Online bank transfer money not received by my bank

ohwhattodo

I did an online transfer from my Barclays account to Intelligent Finance a month ago and the money has not arrived in my account. I had never transferred funds from Barclays to Intelligent Finance before and when setting up the payment details I searched for Intelligent Finance and only one option came back to select Intelligent Finance Visa Card which I did and strangely I was then asked to enter may card number and the amount I wanted to transfer. I found it strange that it hadn't asked for a sort code and account number but as I had input my 16 digit debit card number thought it would be OK. I have been getting pushed backwards and forwards now for the last month by the 2 banks. Barclays finally did a BACs report which indicates that the money has been sent to Bank of Scotland, what they have to do with Intelligent Finance I am not sure but I have now been told by Barclays that they have written to Bank of Scotland and if I don't hear from them in the next 2 weeks to take it up with Intelligent Finance or seek legal advice. I believe I have acted in good faith by selecting Intelligent Finance Visa Card from Barclays site however they are telling me that it is Intelligent Finances responsibility to ensure their bank details are correct. If my money is not returned is there any merit in getting the financial ombudsman involved as no-one seems to want to take ownership and I am not prepared to lose the money and who do you think is responsible?

MoneySavingUser

You likely selected the option to pay an 'Intelligent Finance Visa Card' bill rather than do a transfer to one of their accounts

Intelligent Finance is part of Halifax Bank Of Scotland (which in turn is part of Lloyds Banking group)

So technically your money should be in an 'Intelligent Finance Visa Card' funds receiving account - as it can't have been allocated to an account

How have you been contacting them? Have you made a formal complaint?

ChristinaWilson

I think you may have accidently hit the option to pay a Visa Card vill rather than to do a transfer. I would file a formal complaint with them if this issue is not resolved soon.

opinions4u

ohwhattodo wrote: »

I did an online transfer from my Barclays account to Intelligent Finance a month ago and the money has not arrived in my account. I had never transferred funds from Barclays to Intelligent Finance before and when setting up the payment details I searched for Intelligent Finance and only one option came back to select Intelligent Finance Visa Card which I did and strangely I was then asked to enter may card number and the amount I wanted to transfer. I found it strange that it hadn't asked for a sort code and account number but as I had input my 16 digit debit card number thought it would be OK.

With the greatest respect, what on earth were you thinking? It was clearly a strange situation and you should have clarified things by talking to somebody!

I have been getting pushed backwards and forwards now for the last month by the 2 banks. Barclays finally did a BACs report which indicates that the money has been sent to Bank of Scotland, what they have to do with Intelligent Finance I am not sure

Take a look on the IF website. At the bottom it says "Intelligent Finance is a division of Bank of Scotland plc".

but I have now been told by Barclays that they have written to Bank of Scotland and if I don't hear from them in the next 2 weeks to take it up with Intelligent Finance or seek legal advice.

Don't let anybody fob you off like that. And don't take legal advice. Support on here will be a lot cheaper!

I believe I have acted in good faith by selecting Intelligent Finance Visa Card from Barclays site however they are telling me that it is Intelligent Finances responsibility to ensure their bank details are correct.

I think you were pretty foolish to be honest. But it's your responsibility to tell Barclays the correct details. If, however, something has gone wrong you have a right to expect both Barclays and IF to resolve it.

If my money is not returned is there any merit in getting the financial ombudsman involved as no-one seems to want to take ownership and I am not prepared to lose the money and who do you think is responsible?

You need to register a formal complaint with both organisations. I'd suggest that you do this in writing to the addresses on their web sites (Intelligent Finance, Customer Relations, PO Box 17316, Edinburgh, EH12 1AY; Customer Relations, Barclays Bank PLC, 1 Churchill Place, FREEPOST, RTLA-CSUE-TCHC, London, E14 5HP).

State:

- what has happened.

- when you first raised your concerns with them.

- what you would like them to do about it.

- an amount of compensation that you feel would be appropriate from each of them

- that you have sent a similar letter to both companies

Stick to the facts. Keep the sentences relatively short and to the point. Don't make emotional or cynical comments. Send the letters by recorded delivery. Keep copies of everything.

If you prefer, you can do the above over the phone. While snail mail is slower, I prefer it for this sort of situation.

Once 8 weeks has passed from the dates highlighted in bold above, then you can choose to involve the Ombudsman. I think you will find that the funds have been found and returned well before that moment though.

ohwhattodo

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I could kick myself I did think it was strange when it didn't ask for an account number and sort code but thought as it was a visa debit card it would be OK. Incidentally since then I have been ringing Intelligent Finance and doing transfers from my Barclays account over the phone using my card number, much better an goes through immediately. Following the incident I did contact Intelligent Finance and Barclays and asked them if it could be possible that the Intelligent Finance Visa Card option went to the credit card side of Intelligent Finance however was fobbed off. I am waiting for the copy of the letter that Barclays sent to the Beneficiary Bank and will be writing to them as well. I have a formal complaint registered with Barclays however they have now indicated that if I don't hear from them by the 11/6 that I need to contact Intelligent Finance and possibly seek legal advice but don't think that will be necessary as am getting good advice on this forum, thanks everyone. I now intend to send a further formal letter to both Intelligent Finance and Barclays Bank as per Opinions4u suggestion as I'm not prepared to sit back and wait until the 11/6. I did speak to Intelligent Finance this morning and was told that they couldn't do anything about it and couldn't make contact with the Bank of Scotland and have no access to see if the funds are sitting in the account number quoted on the BACs report with them and that it was Barclays responsibility to do this. It seems strange if this has gone to the credit card side of Intelligent Finance that on the Barclays Bank online system you can't transfer funds to Intelligent Finance current accounts.

pmduk

This money will be sitting in a suspense account at Bank of Scotland/Intelligent Finance waiting for someone to claim it. Have you asked Intelligent Finance? I tried using the bank's list of company's in order to create a bill payment mandate once. Fortunately I double checked the details in time as they were totally incorrect. Having experienced that I now always create them from scratch by inputting the sort code and account numbers for myself.

jambosans

ohwhattodo wrote: »

It seems strange if this has gone to the credit card side of Intelligent Finance that on the Barclays Bank online system you can't transfer funds to Intelligent Finance current accounts.

Oh dear. Someone with a Barclays account will clarify, but it seems fairly obvious you've selected "Pay a bill/ someone for the first time", and rather than enter your Intelligent Finance details, you've selected from Barclays bill payment details the Intelligent Finance Visa credit card. Perhaps I'm wrong, but there's no doubt in my mind this is abundantly clear throughout the whole process. I can (barely) understand the confusion, but the lack of account details being requested should have rang some alarm bells.

I agree with pmduk, the money will be sitting in a holding/ suspense account at Intelligent Finance. I would contact IF's credit card department (0845 600 6081) and explain the situation, they (or the department that deals with the holding account) should be able to return the payment to Barclays. They may not act on the request of a 3rd party, so your two letters of complaint may be required. In a situation such as this, Barclays should follow a "bill payment in error" process, contacting IF, explaining the situation and having the funds returned. IF have very little to refuse, as the PAN number supplied in the reference will not be a valid credit card number, therefore they should return the funds to the sending account once you get in contact.

BritRael

Whenever I set up a new 'payment' to transfer money between accounts (to myself or my missus for example) I always do a 'test' first by setting up a payment of 1p. When this has gone through safely I make the full payment.

Toe-Jam

BritRael wrote: »

Whenever I set up a new 'payment' to transfer money between accounts (to myself or my missus for example) I always do a 'test' first by setting up a payment of 1p. When this has gone through safely I make the full payment.

Some people were born savvy, others have to work hard at it....very hard in this case.:T

MoneySavingUser

I had been sending a £1 test but I think I'll reduce it now!

BritRael

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

I had been sending a £1 test but I think I'll reduce it now!

lol - I did that the first time!

I then thought..."hmmm...I wonder if it'll accept a few leading zero's?" Tried a payment of 0.01 and hey presto!