I need some genuine advice for a friend, she took a loan out a number of years ago but recently she has had 2 repayments taken from her bank account at once, they said she agreed to this new arrangement but she did not. They said they would refund this within 3 working days, it has now been about 10 working days, she called this morning and they said that it will actually be 6 working days from TODAY! so that would be 16 working days.

What would happen if she was to cancel the direct debit arrangement with the bank?

If she did not agree to this then she can demand it be paid back into her account. It can take upto 14 days for refunds and certainly not 16 days.

If she cancelled the direct debit - she must let the loan company know so that they know not to collect it (as she will be charged if it gets returned). She will have to make sure that she pays in another way or she will get charged interest and possibly legal action taken against her.

She is protected by the Direct debit Guarantee with her bank. The bank by law must refund Immediately any payments the bank allowed to be taken without her authorisation.

If the bank made a mistake and refuses to rectify it she could complain to the ombusman.

Go to www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Personally if I could not trust the bank I would close my account and open it with another.

i Had a similar problem in the past.
I cancelled my dd and then asked the loan company to send me a payment book.
They will moan, but if they want the payments to continue they will have to supply one.

If the bank made a mistake and refuses to rectify it ,she could complain against the bank.

It should take not more than 2 weeks to repay back the amount taken. You can surely take a lead in taking actions against the bank.

Regards