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19/08/2014
Payday Loan Middlemen 'Drain' Money From Customer Accounts - Report
Websites are taking out hundreds of pounds from unknowing customers' accounts, on the promise of finding cheap credit, only for the loans never to materialise.
Many customers are complaining that payday loan middlemen had drained money from their accounts, without providing them with the loan they were looking for, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
In some of the worst cases the ombudsman has seen, consumers' bank accounts were debited multiple times without warning – as their banking details were passed onto other credit broking websites.
Since the start of the year more than 10,000 people have contacted the ombudsman to complain about credit broking websites, more than double the number in the whole of 2013.
In the majority of cases, the business running the websites refunded the cash they had taken as soon as the ombudsman got involved.
Senior ombudsman Juliana Francis said: "It's disappointing that people who are already struggling to make ends meet are being misled into thinking that these websites will get them a loan.
"In too many of the cases we sort out, no loan is provided and people's bank accounts have been charged a high fee, often multiple times.
"If money has been taken from your account unfairly or without warning, the good news is the ombudsman is here to help. Give us a call and we can put things right quickly."
(CD/JP)
Many customers are complaining that payday loan middlemen had drained money from their accounts, without providing them with the loan they were looking for, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
In some of the worst cases the ombudsman has seen, consumers' bank accounts were debited multiple times without warning – as their banking details were passed onto other credit broking websites.
Since the start of the year more than 10,000 people have contacted the ombudsman to complain about credit broking websites, more than double the number in the whole of 2013.
In the majority of cases, the business running the websites refunded the cash they had taken as soon as the ombudsman got involved.
Senior ombudsman Juliana Francis said: "It's disappointing that people who are already struggling to make ends meet are being misled into thinking that these websites will get them a loan.
"In too many of the cases we sort out, no loan is provided and people's bank accounts have been charged a high fee, often multiple times.
"If money has been taken from your account unfairly or without warning, the good news is the ombudsman is here to help. Give us a call and we can put things right quickly."
(CD/JP)
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