Halifax paid standing orders after I had previously cancelled on-line

russers

Hi - I was wondering if anyone can tell me if this is a bank error?

• On Friday I went to the cashpoint and paid my usual bill payments.
• I got home and checked on-line that the payments went out, which they usually do straight away.
• The Payments had not gone out and were pending til monday 17/8 (today).
• I then went into my account online to manage the bill payments and saw each of the pending payments due to be paid 17/8 and in the next column were the amounts to be paid.
• In the drop down box next to the organisation that had a pending payment was an option to cancel the pending payment. Which I did sucessfully. (no amounts or dates for payments were showing next to the organisation after I cancelled and then confirmed the cancellation).
• Then I paid my bill payments on-line as "Faster Payments". This money went out of the account immediately on Friday 14/8.
• To my horror, I came in from work today and noticed that the payments that I had cancelled on Friday have been paid. So the recipients have been paid twice.

After being on the phone for 40 mins, all the Halifax can suggest is that they send me a free statement so that I can get the money that they paid in error back!! Oh and somebody in the customer care team is going to do an audit trail and give me a call in 1 week!! Should I make a complaint?

Is it true that if a bank error is made, they should refund you the amount of the error and the same again as compensation?

opinions4u

Is it true that if a bank error is made, they should refund you the amount of the error and the same again as compensation?

Where did you get that one from?! No, it ain't true.

olly300

No all you do is get your money back.

And if you made loads of phone calls (more than 2) or when into the branch a few times they may give you a good will payment.

knytshade

If you had these "payments" as Standing Orders then to cancel them you need to give a clear 2 working days notice especially with most S/O's going under Faster Payments. Therefore it is not the banks mistake, it is your error and they are not accountable for this.

Lansdowne

In that case it is an error in the bank's software. If you cancel a payment online and the system accepts the cancellation, you have the right to trust the system.

If it can't be cancelled within 2 working days the system should be programmed to refuse the attempt to cancel, plus the 'pending payments' should not have disappeared from the screen.

jambosans

knytshade wrote: »

If you had these "payments" as Standing Orders then to cancel them you need to give a clear 2 working days notice especially with most S/O's going under Faster Payments. Therefore it is not the banks mistake, it is your error and they are not accountable for this.

That's wrong, Halifax Bank of Scotland allow you to cancel payments right up until the night before they are due - bill payments, standing orders and direct debits. More information on Moving Money using Online Banking.

Just to further back this up, a quote from that link:-

Please ensure you make any amendments or deletions at least 1 working day before the payment is due so the changes have time to take effect.

russers wrote: »

somebody in the customer care team is going to do an audit trail and give me a call in 1 week!! Should I make a complaint?

Well if it has been escalated to the Customer Care Team, you already have. They deal with complaints, so will deal with the matter appropriately if the audit trail proves you correct. If they find no such amendments were made, then it is your word against theirs, and they will have the proof, which I assume you don't.

jamesd

Wait and see what the audit trail shows up. It'll presumably show that what you say happened is what happened and they will then deal with reimbursing you for any out of pocket costs that you've had.

withnell

jambosans wrote: »

So from what the OP has explained, the cancellation was done within the correct timescales.

I'd disagree with that - OP states that they looked on friday when they got home, which suggests that it was likely to be after 5pm, and therefore the cancellation request would not be processed until Monday

jambosans

withnell wrote: »

I'd disagree with that - OP states that they looked on friday when they got home, which suggests that it was likely to be after 5pm, and therefore the cancellation request would not be processed until Monday

I agree, however I have cancelled payments with Bank of Scotland, the night before they were due off. So it is possible, although I did use Telephone Banking, Online may follow different rules.

PNPSUKNET

If you call up it is possible, but online it does say 2 working days and also in terms of onlinebanking .

jambosans

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

If you call up it is possible, but online it does say 2 working days and also in terms of onlinebanking .

If you read the quote above from the Halifax website it specifically says one working day is required for amendments or deletions to take effect when using Online Banking.