Accidental credit

HateBanks

I bank with barclays and last friday, the 30th April they credited a cheque I paid for £182 in twice, I didnt notice this straight away and have made payments and direct debits all week, checking my balance to make sure I had enough each time I used the account, then with no warning, when I paid in another cheque for the same amount they removed it, leaving me £13 overdrawn. I live, at the moment, very close to my income, as my husband is not working and I am working really hard to pay off massive debts. Can they remove this without telling me? They are saying they are going to charge me for 3 debits that went out during the 4 hours I was overdrawn, Grrrrr! :mad:

glider3560

Yes they can remove the money without notice is the simple answer.

As for charges, perhaps give them a ring and explain the situation. Offer to pay back the £13 immediately and see if they'll waive the charges.

Then have a look round this website and forum to reduce your outgoings and increase your income

Consumerist

I think you may have cause for a formal complaint.

It is true that the money did not belong to you and that you would have had to pay it back in due course. In the circumstances, however, the bank may have acted unfairly.

I suggest you start the bank's formal complaints procedure. If you are not satisfied with their final response then you may be able refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The MSE Reclaiming Bank Charges page will give you an insight into the FOS procedure.

Also the FSA have responsibility to ensure that banks treat their customers fairly and, since there is an issue of fairness involved here, you may get some constructive advice from them on their Money Made Clear telephone number: 0300 500 5000.

jonesMUFCforever

There is nothing unfair about a credit being credited twice and one being removed!
Especially as OP was checking daily to see whether he had enough to pay outgoings but did not notice twice the amount in the account - pull the other one!

Consumerist

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

There is nothing unfair about a credit being credited twice and one being removed!

If the OP speaks to the FSA and/or starts the complaints procedure, he has nothing to lose. I recommend that course of action.

The banks, of course, will be grateful for your unwaivering support.

Lokolo

I don't understand how you can pay a cheque in for £182 and then not notice that you have been credited the amount twice? Especially if you are going into so much detail as to checking how much money you havr to cover DDs.

Consumerist

HateBanks wrote: »

. . . I didnt notice this straight away and have made payments and direct debits all week, checking my balance to make sure I had enough each time I used the account, . . .

The OP checked the balance of the account before making payments. An account holder can check a balance from a summary screen - often the first screen shown when logging in. Not until a statement or transaction screen is accessed, would it become noticeable that a credit had been applied twice.

Accordingly, it would be quite easy to rely on the account summary without being aware of the double credit.

I recommend the OP starts the formal complaints procedure as suggested earlier.

jonesMUFCforever

Why complain its a waste of everybody's time!

Consumerist

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Why complain its a waste of everybody's time!

We didn't really need any more evidence of your true colours; it was quite obvious that you are another banking sympathiser whose primary objective is to discourage any complaint just as the banks themselves do.

I would encourage the OP to treat your "advice" with the contempt it deserves and complain, complain, complain, if only to annoy you and your ilk! :rotfl:.

The OP has nothing to lose by complaining. The FOS is free service. I wish him luck if he choses to do so. :beer:

olly300

Consumerist wrote: »

We didn't really need any more evidence of your true colours; it was quite obvious that you are another banking sympathiser whose primary objective is to discourage any complaint just as the banks themselves do.


I would encourage the OP to treat your "advice" with the contempt it deserves and complain, complain, complain, if only to annoy you and your ilk! :rotfl:.

The OP has nothing to lose by complaining. The FOS is free service. I wish him luck if he choses to do so. :beer:

You clearly haven't been on these boards long. If you had you would realise that jonesMUFCforever doesn't like banks neither does he like people who pretend they have been screwed over when it's clear they brought the situation on themselves.

BTW the OP should check the terms and conditions of their account.

If they did they will probably find that the bank is entitled to remove the credit without informing them plus do things like move money between other accounts they have with them to stop them being in debt.

Consumerist

olly300 wrote: »

. . . you would realise that jonesMUFCforever doesn't like banks neither does he like people who pretend they have been screwed over when it's clear they brought the situation on themselves.

I regret that the latest comment by jonesMUFCforever doesn't really support your observation, in my view.

For reasons I have explained earlier, it is easily possible, when online banking, to be unaware that a credit has been applied twice but it would seem that this possibility has been dismissed out of hand. It would also seem, from the latest post, that complaining is not an acceptable option in any circumstances.

That said, I accept that not everybody reads their Terms & Conditions in full. Except for the kitchen-sink lawyers on this site, they are complex and are often split over a number of separate documents so that some individual requirements can be difficult to locate. The banks themselves must accept some responsibilty for that.

If I have misjudged jonesMUFCforever then I would withdraw my remarks but the evidence, I regret to say, is that I have not.

My advice to the OP remains the same: COMPLAIN