Can the bank take your money to pay on your debt to them?

Long story but would prefer not to give details.

I put some money into my bank this morning (soley for the purpose of doing a money transfer to my step mom for my car insurance which is WAY overdue to her).

Went on my online banking today, and seen that money has been taken out. I freaked out.

Then I seen it was put onto my line of credit ( I have not made a payment since December 09' due to my situation).

Can they just take money like this from my account even though I had not authorized it? Can they do this without letting me know? What if I had went to get groceries?

I know it is my fault (my debts) but my situation right now is not. I am quite angry and im never angry so .... ugh.

Thanks for replying in advance.

My bank did this to me a few years ago.I owed money on a credit card,which was issued through them,and my payments were behind.The took the amount out to cover the overdue amounts.:(

yes they can; unfortunately. did you have it set for auto-pay? some banks are like that; if they detect any $ and you owe them, they take it away; it sucks, and sorry to hear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kool_105

yes they can; unfortunately. did you have it set for auto-pay? some banks are like that; if they detect any $ and you owe them, they take it away; it sucks, and sorry to hear.

---

No I didnt have it set to auto-pay.. When I had first went onto my online banking to see my account, I thought someone had hacked my account (because money was missing, and I didnt authorize it).. The least they could do is call me and tell me or something... They took almost $300.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called them and told them that that money is really important, etc, etc.. They said "too bad" pretty much.

Yes they can and will. It happens with my husband all the time. The only way around it is to have your bank account somewhere else. They do it all the time when my husband's pay cheque is deposited. Same with GST, ect...

Back when I was a kids, the bank went into mine and my siblings accounts to take money my parents owed. My parents promptly closed our accounts and opened them at a different bank.

I have never heard of that! Crazy! I know that they deduct insurance and interest automatically form the credit line....

If it's with the same bank, yes I think so.

I have overdraft protection on my account, if I go over my balance, it automatically covers it (but I pay interest on it too).

YES, they can take your money to cover any outstanding debt in your account.
Most of the times, its automatic & is done by the computer system, so they would not know. You can avoid this by-
1. Have an over-draft facility, so you have access to the overdraft fund in case of emergency.
2. Never keep you assets where your liabilities are. Keep your money in a different bank (away from the bank where you carry any debt).

yes they can, and it ticked me off for a different kinda reason... my ex only pays child support when he gets government money... and he also had a visa with his bank, and owed tons on it, so the money i was sure i was getting (in a really really tight month) didn't come to me... and of course fmep couldn't/ wouldn't do anything and all they said was it shouldn't have happened but they couldn't get the money back... nor could the money just go straight to them, instead of hitting my ex's account first...

I've had this happen too. I was in a bad financial situation (tons of bills that were months overdue) and 7 credit cards and 2 lines of credit maxed out.

Getting an account somewhere else is a good idea so that your current bank cannot take money out to pay off debts.

One trick I had to use to make my money stretch when I couldn't afford the payments on all my accounts was to put my rent money plus enough for the interest that month onto my line of credit with my bank. That would cover the "monthly payment" and interest I would be charged that month, then I transfered the money back into my bank account for the 1st of the month.

Hi there... I work for a financial institution and yes they can take any amount of money that is deposited to your account if you owe them money (are past due etc). It's in your banking agreement that no one reads when signing up for banking accounts, loans etc- lol. Basically when you sign for these accounts you are agreeing to the financial institutions terms and conditions.

When you make any more deposits to that account they will take the $. If you are in a difficult situation I would suggest contacting your bank to try to make some sort of arrangement with them or eventually the case will be sent to a collection agency (they usually aren't very friendly and they don't care what your situation might be...they just want the money). Hopefully that doesn't happen to you but If it goes that way...it will effect your credit rating negatively and will take years to recover and make it difficult for you to get any credit in the future (something to consider if you plan to buy a home , car, etc in the future)

I know it might be difficult but my suggestion would be to deal with the situation right away to avoid further problems.

Also, while it is a good idea not to keep all your "eggs in one basket" most banks might not lend to you unless you have established good credit and have other business with them ie investment or savings accounts. So keeping your assets at another bank may work for a short time but eventually you'll likely end up having to borrow money from the bank where you are holding your assets.

Hope that helps a little.

I never realized that the banks were allowed to take money from one account to pay another outstanding account either! BTW, good tips DaniDeals!!!

Its so important to read all that fine print when you open a line of credit, credit card etc. They pretty much own you until your debts are paid off.

good luck EG

Of course they can; you owe them money!
elliott_gyal, I think you need to make an appointment to see someone at the bank asap, and get your financial situation in better order - YOU will feel better once you have a plan! Ignoring the situation does nothing to help you - yes, it can be scary, but getting started on something can help alleviate any anxiety you have...

DaniDeals, great explanation!

Yes call your bank, explain your situation to them, why you are behind etc. They will work with you towards a solution. They would rather work with you then to have to send it to collections.
And yes put money onto your line of credit then reuse it, same for any credit cards, put most of your paycheck into either and then use them to pay for food, bills etc.