We're broke

[pagan queen]

Long story short. We paid our daughters first instalment of her car insurance this time last year using our debit card. She decided to switch to a different insurer this year but the old one took £880 out of our account using our debit card details illegally. We have had to live off our savings for the past 7 days. All our bills have to be paid with our savings so now we have nothing left to use in the bank until Friday. So angry. The insurers involved have said the money will be back in our account ASAP, that was a week ago.

[Pussygalore]

we're always close to being broke with just a small reserve so know what its like, however I'm always so carefull to cancel any standing or direct debits if we ever change anything. We changed insurers last year to a cheaper one with the car and you have to be so carefull that everyone is informed and cancelled mind you as we need our no claims proof it was a bit easier as the old insurance cancelled everything on a said date when the new one took over. I hope you get your money back soon, I never like this time of year as christmas is always a struggle with money, it would be so nice to buy people what they'd like we hope that we don't get invited anywhere as if we spend it by ourselves we don't need to bother much.

[Suze65]

Oh Wendy that's awful, I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope it gets sorted out soon, money worrys are not nice.

[pagan queen]

There was no standing order or direct debit to cancel. It was a one off payment over the phone. The other payments came from my daughters bank via direct debit. They have obviously tried her account and didn't find enough money so took it from ours.

[emma_mcraf]

What a nightmare! Be a thorn in their sides and keep ringing on the hour every hour until the money is back in your account. They'd soon get fed up of you doing that, as long as you've got the spare time to be hassling them.
It's a bad time of year to be having money worries so I hope it's all sorted out soon. Then you can write and complain to the general manager once you've got the money safely back and see if they can award you some compensation too!

[Alan1]

it beats me where the money gets to in between times. You can pay something from your account and it gets there within 2 hours but if some company or a bank refunds you they say it will be in your account in 3 or 5 or even 7 working days.. why no 2 hours is what baffles me

[pagan queen]

Exactly what I said Alan. They like to keep old of our money for as long as possible so they can gather interest on it.
It's just so inconvenient, I have a Amazon basket full of Christmas presents that I can't buy because there's no money to cover them. I also have had to hold up the bathroom makeover as well as the bedroom furniture we were planning to buy. It wasn't all coming out of that money but when you have money tied up you have to put everything on hold just in case.

[Merlin M]

Originally Posted by Alan1

it beats me where the money gets to in between times. You can pay something from your account and it gets there within 2 hours but if some company or a bank refunds you they say it will be in your account in 3 or 5 or even 7 working days.. why no 2 hours is what baffles me

Companies don't use Faster Payment like personal banking does they still use BACS that still takes 3-5 days to clear.

Talk to your bank, they have legal obligations to put the funds back if it is an unauthorised payment

[TillyTortoise]

Did she inform her previous insurers that she would be switching?

[pagan queen]

Originally Posted by TillyTortoise

Did she inform her previous insurers that she would be switching?

Yes, she was late making a few payments (wages date shifting and her direct debit not corresponding)so they insisted she pay the last 3 months up front. She was then told they would not insure her again unless she paid the whole year in full so she cancelled the insurance, more because they were so unreasonable than anything.