Bank took standing order late

PeterDee

Hello, I was hoping that someone in the know could help or advise.

My wife set up a standing order to go from my Lloyds bank account to our bill account for the first of the month. This month it was moved on the 4th, we suspect due to the bank holidays. However the direct debits were took on the 3rd and as such, they, 9 of them have been returned.

This is not the first time this has happened and not only have we defaulted on these payments, we will be charged for this, but also myself or my wife have to spend our time sorting out the resultant mess.

We think, we are pretty certain this is the banks fault, do we have any redress? Can we demand the bank mails the companies that havent been paid, pick up all incurred costs and make a complaint to any form of ombudsman that will be listened to?

I appreciate any advice.

WhiteHorse

Trying will certainly do no harm. However, as this has now happened several times, surely it would be wise to keep a buffer amount in the bill account?

PeterDee

I appreciate what you are saying but we arent in a position to have a buffer to cover the bills.

dzug1

But it isn't the bank's fault. The money for those DDs on the 3rd has to be in the account on the previous working day - in this case 30 December. The standing order was too late even before it got off the ground.

It's worth appealing to the bank - but you are in no position to 'demand' anything.

PeterDee

the 1st would normally be ok, but it seems to me that they used the bank holiday not to move our money but used it to allow payment from our account. If you see what I mean?

dreamypuma

The bank can't win can they?

1st and 2nd of January were Bank Holidays. The first working day was 3rd. If the bank had taken the money early, I'm sure there would be other threads complaining that they sent the other accounts ovedrawn.

As suggested on an earlier post t he OP needs to plan their finances accordingly by having a buffer. As this may not be a affordable, maybe the OP should look at an agreed interest free over draft facility as a safety net.

PeterDee

Thanks for the advice. Nothing more to add.

dreamypuma

PeterDee wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Nothing more to add.

4th or 3rd it was already late. You could once again ignore the problem or take on board the advise provided and arrange a interest free or agreed overdraft. If your Bank can't help with an over draft facilities then shop around elsewhere.

PeterDee

I said thank you? I dont want to go into any more detail about my financial situation on a public forum. Our best option is to do the standing order manually on the day I get paid. Thats the best option. I appreciate your time, I am not ignoring the problem.

noh

Or move the DDs, if possible, to a week later. Alternatively pay some of the DDs from the same account as your income is paid into.
I never have liked the idea of a seperate bills account, if finances are run so close to the edge, costly mistakes such as this are inevitable.

CLAPTON

noh wrote: »

Or move the DDs, if possible, to a week later. Alternatively pay some of the DDs from the same account as your income is paid into.
I never have liked the idea of a seperate bills account, if finances are run so close to the edge, costly mistakes such as this are inevitable.

always seems odd to me that so many people set up all their DDs for the first on the month rather than say 5th or so. (assuming salary goes in the last day of the previous month)

anything atall goes wrong with the salary input or some-one takes a DD early or bank holidays etc then the system all falls down