Cheque problems, bank not interested.

[98elise]

I've written a large check to my mortgage co, and they have tried to cash it. The cheque was for 80k, but 89k is trying to leave my account. I have a photocopy of the cheque and it clealy says 80k

My bank say the mortgage co is at fault, and have charged me each time they have presented it (as well as stopping all further transactions from my bank account).

My mortgage company say they have processed it for 80k so my bank is at fault, and they are charging me daily interest on the outstanding amount.

I've written to both and spoken to both, but they both say its not their problem. How do I get to the bottom of this as I'm about £100 out of pocket so far in additional costs.

[PurpleMoonlight]

Stop the cheque and do it again via CHAPS.

[98elise]

That's will get the mortgage paid but won't get my £100 back. I also want to know how 9k can leave a bank account and neither party knows why or how.

[PurpleMoonlight]

98elise said:

That's will get the mortgage paid but won't get my £100 back. I also want to know how 9k can leave a bank account and neither party knows why or how.

But is didn't, if it had your mortgage account would be in surplus.

I suspect a clearing clerical error.

[98elise]

PurpleMoonlight said:

98elise said:

That's will get the mortgage paid but won't get my £100 back. I also want to know how 9k can leave a bank account and neither party knows why or how.

But is didn't, if it had your mortgage account would be in surplus.

I suspect a clearing clerical error.

I know it didn't in my case, but it would seem that if there is a mistake and extra money leaves your account then then both parties involved can you say "not my problem".

In my case both accounts are mine so its should be easy to find out whats gone wrong, but nerther side says they have done anything wrong.

The cheque has been presented 3 times now and each time 89k leaves my account, then gets credited back later. My mortgage company have it as 80k, and thats what it says in the letters from them, and my bank knows its 80k because they sent me a photocopy of the cheque.

I'm amazed that my bank will happly pay out 9k more than is written on a checque, yet say its not their problem.

[Gareth79]

I'd start by filing it with both as a complaint. If you have written to them as a complaint it *should* have been dealt with as such and they should have explained your next steps (ombudsman etc). The ombudsman's fees are far more than your losses so between them they will sort it out.

[98elise]

Gareth79 said:

I'd start by filing it with both as a complaint. If you have written to them as a complaint it *should* have been dealt with as such and they should have explained your next steps (ombudsman etc). The ombudsman's fees are far more than your losses so between them they will sort it out.

I've just tried to pay it by debit card and the mortgage company say they can't take the payment as the cheque is still in their system.

The person I spoke to has forwarded it to some sort of investigation team but still insists that its gone through their system as 80k. I believe them as their letters to me have the correct figures. Its my bank that have the wrong figures on their letters.

I think you're right and I'll stick a couple of complaint letters in the post today.

Edited by 98elise on Saturday 21st January 18:24

[Jon39]

Your local bank manager will have the authority to sort this immediately.
Just call at the branch, have a chat and a sherry with him.

Oh so sorry, that was how it happened 40 years ago.

Mistakes now can now become a nightmare for customers.

I had an important cheque bounced, to do with signature.
I thought about it and decided to try cashing a cheque at the branch counter.
That caused another problem, and the cashier then let slip to me, that their signature records had recently been computerised. A batch of customers had been missed, so they had no signature records at all for those customers.

I then had the ammunition, so let rip. They meekly and promptly paid for my losses of four figures. As they clearly knew about the situation, you would have thought they would contact their affected customers, before any embarrassment occurred.

Hope you get your problem sorted quickly.

[98elise]

Jon39 said:

Your local bank manager will have the authority to sort this immediately.
Just call at the branch, have a chat and a sherry with him.

Oh so sorry, that was how it happened 40 years ago.

Mistakes now can now become a nightmare for customers.

I had an important cheque bounced, to do with signature.
I thought about it and decided to try cashing a cheque at the branch counter.
That caused another problem, and the cashier then let slip to me, that their signature records had recently been computerised. A batch of customers had been missed, so they had no signature records at all for those customers.

I then had the ammunition, so let rip. They meekly and promptly paid for my losses of four figures. As they clearly knew about the situation, you would have thought they would contact their affected customers, before any embarrassment occurred.

Hope you get your problem sorted quickly.

My bank did say that cheques are read by machine so its probably where its gone wrong. No human involved so it ust gets paid however the machine reads it. Another machine pumps out the letters charging me for their cock ups.

When you do talk to a human they just read the same information back to you.

Edited by 98elise on Sunday 22 January 10:53

[Silverage]

This sounds like the kind of thing that is meat and drink to the newspapers' money sections "Your Problems" columns. They're usually quite good at banging heads together and getting a token payment for all the hassle out of the offending company.

[Robertj21a]

Jon39 said:

Your local bank manager will have the authority to sort this immediately.
Just call at the branch, have a chat and a sherry with him.

Oh so sorry, that was how it happened 40 years ago.

Mistakes now can now become a nightmare for customers.

I had an important cheque bounced, to do with signature.
I thought about it and decided to try cashing a cheque at the branch counter.
That caused another problem, and the cashier then let slip to me, that their signature records had recently been computerised. A batch of customers had been missed, so they had no signature records at all for those customers.

I then had the ammunition, so let rip. They meekly and promptly paid for my losses of four figures. As they clearly knew about the situation, you would have thought they would contact their affected customers, before any embarrassment occurred.

Hope you get your problem sorted quickly.

Is that Barclays ?

.

[Jon39]

Robertj21a said:

Is that Barclays ?

.

No.

NW (RBS owned).

The bungling that I described, happened a few years ago.
I have not had any problems with them since then.

We can all forgive mistakes, but not any messing around afterwards.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 22 January 10:07

[Robertj21a]

Jon39 said:

No.

NW (RBS owned).

The bungling that I described, happened a few years ago.
I have not had any problems with them since then.

We can all forgive mistakes, but not any messing around afterwards.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 22 January 10:07

Thanks, I may have a similar current problem with Barclays !

[kev1974]

PurpleMoonlight said:

Stop the cheque and do it again via CHAPS.

May not even need to be CHAPS any more, the limit for Faster Payments is £100k according to my bank Metro Bank. Certainly had no bother paying my recent house purchase deposit by Faster Payment, just went into the branch and it was done, no charge.

[Mr Pointy]

kev1974 said:

PurpleMoonlight said:

Stop the cheque and do it again via CHAPS.

May not even need to be CHAPS any more, the limit for Faster Payments is £100k according to my bank Metro Bank. Certainly had no bother paying my recent house purchase deposit by Faster Payment, just went into the branch and it was done, no charge.

Barclays is a hilarious £10k per transfer with a maximum of £50k per day, although of course if I care to pay for the transfer it can be done quicker. No thanks, I'll just make loads of tiddly little transfers.

[WEHGuy]

Mr Pointy said:

kev1974 said:

PurpleMoonlight said:

Stop the cheque and do it again via CHAPS.

May not even need to be CHAPS any more, the limit for Faster Payments is £100k according to my bank Metro Bank. Certainly had no bother paying my recent house purchase deposit by Faster Payment, just went into the branch and it was done, no charge.

Barclays is a hilarious £10k per transfer with a maximum of £50k per day, although of course if I care to pay for the transfer it can be done quicker. No thanks, I'll just make loads of tiddly little transfers.

I can do up to £250k faster payments with Barclays and can do multiple per day. It may be because I am also a corporate customer though.

[98elise]

98elise said:

Gareth79 said:

I'd start by filing it with both as a complaint. If you have written to them as a complaint it *should* have been dealt with as such and they should have explained your next steps (ombudsman etc). The ombudsman's fees are far more than your losses so between them they will sort it out.

I've just tried to pay it by debit card and the mortgage company say they can't take the payment as the cheque is still in their system.

The person I spoke to has forwarded it to some sort of investigation team but still insists that its gone through their system as 80k. I believe them as their letters to me have the correct figures. Its my bank that have the wrong figures on their letters.

I think you're right and I'll stick a couple of complaint letters in the post today.

Edited by 98elise on Saturday 21st January 18:24

I decided to raise it as a complaints by phone (yesterday) to speed things along.

Both companies have called me back, and the the interesting thing is that my mortgage company now tell me that the cheque goes via HSBC (clearing), so the issue could lie there. That would explain why neither bank believes they have done anything wrong.

my bank have again said its not them, and instead of just sending me a letter bouncing the cheque, they will now send me a letter explaining what they have found, so that i can pass that to my mortgage company.

Lesson learned here is to escalate to a complain ASAP, when you are dealing with call handlers and branch staff they really don't have the full picture. Also I tend not to rant at call handlers as they really don't have the power to deal with things.

[Gareth79]

98elise said:

98elise said:

Gareth79 said:

I'd start by filing it with both as a complaint. If you have written to them as a complaint it *should* have been dealt with as such and they should have explained your next steps (ombudsman etc). The ombudsman's fees are far more than your losses so between them they will sort it out.

I've just tried to pay it by debit card and the mortgage company say they can't take the payment as the cheque is still in their system.

The person I spoke to has forwarded it to some sort of investigation team but still insists that its gone through their system as 80k. I believe them as their letters to me have the correct figures. Its my bank that have the wrong figures on their letters.

I think you're right and I'll stick a couple of complaint letters in the post today.

Edited by 98elise on Saturday 21st January 18:24

I decided to raise it as a complaints by phone (yesterday) to speed things along.

Both companies have called me back, and the the interesting thing is that my mortgage company now tell me that the cheque goes via HSBC (clearing), so the issue could lie there. That would explain why neither bank believes they have done anything wrong.

my bank have again said its not them, and instead of just sending me a letter bouncing the cheque, they will now send me a letter explaining what they have found, so that i can pass that to my mortgage company.

Lesson learned here is to escalate to a complain ASAP, when you are dealing with call handlers and branch staff they really don't have the full picture. Also I tend not to rant at call handlers as they really don't have the power to deal with things.

Another thing is that complaints closed within the third follwing business day fall outside various FCA reporting rules (it used to be the following day) so be aware they may pressure you to confirm in some way that you are satisfied. This can work in your favour that you might be able to get it wrapped up, but just be aware of them wanting to get you to confirm you are satisfied. It won't affect your rights either way of course., just a sneaky thing.

A couple of years ago I filed a complaint with Barclays after their newfangled automated paying-in machine showed me an image of somebody else's cheque instead of the one I paid in (!) and the person on the phone was incredibly persuasive at explaining it away ("oh a previous customer forgot to log off") but I got them to go away and look into it. I got a call back later saying it was a "system wide problem" and they were closing the complaint and I'd need to speak to the Guildford manager for updates. I closed my account and moved to First Direct. I can accept IT problems (I'm a programmer) but not fobbing off with a serious problem like that.

Edited by Gareth79 on Wednesday 25th January 00:18