Can my bank take money from my account to pay back someone who has been overpaid?

no, child support is none of your bank's business, their business is to manage your money and your bank most probably doesn't have the authority to touch your money without your consent, in order to give it to some other individual sounds like your bank is being hella sneaky and I would surely persist with the complaint and take it to court if need be i think you should DEFINITELY take it to court SOON, but notify the bank about a week prior, they may have a change of heart

if the account was soley in your name then i suspect that they should not of done this, do you know that you are getting no where with abbey at this rate go to the c.a.b and seek advice also depending on what they say take court proceedings against abbey for doing this including that doing this has made you over drawn etc good luck xx

Unless there was an agreement in place, the bank should not be paying back money to anyone. Was this money from his bank account to yours. Could be that he told his bank that the payment was made in error. I would go and speak to Citizens Advice Bureau and see what they say http://daytradingprofit.blogspot.com/

he's not allowed to take ur money without ur consent or banks gaining ur approval! Unless his name is also in the account then its different.

I suggest visiting the branch direct and complain orally.

I would up the ante a bit and threaten them with a solicitor if I were you.

Normally, no. They can only refund money like this to anyone whom you have set up a direct debit for, and then they can and would do it without your permission. But if there is no direct debit involved, they should not be making any payments that you have not authorised. However, I wonder in this case if they have done it because your ex-husband still has some rights to access the account. Did you have the same account when you were together, and if so did you remember to tell the bank that he should no longer have access? Or do you think he might have told them that you were still married, in which case he does have rights to draw from your account anyway (although one would hope that they would have verified this!)? I would write them another complaint letter for now. I would also pop into your own branch and ask to speak to someone there. You can also keep trying the call centre as you'll probably get a different person each time - I know everyone complains about foreign call centres but my bank (HSBC) also uses a centre in India and I have honestly never had any problems communicating with people there. They might have an accent but they still do speak perfect English.

Tricky answer, so please read carefully. There's 2 parts you should consider. If your ex claims he has overpaid, then the bank can technically recoup the money back from you. As far as the bank is concerned, one party (Your ex) made an error is overpayment, and is entitled to the correction. BEFORE YOU START COMPLAINING THAT I AM WRONG AND THAT HE IS NOT ENTITLED TO THIS MONEY, READ ON!! If he therefore now owes you money and is not paying, that is a matter for the Child Support Agency and the small claims court to deal with as a debtor. Regardless of the issue of whether he is or is not entitled to thes funds, your bank have taken a ridiculous amount of time to respond accordingly. I assume you have been pestering them for long enough, so if they are not replying, send them one final letter summarising the full complaint, and warn them that if you do not receive a response within 30 days (14 if you want to be really mean), you are going to contact the Financial Ombudsman regarding the general bad way they have handled your Grievance. Hope that points you in the right direction

Hello First question is. Was the account that your husband pays into a joint account, If so and you have not removed him as a authorised signer on the account then he able to draw funds from it. If it is just your account with you as the only authorised signer then go and speak to the manager and report it as a theft from your account. As they should not have released any funds to him. As to the transfer of funds from one of your accounts to that one could that be what they thought you asked them to do as they cannot do it without your permission. Also complain to your manager and tell him you expect full refund for charges resulting from their illegal actions. I had a similar thing when my benefits were not paid and no one told me. A loud voice and not going into a cubicale to discuss it gave me a very quickresponsee. Andy C