unauthorized withdrawal from my checking account

How did they get your checking account information?

After anwering the question before me, file a complaint with your bank and close your checking accout or they wii just come back and hit it again. Many collection agencies will act like the original creditor and make a deal with you to take reular monthly electronic check payments. Then they go in at unscheduled times and take what they want. A collector for AMEX did this to me once. I thought I was dealing with AMEX so I trusted the person. Wrong!!

Frog is correct, go into a local branch of you bank, fill out and affidavit of unauthorized ACH, and close out your account and open a new one. Explain to the representative what is going on and they should help you through all you need to do. If you don't close out the account, though, even after placing a stop payment on the ACH or filling out the affidavit, the CA can just attempt to hit it again with a different merchant ID number. I know it's a pain, but it is best just to close it and reopen another one.

Good rule of thumb, never, ever, ever, ever, give your banking information to anyone! this goes for CA's as well as anyone else.

Speaking from personal experience, it can be a real pain in the behind to get your account resolved once it has been put into the negative by NSF fees when an attempt(s) is made and you didn't have the money in it. I even had my own bank overdraw my account for a loan I was paying off early, when I talked to the bank representative she assured me the debit would not occur on the next scheduled date.

Guess what? It occured.

I contacted her as soon as I saw what was going on and she acted as though I was a criminal for the account being overdrawn. I had to refresh her memory as to the fact she assured me the debit wouldn't occur, then it was like pulling teeth to get her to refund the NSF charges.

So if anyone offers to set up "convenient" ACH debits on my account, or make it a requirement. I say "No" I have online bill pay and it works just fine. Most of the payments do go out ACH anyway. I just like to know I have the "control" of when to turn them off and on.

I might also contact your bank and see if there is a way to get a secret password or code put on your account, for use if you call into their call center. Might prevent someone from calling in pretending to be you and somehow obtaining your account information. It happened to me about a year ago.

[quote=bochs4]What do i do when a debt collector takes money from my checking account without authorization?[/quote]



Sorry, I jost couldn't help myself.....

Kidding aside, you've been given very good advice in the posts above. You'd do well to follow it. Let us know how it goes for you.

A few times, this issue has happened to me. With PDL's, I few, I was dealing with (at the same time) were suppose to take payments out at the end of the month. One of them took payments out every two weeks, which caused the OTHER one to bounce. I finally talked to the Bank Manager and closed my account. I even tranfered this certain account to another bank (so he PDL's couldn't 'trace' it. ACH's, from people/companies you don't really know, can be a pain.

My local Gold's gym withdrew a payment from my checking account three months AFTER I submitted both written and verbal notification that they no longer were authorized to do so. The Manager of the gym denies any wrongdoing and her boss refuses to return my calls. I corporate Gold's does nothing but refer me back to the local franchise. Sad, sad, sad. Criminal behaivor.

File a complaint with the FTC, and also file a dispute with the bank to reverse the charges. Include copies of your removal of authorization.

Then send a letter (with a copy of your complaint and the back-up info - if done online, include a printout of the confirmation email) to the local Gold's gym and the Home Office demanding an immediate refund of the unauthorized charge.

I would be going thru the bank with copies of the removal of authorization.

Wow, I had no idea collectors can even do that! Can they get your banking information without you giving it to them?

This wasn't a collector. It was Gold's Gym. I would raise hell with the local BBB as well. Wouldn't hurt to stand out fornt with a poster and stop everyone going in to tell them to check their bank accounts. That will get their attention :twisted:

No doubt. They appear to do this often, it is not fair and needs to stop.

hi..what to do if unauthorized withdrawal is doen on your atm card? is it possible that someone can withdraw from your atm from an atm machine when you are holding your atm at hand?

Money cannot be withdrawn from an ATM without your card and your PIN. If you only have 1 card and have never shared your PIN with anyone, there is only one possible way this could happen and that's via skimming or a fake ATM scanner/camera. Talk to your bank. That's a hard one to prove.