Who is responsible for payment?

sw13510

Ok, so my boyfriend and I are with separate banks (him with Clydesdale and myself with BOS). We live together but due to the way his pay works out and the way the due date of the rent falls I pay it in full, and then a week later when he gets paid, he pays me half. We recently set up a standing order from his account to mine for the 7th of the month. We set this up in branch and we specifically told the cashier that the money needed to be in MY account by the 7th, and to set it up whichever way would make that happen.

Anyway, last month, the money went in about 5 days late. On about day 3 we went into the bank to enquire about this - the cashiers were all stumped, said they've never known a payment of that sort to take longer than 2 days. Anyway, I got my money eventually so thought nothing more of it other than it may have just been a glitch.

The problem is, this month the very same thing happened. However, my boyfriend and I were going away for the weekend and were depending on the money. The money was taken from his account at the end of the week so (silly me!) I assumed the money would be in my account. I filled up my car with petrol and lo and behold went overdrawn. I know I should've checked my balance first but I have made many faster payments before and the money normally goes in the same day!

So anyway over the weekend we had to rely on another account to tide us over - an account used solely to pay bills (we had no other option as the money was not in his account nor mine). So when a large bill came out of this account, that went overdrawn too.

My bank is now trying to charge me £50 for going overdrawn and the bill account is being charged £25.

So I called up the Clydesdale call centre and the girl was really snotty, telling me it was a BACS payment which usually takes 5 working days. We didn't set it up as a BACS payment & told the woman at the counter specifically that it needed to be in my account by the 7th.

Sorry for being really longwinded but is there any way I can get Clydesdale to admit responsibility for this and pay the charges?

dunstonh

the cashiers were all stumped, said they've never known a payment of that sort to take longer than 2 days.

Standing order normally gets there on the third working day. Weekends and bank holidays can hold up the payment as they are not working days.

It can also take 2 days to set up a standing order, so the first one may be later than normal.

To have hit the bank account on the 12th, suggests it left the other account on the 8th.

Your boyfriend should check the date of the standing order on his account. That will give the day it is debited (or next working day if that is a weekend/bank holiday)

sw13510

dunstonh wrote: »

Standing order normally gets there on the third working day. Weekends and bank holidays can hold up the payment as they are not working days.

I always assumed it was an instant thing. We normally pay money into the bill account on the last day of the month and the money is always there on the 1st for the TV license coming off.

dunstonh wrote: »

It can also take 2 days to set up a standing order, so the first one may be later than normal.

We also set the payment up well in advance, about 2 weeks before the first payment was due to come off.

dunstonh wrote: »

To have hit the bank account on the 12th, suggests it left the other account on the 8th.

Your boyfriend should check the date of the standing order on his account. That will give the day it is debited (or next working day if that is a weekend/bank holiday)

Shouldn't that mean that it's the bank's fault? We gave them the info: NEEDS to be in my account by the 7th, doesn't that mean that the bank failed to fulfil its duty? Can I fight this with them? I just don't want to be penalised for their muck-up.

dunstonh

I always assumed it was an instant thing. We normally pay money into the bill account on the last day of the month and the money is always there on the 1st for the TV license coming off.

Internal ones (same bank) can be. External ones get their one third working day (unless its Scotland to England or vice versa which can add a further one day - at least it used to. dont know if it still does).

Shouldn't that mean that it's the bank's fault? We gave them the info: NEEDS to be in my account by the 7th, doesn't that mean that the bank failed to fulfil its duty? Can I fight this with them? I just don't want to be penalised for their muck-up.

Yes. If you told them that it had to be there by the 7th of the month every month then the debit date should have been around the 29th of the month to allow for weekends and bank holidays.

Problem is if you complain, do you have any evidence to support your complaint? They may just say they did as they were told.

sw13510

dunstonh wrote: »

Problem is if you complain, do you have any evidence to support your complaint? They may just say they did as they were told.

So it's basically just my word against their's? That doesn't really fill me with much confidence somehow. Well I sent a letter away tothe complaints department at Clydesdale today, here's hoping ...

Thanks for your time