Cheque "lost in clearing" but money debited from account and not credited to mine

SEMuso

Hi there,

A little over two weeks ago I paid in a cheque to my bank. After several days I checked my online statement, which showed my cheque as "lost in clearing".

When I called my bank, I was told that the cheque had simply been lost, and that I would have to get the person paying me to reissue the cheque and that if the first cheque did turn up, it would be automatically cancelled without charge. In good faith, I was given a second cheque which I paid in.

This cheque cleared fine.

But then the person who paid me called to say that both the first and second cheque had now been debited from his account, meaning he had effectively paid me twice.

This would not be an issue, as I could simply refund him, except the money for the first cheque has not been credited to my account!! Only the second cheque. This has been the case for over a week now. Customer services for my bank seem unable to help me find out what happened to the money that was debited, but his bank are saying that the cheque has been paid and should be in my account?

Any ideas on how I can get to the bottom of this mystery? I'm self employed and don't really want money going missing!!

andrew-the-cat

Financial ombudsman service.

rb10

The other person needs to ask their bank to trace the first cheque. That will show where it ended up.

notts_phil

andrew-the-cat wrote: »

Financial ombudsman service.

Incorrect. When giving answers please ensure they are correct.

antrobus

notts_phil wrote: »

Incorrect. When giving answers please ensure they are correct.

From the FOS 'consumer factsheet on ... complaints involving cheques'
- http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/factsheets/cheques.pdf

In disputes over cheques lost in the banking system, we can look into what happened – and decide whether or not the consumer’s bank should be held responsible for the loss

dzug1

antrobus wrote: »

From the FOS 'consumer factsheet on ... complaints involving cheques'
- http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/factsheets/cheques.pdf

In disputes over cheques lost in the banking system, we can look into what happened – and decide whether or not the consumer’s bank should be held responsible for the loss

But not until the bank's own complaints procedure has failed to produce a result. Two weeks is too soon.

SEMuso

Thanks all,

The other person's bank has now agreed to look further into what happened with the cheque at their end. Apparently the first thing they are going to do is get a copy of the cheque to make sure it wasn't tampered with after I paid it in, and then trace it. All a bit of a mystery. The worst thing is that the banks don't seem to have the ability to communicate between themselves over the matter, so we've had to go through a sort of customer service ping pong! With both banks stating that only the other bank can sort it out...

Hopefully it will resolve soon, if not I guess I'll have to look into their complaints procedure.

Mikeyorks

Where your Bank knows a cheque has gone AWOL in clearing - they also know the value and the target Bank / account.

And the correct procedure is to put in a substitute document ..... not ask you for a duplicate. Otherwise the result is what you have seen. As cheques don't normally disappear they just piggy back on another document - then often turn up later in the process.

The reconciliation team at your own Bank should deal with this. Because there will be an outstanding discrepancy between your Bank and the Drawer Bank to the value of the cheque. Odds on your Branch staff don't know they exist however.

pmduk

I think you should make a formal complaint now. It'll concentrate your banks mind in referring this problem to the right people internally who probably have a suspense item without the right account. Should it not be sorted then the clock has started ticking for a referral to the ombudsman. But it's unlikely to come to that.