Looks Like Bank Made A Mistake... Am I Liable???

thebooxttt

It looks like my bank has made a mistake & taken payments for my health insurance from another bank account.

I had been paying my health insurance on an annual direct debit for a number of years now & recently things have got financially worrying & so i have had to change to monthly payments & I'm not sure I can even afford that. As things were good in the past I never took much heed of bank statements cause there was always plenty of cash to hand. Anyway, the health insurance co. said they had my bank details on file & would set up the new payments. As I said, my financial situation has changed unbelievably in the last year with a closed business & investments collapsing so I needed to know which bank account they had on file...which turns out to be at my bank branch but NOT my account. It's my dads account, we share the same name & bank at the same branch.
Naturally I have to sort this out.
I did actually fill out a Direct Debit form for the health insurance premiums some years ago but I never had knowledge of my dads account & so the error was not mine, the health insurance co. could only have acted on the info I sent them & so the error was probably not theirs, so I can only assume that when the direct debit instruction reached my branch somebody hit the return key on the wrong line & hence got my dads account.
So... He will probably get refunded by the bank as they wrongfully took money from his account, right?
But I'm up the creek moneywise, I have all the social forms filled out & am heading for my local office when I shut the doors on the business on Monday (I know self employed isues with the dole but I gotta try ). So will the bank hunt me down like a dog or am I liable to any extent? I fear the bank will get its pound of flesh no matter what!

Toots

Sounds to me like it is the health insurance company's error. The bank would only pay out on a dd from an account if the insurance company presented for payment.

Your dad can apply for a refund under the direct debit indemnity scheme, because the health insurance company took the money out in error, but you need to get in touch with them and ensure that only bank details they have on file for your policy are for the account that you want to use to pay them.

Just out of interest, does your dad have his health insurance with the same company as you?

thebooxttt

Cheers for reply..
Yes he has a policy with the same company on is own whereas I would be a family policy on 2,50 per annum...could the bank chase me???

Toots

Well if the money was taken from your father's account, I can't see any reason why they'd chase you for it.

If your father gets refunded under the direct debit indemnity scheme, what basically happens is this: the bank contacts the insurance company's bank to advise them that there was 'no valid mandate held' for this particular direct debit, the insurance company's bank debits the insurance company's account and sends the funds to your father's bank, who then credit your father's account. The insurance company gets a copy of the form sent to their bank, so they know that they made a mistake somewhere along the line. They will then most likely contact you to advise that the direct debit has been returned, and you can take it from there.