Money Platform users have accounts debited despite loan settlement

Hundreds of The Money Platform customers have had surprise withdrawals from their bank accounts despite repaying their loans months ago.

It is understood that a technical error at The Money Platform's payment service provider - Mangopay - resulted in the resumption of a number of payments originally made in February and March 2022 on Friday July 22.

YourMoney.com also understands that the issue has affected a number of UK Mangopay customers, so this is not an isolated incident for The Money Platform users.

However, The Money Platform estimates that around 300 former customers were affected by the technical issue.

"They left me with nothing until payday"

Former customers have turned to Trust Pilot to share their shock and anger at Friday's payments which left some without money for essential bills, while others were found out meaning they have to do face charges accordingly.

One customer posted: "I had an unauthorized payment of £362 taken from my account on 22/7/2022. I don't have a current loan plan or agreement so I was shocked to see this amount randomly debited from my debit card. I contacted them yesterday and received a response stating that the matter was being investigated and that their payment service provider was at fault."

Another wrote: "I took £139 from my debit card without authorization on Friday despite paying off my loan months ago. Left me with no money for the weekend. Thanks a lot!"

A customer said: "They stole £120 from my account leaving me with nothing until payday and overdraft charges. No way to contact them and no promise of refund. My previous loan was paid off in February, so that's stealing.

And in other posts seen, one wrote: 'They took an unauthorized payment of £139 from my account on July 22 despite having no active loan. It exposed me and ruined my plans for the weekend.

And for a former user, they wrote: "They withdrew £558 from my account after paying off my loan in March. I'm overdrawn now - they won't pay my overdraft fee I'm sure. "

"It's very poor"

The Money Platform is a trading name of Gracombex Ltd. It is a peer-to-peer market for short- term loans, connecting lenders and borrowers. For Sara Williams who runs the Debt Camel website, "it's just another payday lender" because its rep APR is 839.20%.

In his blog post on The silver platform issue, Williams said it's not the first time he's had a payment problem. In February and March this year, he collected payment about a week late, citing how banks process transactions behind the delay.

And now customers who contacted the business over the weekend have been told the unexpected payment was due to a problem with its payment service provider.

Williams wrote: 'They haven't emailed everyone involved. And there is nothing on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

"It's very poor. People who had to take out a payday loan this year may still be struggling financially. The currency platform should know this and take extra care to tell people what is going on.

She added that everyone involved should have their money credited to their account as soon as possible. Users should also be compensated, she suggested.

For those who had higher overdraft charges, didn't have access to money over the weekend, or had to deal with additional charges such as returned direct debits, they should apply for compensation. approximately £100 and The Money Platform will reimburse the additional costs.

Clients can file a complaint directly with The Money Platform before approaching the Financial Ombudsman if a satisfactory response or no response is given.

"We are sincerely sorry"

The Money Platform, said: "We are working with Mangopay to ensure immediate reimbursement of these payments. Mangopay told us they were issuing refunds to customer accounts this afternoon. We are also working with Mangopay on appropriate compensation for impacted customers.

"We sincerely apologize to all customers affected by this and are working with Mangopay around the clock to resolve the issue."

YourMoney.com has contacted Mangopay for comment.

Are you concerned? Has your money been refunded to you? Did you receive any compensation? Let us know how the issue affected you by posting to Disqus below.