Abbey transfered my money to wrong account - Advice Please x

glitzypinkprincess

Just after a bit of advice please, was wondering what my rights were and if anyone has had a similar experience.

Sorry it’s a long one………………

I currently hold a personal account with Abbey National. Me and my boyfriend opened a joint account with HSBC so that we could both transfer money from our personal accounts to our joint on a monthly basis to pay our bills.

I went in store to Abbey as I like to do things face to face however I was informed that to set up a standing order this would have to be done over the phones in branch. Although unhappy with this I agreed and done as said – I left the bank believing everything was set up correctly and our first transfer would happen on 1st March.

12th March me and my partner received a letter from HSBC informing us that our joint account was overdrawn, we were puzzled as we should have been £300 in credit after all our direct debits had been taken not £300 OVERDRAWN. We logged on to our HSBC internet baking and it showed NO transfer from my Abbey account.

I was straight on the phone to Abbey expecting them to say that no money had left my account, however the Lady at Abbey advised that ‘Yes the money was transferred on the 1st March’, I was puzzled and asked her to check the transfer details. I read her the account number of my HSBC account where the money should have gone to and she said that was correct, she then asked me to confirm the name the money was transferred to so I answered, she then asked what bank the account was with and I explained it was a HSBC account. She then went very quiet and said that since I could not confirm the correct name on the receiving account I would have to take ID in store – I was furious as she had just told me the balance etc on the account but yet would no longer speak to me about a mistake that Abbey had obviously made. I said that I would not go inshore and wanted the matter sorting now, after speaking with her Manger she agreed to speak regarding my account, she explained that when the person at Abbey set up my account they only entered the Account Number, they did not enter the sort code or the bank and so the money had been transferred to another Abbey customer with the same account number as my HSBC account, the person who set it up also failed to confirm the name the money should be sent to, if he has the problem would never have happened. She accepted that this was the fault of Abbey and not me and so she refunded me the £500 that had been given to the wrong account and advised if I sent her proof of any charges from HSBC for going overdrawn she would refund them to me. She also asked me to write an official complaint which I have done.

I have now been advised that I may be entitled to compensation as Abbey have breached the Data Protection Act by transferring the money incorrectly as all my data name, account number etc can be accessed by the Abbey person who received the money accidentally. It was obviously very embarrassing to become overdrawn with HSBC (I have never been overdrawn with any bank in my life) when I had only just opened the account and I have obviously been caused a lot of stress and worry through no fault of my own.

Was hoping someone could please give me a little advice please.

Thanks x

willo65

Well they have sorted the problem out and you are not out of pocket so as long as they have apologised I would let the matter rest. Not sure how abbey work but chances are the receiving customer won't have any details about you.

welshmoneylover

Why didn't you check that the transfer had taken place shortly after the 1st March and also why didn't you check your HSBC account to make sure the money had arrived correctly?

I would have!

simon_templar_2

welshmoneylover wrote: »

Why didn't you check that the transfer had taken place shortly after the 1st March and also why didn't you check your HSBC account to make sure the money had arrived correctly?

I would have!

Because then people would not be able to come and moan on here would they!!

rb10

welshmoneylover wrote: »

Why didn't you check that the transfer had taken place shortly after the 1st March and also why didn't you check your HSBC account to make sure the money had arrived correctly?

I would have!

To be fair to the OP, you assume that your instructions are carried out correctly, so there shouldn't be any need to double check.

I do think it is commendable that Abbey have seemingly sorted this out so quickly an efficiently though. They get so much bad press (most of it probably well deserved), so it's nice to see that they can do one thing right!

simon_templar_2

Errors and mistakes happen.

glitzypinkprincess

Thanks for your advice.

I checked my Abbey account on the 2nd March and seen that the money had went and so imagined it had went to the correct place.

I did not check my HSBC as 1. we did not have internet banking yet and 2. we don't live near a HSBC bank, we then went on holiday abroad between 3rd to the 12th March.

What had annoyed me the most was the fact that i wanted to do it face to face in store but was advised i could not do this. Also the fact that i was shown as overdrawn when they should have put the funds in the correct place.

This s not the first time Abbey have made a mistake which is why i am now moving my other current accounts, savings account, home insurance and mortgage to HSBC.


Thanks anyway.

welshmoneylover

ah, I see. Hope you get it all sorted out for you anyway x x

withnell

glitzypinkprincess wrote: »

Thanks for your advice.

I checked my Abbey account on the 2nd March and seen that the money had went and so imagined it had went to the correct place.

I did not check my HSBC as 1. we did not have internet banking yet and 2. we don't live near a HSBC bank, we then went on holiday abroad between 3rd to the 12th March.

What had annoyed me the most was the fact that i wanted to do it face to face in store but was advised i could not do this. Also the fact that i was shown as overdrawn when they should have put the funds in the correct place.

This s not the first time Abbey have made a mistake which is why i am now moving my other current accounts, savings account, home insurance and mortgage to HSBC.


Thanks anyway.

Why didn't you set it up yourself online as you have online banking? That way there's even less chance of things going wrong!

littlemissmoney

glitzypinkprincess wrote: »

...which is why i am now moving my other current accounts, savings account, home insurance and mortgage to HSBC.

:eek: One bank is highly unlikely to be able to offer you the best deal for your current account, savings account, home insurance and mortgage (especially when that bank is HSBC)! Have a read of Martin's articles for each of these things. You will be able to get much better deals by researching where is the best place for each individual product. :T

gizmo111

Check your CRA files as there may be a late payment on the HSBC account (after next month for this month). Ask Abbey for a small sum of compensation £50 or so and any charges to be refunded that were put on the HSBC account. Nothing much else you can do really, mistakes happen.