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The Money Platform users have accounts debited despite settling loans

Paloma Kubiak
Written By:
Paloma Kubiak
Posted:
Updated:
25/07/2022

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

It is understood that a technical error at The Money Platform’s payment service provider – Mangopay – resulted in a number of payments originally made in February and March 2022 being taken again on Friday 22 July.

YourMoney.com also understands that the issue has affected a number of Mangopay’s UK clients, so it isn’t believed to be an isolated incident for The Money Platform users.

However, The Money Platform believes around 300 former customers have been impacted by the technical issue.

Mangopay has confirmed affected customers will receive their refunds by Friday 29 July – up to a week after the original error.

‘They have left me with nothing until payday’

Former customers have taken to Trust Pilot to share their shock and anger over the payments on Friday which have left some without money for essential bills, while others have gone into their overdrafts, meaning they face fees as a result.

One customer posted: “I have had an unauthorised payment of £362 taken out my account on the 22/7/2022. I have no current loan or agreement plan so was shocked to see this amount randomly charged to my debit card. I contacted them yesterday and received a reply saying the matter is being looked into and was their payment service provider at fault.”

Another wrote: “Took £139 from my debit card without permission on Friday despite my loan being cleared months ago. Left me with no money for weekend. Thanks a lot!”

One customer stated: “They have stolen £120 from my account leaving me with nothing until payday and overdraft charges. No way of getting in touch with them and no promise of when it’ll be refunded. My previous loan was repaid in February, so this is theft.”

And in other posts seen, one wrote: “They have taken an unauthorised payment of £139 from my account in 22nd of July despite no active loan. It has put me into overdraft and ruined my plans for the weekend.”

And for one former user, they wrote: “They have taken £558 out my account after I repaid my loan in March. I am now in overdraft – they will not pay my overdraft fee I am sure.”

‘This is very poor’

The Money Platform is a trading name of Gracombex Ltd. It’s a peer-to-peer marketplace for short-term loans, connecting lenders and borrowers. For Sara Williams who runs the Debt Camel website, “it’s just another payday lender” as its representative APR is 839.20%.

In her blog post on The Money Platform issue, Williams said this isn’t the first time it has suffered a payment problem. In February and March this year, it collected payment a week or so late, citing the way banks process transactions behind the delay.

And now, customers who contacted the firm over the weekend have been told the unexpected payment was due to an issue with its payment service provider.

Williams wrote: “They haven’t sent out an email to everyone affected. And there is nothing on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

“This is very poor. People who have had to take a payday loan this year may still be in financial difficulty now. The Money Platform should know this and take extra care to tell people what is happening.”

She added that everyone affected should get their money credited to their accounts as soon as possible. Users should also be paid compensation, she suggested.

For those who have had higher overdraft fees, were left with no access to money over the weekend or faced extra costs such as returned direct debits, they should ask for compensation of around £100 and that The Money Platform refunds the additional charges.

Customers can complain directly to The Money Platform before taking it further to the Financial Ombudsman if a satisfactory response, or no response is given.

‘We sincerely apologise’

The Money Platform, said: “We are working with Mangopay to ensure an immediate refund of these payments. Mangopay have told us that they are making the repayments to customers’ accounts this afternoon. We are also working with Mangopay on appropriate compensation for impacted customers.

“We sincerely apologise to all customers impacted by this and are working with Mangopay around the clock to resolve the issue.”

A Mangopay spokesperson, said: “Our UK banking and processing partner encountered a technical error on Friday 22 July and wrongly re-processed a number of payments made in February and March 2022 by users on The Money Platform. This error is external to our technology stack and therefore was not a visible activity in our client money accounts. For those reasons, we haven’t been able to detect these transactions during the weekend.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience experienced by The Money Platform and its affected customers. We are doing everything in our power to ensure that remediation for this issue is completed quickly and refunds are processed as soon as possible by our banking partners involved.

“Due to scheme rules and certain limitations of the VISA system, these duplicate transactions will now be initiated for a refund tonight, 25 July. The funds will then be processed at 8am BST on 26 July and will reach cardholders’ bank accounts between 8am BST on Wednesday 27 July and 5pm BST on Friday 29 July.”