Bank have lost my cheques

SaraC

I am so upset with my bank that I had to get it off my chest. A couple of weeks ago I paid £550 (4 cheques in total) into my bank account. The cheques were never credited to my account. The bank say that the cheques have now 'gone astray'. I have proof in the form of my paying in book that I paid them in. They are now telling me that I have to get in touch with the people who wrote me the cheques, get them to stop the cheques and issue me with new ones! I feel this is totally unacceptable as I have done nothing wrong. I have already wasted over an hour on the phone trying to sort this out aswell as visiting the branch I paid them in at (who actually told me they would credit the cheques to my account initially, but then changed their mind, without telling me, due to the amount.) I feel that this is going to takes weeks to sort out, how can banks get away with treating us like this? Can I mention who the bank is or is that not allowed?

Scousebird_2

You are indeed allowed to mention the bank involved-it's an open forum. As for the situation-unfortunately because effectively cheques are dead money/worthless until the cheque is presented at the drawrers bank, there technically hasn't been any financial loss-the funds simply haven't been drawn and the onus sadly falls on yourself to chase up new cheques. In the meantime you may be able to ask for a small gesture if you are out of pocket for having to return to your local branch and for contacting the people who gave you the cheques in the first place. It's a shame though, and very unfortunate, hope you eventually get it sorted.

agsnu

Many banks charge for stopping cheques, unfortunately.

natweststaffmember

And the bank that lost the cheques will have to reimburse any costs involved in getting new cheques as well.

Scousebird_2

If the cheques are reported as lost or stolen they shouldn't levy a charge-most banks allow this-it just depends but I have never once seen a customer be charged for a lost cheque when it has gone missing-only charge if the person has written a cheque and then decides they don't want to pay the person, but you can't be blamed if you have misplaced the cheque-only a harsh adviser would do that!

Jay974

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's a common problem where cheques are actually debited from the originating account, but don't get credited to your account. Just to prepare you in case this happens, ask the payer for a photocopy of the cheque (available from their bank). There is probably a small charge for ths service but your bank is obliged to cover this.

Mikeyorks

Jay974 wrote: »

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's a common problem where cheques are actually debited from the originating account, but don't get credited to your account.

That's not the case. Where a cheque has cleared through to the drawer bank then there is no problem generating a credit - and the Banks will arrange that without involving the payee.

Also where the cheque data has been captured (imaged) by the payee Bank - but not made it through Clearing to the drawer bank - then the Banks will arrange to input a substitute cheque.

It's only where the cheques get mislaid before the initial processing at the payee Bank's processing centre, that they have to ask you to provide replacements. As there is no data they can safely replicate.

peteorr

Paid two cheques into Abbey on 21st July 2008. one for £20 and £16

I put them in their envelope and filled in the relevent details and posted it in their box inside the branch.

Checked statement and the funds have not been put into my account.
Been to the branch to sort out they can't find any trace on their system, not even the envelope which they stated they also keep.

They have told me to contact the people who issued the cheques one being my mother in law, her cheque came out on the 23rd July 2008 the other, not worked out who gave us that one yet!

My bank has told me to get my mother in law to contact her bank and get a copy of the cheque. This will cost her £5

Is this the correct procedure?

jonesMUFCforever

Yes but make sure that you get your bank £5 in compensation to make it up to her.
I have to be honest and say most banks would actually believe you and credit your account for these 2 amounts as they are not worth the time and effort it would take to chase it up.

Jay974

Mikeyorks wrote: »

That's not the case. Where a cheque has cleared through to the drawer bank then there is no problem generating a credit - and the Banks will arrange that without involving the payee.

That is not always the case. The cheque clearing process in Abbey works like this

1. Cheque is deposited in ATM - entry posted to account with effective date of +5 days (or whatever depending on the type of account)
2. Cheque is sent to originating bank to request payment
3. While the cheque is being cleared, the +5 (or whatever) days has passed and funds are available
4. Cheque clears and central ledger reconciles - process complete

If the first step is missed out (e.g. if a cheque entry doesn't get posted, but still makes it to the daily cheque batches), the funds are still debited from the originating account, but there is no posting once this process is completed. The quickest way to find out if the funds did end up with the payee bank is to get a copy of the cheque (post processing) from the originator. This will have the ledger numbers on it from both the originating bank and the payee bank.

Most of the time, the cheque processing teams couldnt even tell you what account the funds were supposed to credit in the first place. All they care about is getting the funds into the cheque ledger. It's only if there is a RD or RDPR that it gets linked to the payee account and the fuinds debited

Sorry to respond to an old post, but it's been bugging me

Smallbusiness_3

SaraC wrote: »

I am so upset with my bank that I had to get it off my chest. A couple of weeks ago I paid £550 (4 cheques in total) into my bank account. The cheques were never credited to my account. The bank say that the cheques have now 'gone astray'. I have proof in the form of my paying in book that I paid them in. They are now telling me that I have to get in touch with the people who wrote me the cheques, get them to stop the cheques and issue me with new ones! I feel this is totally unacceptable as I have done nothing wrong. I have already wasted over an hour on the phone trying to sort this out aswell as visiting the branch I paid them in at (who actually told me they would credit the cheques to my account initially, but then changed their mind, without telling me, due to the amount.) I feel that this is going to takes weeks to sort out, how can banks get away with treating us like this? Can I mention who the bank is or is that not allowed?

I know this is a very old post but this happened to us - same bank. Complained etc. 30 days later after we went back to customers to request replacement cheques the "funds" were suddenly found and credited to our account. 30 days without money and very embarassing as to say "bank lost cheques" sounds thin. As it is a postal system and the postal confirmation system was withdrawn there is no evidence that the cheques were actually passed to the bank.