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How to deal with unauthorized debit on your Bank Account

It seems like ‘shady’ companies have switched to a new way of unlawfully debiting customers bank accounts without their knowledge.

This is why bankers advice customers to always check their bank statements monthly and not assume that everything is in order.

These companies charge a small amount on a monthly basis which is sometimes undetectable and the bank would normally not notify the customer. But checking your statement can actually save you a lot of money.

Usually, these companies would charge 10 cents or even less. That is not a lot of money right? But imagine that being charged monthly over two years. That would amount to R2.40c. Now imagine the company gaining that from 100 people.

I myself have been a victim of these fraudulent companies to a point where I ended switching banks but somehow even my new bank account got a fair share of these debits. Most banks do not send you SMS notification if the amount is less than R100 and most of these debit range from R30 to R99 Rands.

Not only do you lose your money that has been debited but bank fees do come along with it as well.

Most banks will put a stop to a debit order of a specific amount that went off your account, but the company will debit you again by just putting it through as a different amount. That can be a time consuming method as you have to go back to the bank to do a reversal.

Lately banks do allow you to do a reversal on those fraudulent debits but even that reversal sometimes might come with a cost or stopping those debit you will get charged by the bank. The truth is banks have no obligation to verify the authenticity of any debit orders because they just process the payment that is presented to them. 

There are companies which are in the business of taking money from people's bank accounts with fraudulent debit orders and when you call them they will say you must have applied for a loan online or some sort of service. Unfortunately most of these companies, according to my research, are based in Johannesburg and Durban.

When I called these companies most of them asked for my ID and names of bank details to do an investigation on their end but I got cold feet as that might be another twist to their scams.

Here are the steps I took, that might also help you deal with these fraudulent debit orders:

 

  1. Go to your bank and do a reversal. Your money will be paid back to you for a fee (reversal ).
  2. The bank will charge you between  R5 if you stop it online and  R45 if you go to a branch ( Stop Order ).
  3. Get the details of the Company that debited your account from your bank and call them to cancel those debit (threatening them with the law might get them off your bank account).
  4. Check your Bank statement weekly or daily if you can.
  5. Always keep a record of all authorised debits that you are aware of.
  6. Always avoid Debit order but use Stop orders when making purchases. That way you have the upper hand of controlling what goes out of your account because you pay them, they do not take it out of your account.

 

The difference between Debit & Stop Order:

According to Capitec Bank, a stop order is an instruction that you give your bank to make a series of future dated recurring payments, whereas a debit order is an instruction that you provide to a third party.

With a stop order, you get the third party’s bank details and add them to your banking portfolio as beneficiary while the debit order you give the third party your bank details and authority to take money from your account.

Please note some bank say the fraudulent debit orders my come again with a different amount because these companies will try by all means to get your money.

The bank only stop the specified amount (R99) but the company can change the amount to R98 and the debit will go through again so it’s advisable to always check your bank statement monthly to avoid such.

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