# Can a financial institution take money out of my account without prior notice?



## Curley (1 Mar 2011)

Hi,

 I am looking for some information and assistance on the above subject as this just happened to me.

 The i have a personal loan and current account in the same bank. end of  feb, the bank debited the full amount of the loan on pay day, leaving me  more than 5 figures in debit.
 this happened when i was on holiday in South America and without a cent.  Had to beg on the street to gather enough money for some food and bus  to the airport.

 Has anything like this happened to anyone and if so, what action/compensation can i take with the bank?


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## niceoneted (1 Mar 2011)

Had you contacted the bank in relation to this and what have the said?
Had you been making regular repayments on your account?


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## truthseeker (1 Mar 2011)

What are the terms of the loan - were you paying it by direct debit? Was it the usual amount they took or more?


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## Curley (1 Mar 2011)

I have been in touch with the bank but have not gotten any respose yet.
I have had a restructure on the loan and been making DD payments with no delays. Also i have been making aadditional payments where possible on top of the DD.
The agrement on the loan was for the restructure to be applied for a year and then  a review. At no time was there a full pament of 5 figures to be settled.
Now i have my mortgage payment and other DD that has been delayed.

Been trying to call the bank but neither the manager or anyone in the department to take my call apparently.

going to go into the bannk now.

Any advise how i should deal with this?


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## Mpsox (1 Mar 2011)

2 possibilities as to what has happened here, one is human/system error, in which case you should be looking for compensation. Bear in mind, if it is an error, it may not have happened at the branch, instead may have happened centrally and the branch manager may not have the full facts at this stage

2nd option is possibly that the bank feels it has a right of combination, namely the right to apply the credit balance in one account, against the debit balance in another. I'm not an expert in that area, but I would have imagined they should have at least given you fair notice of doing that, although if you were overseas and they were not aware of it, that may be a defence for them.

Suggest you play it cool and ask the bank to explain what happend. If you are not happy with their response, ask for a copy of their complaints process. They are obliged to give it to you and the Ombudsman will not normally look at a case unless you've exhanted their internal processes first


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## Curley (1 Mar 2011)

I was at the bank this afternoon as i did not receive a call back from the bank manager.

apparently with the restructure of my loan, there was a clause that once the restructure term has expired a review of the finances can be done to determine next cause of action or full payment of the loan will have to be made.
In this case the review was not done and i never received any communication from the bank with regards to end of term or review.
The loans department which is not controlled by the branch just debied my account with the full amount.
But the funny thing was that when the loan amount was depited the loan account was 558 in credit! Which means they debited more than they should have. Am i right in saying that?
Do i have any right to companation here?


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