Bank made to repay R31 000 wrongfully taken from client

A DURBAN attorney has secured a final court order against his bank after it took money from his account to pay off a debt on a credit card which he insists he does not owe.

Theyagaraj Chetty obtained an interim order after launching an urgent Durban High Court application against Standard Bank last month following which the money – about R31 000 – was paid back to him.

Yesterday, when the matter came back to court, Judge Isaac Madondo finalised the order and granted costs against the bank, which did not oppose the application.

In his affidavit Chetty, who runs his law firm from premises in Sydenham, said he had both a trust account and normal business account with the bank.

At the end of June, when the balance in the business account was almost R39 000, he received an SMS notification advising that R31 000 had been taken out.

“I contacted the bank and was told it had been taken by the credit card division to pay what I allegedly owed in respect of a credit card.

“I have never had a credit card with Standard Bank,” he said.

“I once had an MTN card but it was discontinued in 2008. I had R2 000 debit orders a month going off my account to pay for that – and when I queried it, I was referred to Standard Bank.”

He said the matter remained unresolved because the bank had refused to supply him with a statement of the account so that he could check what credit had been used and what he had paid for, because he believed he had been overcharged.

Lawyer proves credit card debts were in fact not his, and money is refunded along with costs

In 2009 he received a letter from the bank “insisting I pay the overdue amount”.

“I wrote back to the credit card division explaining my situation, but I got no response.”

He said he also faxed the letter to an employee in the legal department.

In February 2010, he received a call from a firm of attorneys acting for the bank who demanded payment.

“I told her to issue summons. And that was the last time I heard from anyone about the matter.

“I submit that whatever claim they may have against me has now prescribed. My correspondence clearly sets out a dispute and to date no one has issued summons against me.

“Standard Bank has no right to offset amounts as I do not owe them anything… and even if I did, they are owed in terms of an MTN card and have prescribed.”

He said he had been forced to make the urgent court application because he needed the money to be returned urgently to pay his bills, and a request to his bank manager to put the money back had been ignored.