Which Bank is most secure?

KittyKate

I'm really disgusted at Barclays. My dad had some fraudulent transactions on his acct and because he lives in a small village and it was a Saturday, could not reach anyone to speak to (other than to cancel his card). I live in Leeds so I popped to my city centre branch and explained that I'm Mr Smith's daughter, this is his full name and address, I understand they cant go through his account with me but can they please listen to me and call him on the number on his account to discuss the fraud.

Well, he took nothing other than my name, and sat and called the fraud dept right in front of me, loudly telling them my dads name, address, sort code, account number, even balance! I was mortified. Sure I would never use that information to steal but it proves anyone can wander into the bank and get enough info to take the lot!

Sorry for posting in DFW but I think everyon has sage advice on bank accounts here, the good the bad and the ugly. I have noticed a steep drop in Barclays security on my own account (I hadn't noticed I had brought the wrong paying in book to my branch when my card was being delievered and they let me take out £50 no questions asked!).

I really want to start saving a bit here and there and want my money to be safe. Any reccomendations (or horror stories?!)

oscar52

Think thats bad??!! About two years ago, I had money goin gout of mu account by cheque - £50, £35, £20 - went into branch complained, and they got copies of the cheques .... were my cheques, out of my book, signed by my MUM - she had inadvertantly picked the wrong book up (banked with barclays at the time) But they were all cashed. Not sure if they still have the same policy now, but then they didnt even bother to check the signature if it was UNDER £1500 value - didnt try it at time, but made me think should I try signing Mickey Mouse?

AndyR_3

oscar52 wrote:

Think thats bad??!! About two years ago, I had money goin gout of mu account by cheque - £50, £35, £20 - went into branch complained, and they got copies of the cheques .... were my cheques, out of my book, signed by my MUM - she had inadvertantly picked the wrong book up (banked with barclays at the time) But they were all cashed. Not sure if they still have the same policy now, but then they didnt even bother to check the signature if it was UNDER £1500 value - didnt try it at time, but made me think should I try signing Mickey Mouse?

To be fair to Barclays, the same would apply to any bank. It's cheaper for them to pay up for fraud of small amounts than to check the signature on every single cheque. It's common practice just to pay small cheques.

sonee2405

i think the worst is lloyds tsb. My dad had a normal current account with a £500 overdraft limit and a few dd set up.while he was on holiday someone got hold of his card which must have got lost here in england but he wasnt aware so it wasnt reported then-anyway the account is now overdrawn somehow by £72000 because fraudualant cheques were paid in and then debit card purchases made before the cheques had cleared.I reported these strange transactions to the bank as soon as i noticed dads statements and pointed out that dad was away and i was sure his card was stolen or lost- LLoyds tsb decided to try and reposess the house whilst dad was away because they were worried about how he would pay them the £72000(his mortgage was with them 2.It was a terrible time and dad had to get the first flight back to sort the mess out.It happened in feb 2004 and our soliciter is still dealing with it-meanwhile lloyds tsb are still adding charge after charge to the account and my poor dad has a ruined credit history until it is sorted.The soliciter gets no response whatsoever from lloyds all we get is the odd letter informing us that he is overdrawn-how can an account with a £500 limit get overdrawn by £72000 and the bank doesnt notice-strange

oscar52

AndyR wrote:

To be fair to Barclays, the same would apply to any bank. It's cheaper for them to pay up for fraud of small amounts than to check the signature on every single cheque. It's common practice just to pay small cheques.

Thats fine Andy - so if I fake a cheque for £1600 its detected , but if i fake 4 for £400 each then it isnt?

AndyR_3

oscar52 wrote:

Thats fine Andy - so if I fake a cheque for £1600 its detected , but if i fake 4 for £400 each then it isnt?

I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it's how the system works. But I think, to be honest it's reasonable - most fraudulant cheques are for larger amounts and in any case, this type of fraud doesn't cost the banks much compared to card fraud and other types of fraud.

I_was_a_fool

I used to work in a bank, in the current accounts section & we checked the signature on every cheque before it was posted to the account.

It was a small branch however & this was 20 years ago. In those days each bank looked after their customers from start to finish & got to know them (if not personally, we knew their pattern of banking). We could spot any irregular behaviour on an account very quickly.

Centralisation and high volumes make this pretty impossible these days.