Cheque 'lost in clearing'

Norbert_Colon

Recently I paid a cheque for £500 into my account. When it didn't clear I contacted the bank who told me that it had been lost in clearing.

They said I had to get the person who wrote the cheque to issue another. That person refuses to do so unless I reimburse them for the cost of stopping the first cheque (£10).

It seems reasonable to me that my bank should in turn reimburse me that £10, since it was their mistake that led to this situation in the first place. Guess what, they refuse to do so.

Anyone here agree with them? or me? What action would you take?

grumbler

I agree with you.
If they refuse to reimburse £10, write to their complaints department and ask extra £10 for your wasted time. I am 95% sure they will refund you with at least £10 ...

Wirenth

ts_aly2000 wrote:

How was the cheque written? Was it for example; "Norbert Colon - Barclays 12345678"

The banks have recently changed their procedures for handling cheques such that if it wasn't written as above, then your bank shouldn't even have accepted it.

All of the banks have been sending out these flyers lately describing the new procedures.

So yes, I'm on your side. The bank lost it. If I can manage not to lose cheques, then how on earth can a licenced bank do it??

Has anyone had these flyers? I have accounts with IF, Nationwide and A&L and haven't received any...

grumbler

ts_aly2000 wrote:

How was the cheque written? Was it for example; "Norbert Colon - Barclays 12345678"

The banks have recently changed their procedures for handling cheques such that if it wasn't written as above, then your bank shouldn't even have accepted it.

I think this is some misunderstanding. A person writing a cheque cannot know recipient's account number. The recipient can deposit it to different banks.
The recent announcement from Nationwide was this one: Writing cheques to Nationwide :

When making cheques payable to a bank, building society or credit card you should include the name of the person(s) into whose account the money is being paid.

johnmoney05

Complain! Complain and Complain!!!

They didn't even tell you what was happening untill you called them.
Just ask them if you issued a cheque, and afterwards you wanted to stop the cheque, would they charge you?!

Well, if all banks lost cheque...they will make a good money.

regularsaver1

The payees bank should not charge them £10 as trhe cheque is lost

I know that you also can not pay a cheque to just Halifax Plc now

it would have to be Halifax Plc 12345678 (acc num or roll number)

or a persons name

virgin_moneysaver

AFAIK if a cheque is lost/stolen the banks will place a stop free of charge - the fee is only payable if you place a stop on a cheque because you're in dispute with the payee & don't want the money being paid to them - I'd check with the drawer to see if they realise that they won't get charged for stopping a lost cheque

Bossyboots

regularsaver1 wrote:

The payees bank should not charge them £10 as trhe cheque is lost

I know that you also can not pay a cheque to just Halifax Plc now

it would have to be Halifax Plc 12345678 (acc num or roll number)

or a persons name

My OH's bank tried to charge him £7 to stop a cheque that the recipient said they had not received last year. They told him that because people keep stopping cheques then they are going to charge for them all. They did waive the fee in the end as he has never stopped a cheque before.

I do know however that Lloyds do not charge our business account for lost cheques.

Putting a name or roll number on cheques is for when you are actually paying them to the bank for crediting to your account for crediting to a mortgage or loan account for example. This system was around a long time ago for making credit card payments over the counter as (according to one cashier) they couldn't guarantee to credit it to the right account otherwise, even though the account destination was written on the bank!

regularsaver1

I understand that Bossyboots - but it was said that too many people are giving cheques to family with just Halifax on it rather than the relatives name on it

and when paying a credit card it just had Halifax and not the account number

its not about paying it to the right account, its more if the cheque was lost in the street anyone could pay it in if it just said Halifax

Norbert_Colon

Thanks all - does seem that the issuer could have stopped the cheque as 'lost' without having to pay. But I did some polite but forceful complaining yesterday and the missing amount has magically appeared in my account this morning. Hurray!