unpaid cheque -> debit?

bs7

i'd be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction in terms of the relavant banking rules:

- i paid a cheque for (let's say) £10k
- the cheque was deemed to have a "technical irregularity" (a digit was wrongly inputted manually it seems and they've decided to argue that the writing on the cheque for the figure (not words) is ambiguous)
- the funds had not cleared (only 2 business days)
- the bank has debited £10k from my account (this is not the uncleared £10k but a further £10k...e.g. if i had £3k before, i now have credit balance of £3k but £0 available funds)

is this normal?

Thanks in advance




edit:
i've checked the Bank's terms and conditions and they are somewhat vague: "Where a cheque is not met for payment (“bounces”) the amount of it will be debited to your Account". Of course, it doesn't specify whether the 'debit' will be the 'uncleared' funds or a completely separate 'debit' of your cleared funds.

grantd

It is definitely the uncleared amount, they should not take a further £10k from your bank account. Speaking as someone who has worked in a bank for years this is definitely wrong. So if you had £3k in your a/c before the cheque and you haven't got any pending transactions (anything you spend on your credit / debit card take 3 days to show on your internet banking although the fact they have been authorised will reduce your available funds).

My advice is to go into your nearest branch asap and discuss it with somebody in there. Even as bank employees we have to deal with the overseas call centtres and they are a complete waste of time.

If you bank with the 'worlds local bank' let me know and I could potentially help you out.

Thanks,

bs7

thanks for your reply.

i managed to speak to the branch yesterday and they have said that they'll make sure that any "unauthorised" overdraft fees and any interest is waived ... but they were adament that this is normal ... and in the meantime i'm left with no access to the £3k whatsoever. (fortunately, i'm getting the funds meant to be paid by cheque transferred today...although i'm not sure what would happen if i didn't and when i'd have access to the £3k otherwise).

again - thanks


edit - just checked my statement online ... it would seem that overnight things have reversed from what they said and the £3k balance is now available again ... phew. Although i think i'll put in some sort of formal complaint because of their nonsense.

chexum

bs7 wrote: »

edit - just checked my statement online ... it would seem that overnight things have reversed from what they said and the £3k balance is now available again ... phew. Although i think i'll put in some sort of formal complaint because of their nonsense.

Aw, that's ugly - but at least things are on the right track. This is probably yet another example of how the banks reconcile the transactions - they debited the 10k immediately, while the 10k was waiting to be credited (then canceled). After the transactions have been paired when the machines did their nightly chores, you got everything back in order.

If you incurred any overlimit/unpaid/bounce charges/fees, it's certainly something that they need to fix for you.

zppp

chexum wrote: »

Aw, that's ugly - but at least things are on the right track. This is probably yet another example of how the banks reconcile the transactions - they debited the 10k immediately

Agreed. Most bank reconcilliation departments will key the debit before the cheque clears, to prevent the customer drawing against the funds that are being returned.