Bank lost cheques paid in

HarryV · 21 February 2006 at 4:17PM

I recently took over the post of treasurer of a riding club and, on checking the bank account for August 2005 (the accounts were not up to date when I took over!) I discovered that two separate payments of cheques had not reached the account. I have the stamped counterfoils in my possession.

Upon contacting our bank I was told that I and they would have to investigate what happened before the bank could pay any money into our account, and the most important thing they need to know is whether the drawers' accounts have been debited.

They asked me to contact each drawer, there are ten in total, and ask them to look back and see if the cheques they presented have been cashed. If they have not been cashed the bank has lost the cheque in the system BEFORE clearing and I need to ask for new cheques. If they have been cashed then apparently the cheque would have been lost AFTER clearing and the money is in some random person’s account or a sundry account.

There is an added complication that some cheques were for £100 over the period of a few weeks and so asking people to verify one of a number of identical cheques might be impossible. I am not sure everyone reconciles their account as diligently as MSE members!

The question I would like to ask is – what is our legal position here? I have signed and stamped counterfoils and don’t want to spend hours chasing members, asking them to look months back in their account; and then possibly asking them for replacement cheques.

This is clearly the bank’s error and why should I, and other members, be put to trouble through no fault of our own. Can I just demand the bank credit our account?

Many thanks in advance
HarryV

maforduk · 21 February 2006 at 4:26PM

I would expect so, Complian to the ombudsmun and see what they have to say about it.

hjb123 · 21 February 2006 at 4:34PM

Surely when the stub of the paying in book is stamped they should have to honour it after all you have proof that you paid it in?

equitydealer · 21 February 2006 at 4:51PM

I assume that a receipt is an official acknowledgment that money has been paid in, therefore the bank is entirely responsible. They should be doing the leg work trying to trace the missing cheques, not you.

Out of interest, which bank is it?

Mark7799 · 21 February 2006 at 4:55PM

maforduk wrote:

I would expect so, Complian to the ombudsmun and see what they have to say about it.

The Ombudsman will not entertain the complaint at this stage until you have been through the Bank's own complaint process.

It sounds like they are trying to make you do all the work - the only comment to justify their action is that if the items are lost (however it happened) the Bank would have no way of knowing the drawer details to contact them themselves to ask them either if the cheques have been cashed or to issue replacements.

If you have the information (and are happy to do so) what if you gave the details of all the drawers to the Bank and suggested they do the contacting as since you have a stamped receipt, they must have made the ****-up in the first place?

hjb123 · 21 February 2006 at 4:56PM

Was it a small local bank that the cheques were paid in at or quite a large one?

HarryV · 21 February 2006 at 5:11PM

Was it a small local bank that the cheques were paid in at or quite a large one?

Barclays Bank, Cheapside Branch

Originally Posted by maforduk
I would expect so, Complian to the ombudsmun and see what they have to say about it.

The Ombudsman will not entertain the complaint at this stage until you have been through the Bank's own complaint process.

It sounds like they are trying to make you do all the work - the only comment to justify their action is that if the items are lost (however it happened) the Bank would have no way of knowing the drawer details to contact them themselves to ask them either if the cheques have been cashed or to issue replacements.

If you have the information (and are happy to do so) what if you gave the details of all the drawers to the Bank and suggested they do the contacting as since you have a stamped receipt, they must have made the ****-up in the first place?

I would love to give the bank the names and addresses but for data protection reasons I will not do so. :rotfl:

I assume that a receipt is an official acknowledgment that money has been paid in, therefore the bank is entirely responsible. They should be doing the leg work trying to trace the missing cheques, not you.

Out of interest, which bank is it?

You would have thought so - Barclays.

Apparently the signed stamped counterfoil is only a receipt that the cheques have been received by the cashier.

They have asked me to do all the chasing so I will be submitting an invoice for my time and expenses in making phone calls and writing letters.

Plus interest of course. :T

hjb123 · 21 February 2006 at 6:04PM

Is that quite a small branch? ie rural or town?

I really dont understand why they say that the stamped counterfoil is only a receipt that the cheques have been received by the cashier - this is surely also proof that the bank has received them and has lost them if they havent reached your bank account!

Why should you do the chasing? Its obviously their fault the cheques have gone walkies!

denys · 21 February 2006 at 8:25PM

I think HarryV means Cheapside, City of London.

NatWest’s workers have recently lost salary cheques of one of my employees under same circumstances (stamped slips in paying in book) and asked her to check with me whether money has been taken or not. Overall being very reluctant to admit their fault and return money. As claim under deposits guarantee usually takes ages I had to ring them to obtain written confirmation then cancelled cheques and re-issued new ones invoicing them for stopped cheques fees as well as my time plus inconvenience. Apparently they paid requested amount to me and my employee as well. Three weeks in total.

If you will be persistent enough I think you’ll get your money back within weeks, though it may take months in some cases. Certainly there is no point to do their work for them, just insist on missing amounts to be credited.

Bank lost cheques paid in

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free