in full.

£300 is the direct debit they've taken this month as the full amount has been added back onto my card in February so my CC is now full again and no one has my £4000.

OP posts:
waitingforthedrain · 10/04/2024 12:05

Have you got written/digital proof on your credit card statement that the £4k was processed?

MyWyndolynne · 10/04/2024 12:07

I had similar with a catalogue company.

I had been paying x amount every month and realised I was still paying even though the balance should have been settled.

Rang the company who said I hadn't made any payments in 2 years and the account was closed and in arrears and had been passed to debt collection.

I sent email proof that I had been sending the money to the right place.

Took weeks but they found the money. A glitch had been sending it somewhere else where it was just sat 'in limbo'

But they managed to retrieve it but they had already closed my account and messed up my credit rating!

Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:07

I've got my CC statement that says payment successful and my bank statement showing the outgoing payment.

OP posts:
Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:13

@Ladyprehensile I've looked and I can't approach the ombudsman until my initial complaint is responded to, they have another 7 weeks to do that yet.

I will see if I can get the direct debit returned then. DH has been on the phone to the CC company this morning and they are posting (why they can't email I don't know) a statement out to us showing the payment back to us. But if it's the same statement that I can view on my CC app, it's useless because it doesn't show where the money was sent. I will get him to call them back and ask for the payment trace. Thank you!

OP posts:
KeepingItUnderTheRadar · 10/04/2024 12:13

So your credit card was paid off in full in Aug 2023, after you sent a £4k payment. Cc then showed zero balance from August 2023 onwards. Creditcard company have now made a manual debit adjustment of £4k from your card and said this £4k has been returned to you but you've not had it?

This is up to the card company to provide you further info. If they've sent you the payment back, fine - they need to provide you the full details of where they sent it and when. Sort code, account number, reference they used etc.

Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:15

@KeepingItUnderTheRadar yes. But they aren't being very helpful. They are now sending a posted copy of the statement but I don't think that's going to help. My bank have advised me to ask for a copy of the payment trace.

OP posts:
KeepingItUnderTheRadar · 10/04/2024 12:18

I would be careful about returning that £300 by DD indemnity claim op.

As the cc company consider that £4k is now owed to them, this is the minimum payment. IF it turns out that they DID return the payment in Jan and the error was actually with your bank - then at this moment, yes, you do owe that £300. Returning it could mean a missed payment on your credit file which the cc company won't be required to amend if they did in fact return the £4k.

Unless you desperately need that £300 and can't possibly do without it, leave it where it is. It will all get sorted out eventually but don't risk action which may leave you worse off in the long run.

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 10/04/2024 12:19

@tiredconfusedhungry I had a problem a good few years ago with HMRC when paying the quarterly vat for my hubby's business. back in the day, we were only allowed to transfer maximum of £10k per day so i transferred the 10k and the next day, transferred the remainder due. they came back 3 months later to state that we had not paid the10k. we went back and forth for over a year, with statements from out bank and multiple phone calls. of course, no one would take the time to look and check. eventually after 18 months and them threatening to send sheriff officers to out business (that was hilarious because I just said to them "ok we will wait for your letter arriving at the sheriff officers and just serve it on outselves!!) that is my hubby's job and he did work for hmrc!! eventually we managed to speak to a your guy who came back to us 45 minutes later to state that he had found it. it had been misallocated into a holding account!!!! just stand your ground, get all the written information from your bank and all your credit card statement and keep them safe. this can go on a long while!! ps i was told after this that it is always better to send an amount which is not and exact one like 10k. make it something like 9875/ apparently it makes it easier for them to find it! dont ask me how!

Greyat · 10/04/2024 12:26

I think you need to speak to the bank rather than the credit card company. The bank can trace the money and oblige the credit card company to tell them where it ended up. It could well be that it was returned to the bank, but hasn't made it onto your account.

Blondiebeachbabe · 10/04/2024 12:26

Bollocks is there no one higher up in the Office. The Department will be huge. Find out who the Manager of the whole unit is, and ask to speak to his/her PA. Or send an e-mail to the top person in that Unit. Every debit has to have a credit. They will have a trail showing which sort code and account number the money went to. Be firm. I was a Bank Manager for years btw. What Bank is it?

AmaryllisChorus · 10/04/2024 12:27

I'd go straight to one of the consumer rights journalists with this one. Big companies tend not to like being criticised in the press.

Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:29

@allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld it was an odd amount, not that it helped in this situation, I just wrote £4k for ease.

@KeepingItUnderTheRadar that is what I was worried about. It wouldn't matter now anyway, the money taken was to pay for activities and stuff over the holidays so it scuppered our plans a fair bit. But it wouldn't have come back in time to make a difference anyway.

@Greyat I have spoken to my bank. This is an incoming payment from the credit card company. CC company are saying it was sent, bank are saying it's not been received.

OP posts:
Original poster
tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:30

@Blondiebeachbabe I'd love to, but it's been hard enough getting through to people who can actually help. We're both trying to work while sorting this out and it's exhausting, you have to explain it all over again each time you call. Honestly their customer service is shit.

OP posts:
Ahnobother · 10/04/2024 12:35

I had a similar situation with my bank where I sent 3k to be paid off my credit card and due to me leaving a reference off, the payment wasn't made.
It didn't show up as being made so a bit different from your situation.
They said as the money couldn't find a home, it would be returned to where I originally sent it from (my account with another bank). It didn't arrive so I started to panic. They gave me dates of when it had been returned and said they can see the flow of money on their side.
After several calls, complaints they discovered that in fact they hadn't sent it back to me.
So my advice is to keep at them and to submit an official complaint. Once you do this, they give you a case number and dedicated person who you can them keep in touch with to get it resolved. They are obliged to resolve / respond to you within certain timeframes.
I was given £250 compensation too Smile

ohtowinthelottery · 10/04/2024 12:36

If the credit card company thought the £4k payment was fraud, why did they send the money back to you? It doesn't make sense. Surely their fraud investigation team would either decide a fraud had been committed and take appropriate action or decide there was no fraud in which case the £4k would be credited back to the credit card account.

Greyat · 10/04/2024 12:40

tiredconfusedhungry · 10/04/2024 12:29

@allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld it was an odd amount, not that it helped in this situation, I just wrote £4k for ease.

@KeepingItUnderTheRadar that is what I was worried about. It wouldn't matter now anyway, the money taken was to pay for activities and stuff over the holidays so it scuppered our plans a fair bit. But it wouldn't have come back in time to make a difference anyway.

@Greyat I have spoken to my bank. This is an incoming payment from the credit card company. CC company are saying it was sent, bank are saying it's not been received.

No, but the bank should be able to trace the original payment you sent to the credit card, if it was rejected for some reason by the credit card company.