H All,

Had a running in with Lloyds TSB this week. On the 8th October my Credit card payment was due, and as per every other month it is paid via a direct debit for the full amount from my Lloyds TSB current account. It showed on my CC statement (online) that they had received payment, however nothing showed on my current account. I ignored this as sometimes it takes a day or two for the online statements to catch up. On Monday 19th October, I checked my current account and noticed that still my CC payment has not shown up. I then checked my CC statement, only find that there is an entry for "Returned Direct Debit" on it. I called phone banking and they put me through to card service (eventually after having to ring an 0845 number from my mobile) and they admitted that there had been a problem with there system. I then agreed for the payment to be taken manually from my current account.

I questioned whether I am going to be charged for the missed payment, and she said that she would put a note on the system that it had been a system fault. I further questioned whether my missed payment would effect my credit rating. I did not want my rating effected as I am looking to apply for a mortgage in the next 4months. They said that the only way to see is that I will need to obtain a credit rating report. Why should I obtain this when all this has been caused by Lloyds TSB and their systems. I have requested that they confirm to me in writing that my rating will not be effected.

Then on Wednesday, I noticed that there had been another payment made against my CC account, only to realise that the payment had come from my Incentive saver account without my authorisation or agreement. I called phone banking and card services again, and I incisted that they opened a complaint regarding the unauthorised payment. They told me that it had been handed to collections and they have the authority to take money from any of my accounts if they need to. Why has this been handed to collections when the direct debit payment was only returned on the 15th Oct (6days later).

I have now requested an writen apology and compensation as the payment they have taken will cause my Incentive savings account to loose its beneficial interest rate as there a withdrawal has been made from it in the month.

I spent 42min on the phone to them last night to try and sort this nightmare out, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to be hit with a default or blemish on my credit report about this mess.

What can I do to pressure them in to obtaining me a credit report to prove that their error has not impacted my rating.

Thank in anticipation.

boertjie:

Its a bit late for a detailed response tonight, but you are nearly doing the right things but keep focussed.

Two points. You must get your own credit report, LTSB cannot do this for you. However if they are at fault over the causal issue you would be fully entitled to claim the cost of the report

The way I would deal with this is to submit a written complaint scrupulously in accordance with the LTSB complaints procedure detailing where they failed, detailing your consequential costs and your expectation for resolution, plus a distress and inconvenience payment. They have 8 week to resolve the problem to your satisfaction. If not satisfied refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It will cost you nothing but LTSB will have to pay a hefty case fee regardless of outcome. Ideally the threat of this will focus LTSB as unfortunately the FOS may take between 6 and 12 months such is the volume of banking complaints.

Regarding taking the payment from your saver account, while banks have a general right called set-off, I think they have jumped the gun on that, so include that in your complaint.

Hey friend don't worry, I think you can make a demand of "Subject Access Request" to the bank

to find the fault. A SubjectAccess Request is a request from a person asking an organization to

provide them with the information relating to thatperson which is held or processed by the organization.

Alliance & Leicester Discount

HI

I just had a very rude call from a female in Lloyds Indian call centre who said my DD due on 19th Oct had not been paid. She harrassed me so much and wouldn't accept that a) I wasn't close enough to a bank to sort things out there and then, b) that I wasn't prepared to bank online and c) that I didn't want to commit myself to a definite date to pay before I had visited my bank to find out why my DD hadn't been paid - also, I wasn't absolutely convinced that the call was genuine but in the end she hassled me so much that I agreed that the amount would be paid next week. I then did 1471 and got a number 01273743574 which I googled to find that on whocallsme.com some say it's a genuine Lloyds call whilst others say it's not, so I rang customer services only to get back to the indian call centre again. When I challenged the guy who answered asking if I was speaking to a call centre in India, he put the phone down on me, I called again but this time got a helpful lady who said that if I rang the same number again but made no attempt to answer any of the options (eg. if you want to do...., then press1 etc) then I would be put through to a British call centre instead of being redirected to India, so I did, and I got through to a very nice guy called Sean. First, I complained about my treatment from the Indian call centre then confirmed that my DD had in fact not been paid and then said that I couldn't understand why as I knew there was enough money in my account, nor why it had taken 10 days for me to be notified. It turns out that there is a huge problem this month (Oct09) as a large number of DD's have not been requested by Lloyds Credit Card department and the only way they know which DD's are outstanding are when they get flagged up on their records and generate a collections call centre phone call (ie from India) and presumably, the customer then complains. After speaking to the duty supervisor I have been given an unconditional apology, had the oustanding payment flag removed from my account, told I would get no more call centre calls and my account for this month has been marked that I can pay the outstanding payment (and I quote) as and when it is convenient for me to do so, there is no time limit imposed. (I can only assume that the later I pay the more interest will be added) I was also told quite categorically that this has been solely the fault of Lloyds TSB Credit Card Services and will not affect my credit rating in any way.

Hope this helps.