Post by Ribaric on Apr 2, 2014 15:25:43 GMT 1
FINA take money without justification
The above link is in Croatian but the story deserves to be told across Europe. In Croatia, the govt. has a financial agency called FINA, it's supposed to be a bit like the UK's FCA which regulates the financial services industry in the UK. Their aim is to protect consumers, ensure the industry remains stable and promote healthy competition between financial services providers. So what is FINA actually doing?
A case of my knowledge involves T-Com and one of their customers, Mr X. T-Com decided that Mr. X owed them about 200 euros for services given up to 3 years earlier. They, like all other big companies, have a lawyer who is legally empowered to take the money from anyone's bank account (Mr X's in this case). This is done by an application to FINA who then instruct the relevant bank to remove the money and, if the balance is insufficient, block the account until the debt is paid. FINA take an extra 110 euros from the account for their 'service' charge. So, before FINA do this, what do they check?
(1) Is this a real debt with evidence or is it a T-Com (for example) screw up?
(2) Has Mr. X been given adequate warning that this action will be taken?
(3) Is there an ongoing dispute between T-Com and Mr X?
(4) What effect will taking this money have upon Mr X's life? Can he feed his kids etc.?
The answer to ALL of the above is NO. The do nothing but slavishly accept what, in this case, T-Com's lawyer has stated - without question it seems.
Does FINA advise people like Mr X that they are about to take money and/or block his bank account? No, they do not contact Mr X in any way.
Does a person in FINA "own" this action, can anyone subsequently identify the FINA employee who agreed to T-Com's demand? No, it's a secret it seems.
It gets worse. The first Mr X knows about any of this is when he stands in front of a bankomat and finds he can't get the shopping because his account is empty and/or blocked. He must then go to FINA to find out why. What do FINA tell him? Nothing - unless he pays another small fee. Once paid, all he gets is a bill which claims he owes T-Com, or whoever, money. If he disputes this... tough , they have his money and now he must face the daunting task of trying to prove himself innocent.
The final insult came (in the case below) where the 'victim' demonstrated he was not in debt and recovered his money but FINA still refused to repay their 'service' charge.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....
(A) Abuse of power by companies and by FINA.
(B) FINA Officials with enormous life-changing powers yet carry no responsibility.
(C) FINA officials who remain unidentified.
(D) A system where creditors don't have to give warnings about debt collection.
(E) A system where nobody is responsible for the effect of aggressive debt collection.
(F) A system where, as a consumer, you are found guilty and must pay your fine and then try to prove yourself innocent.
Welcome to Croatia. People ask me why I don't have a Croatian bank account...
