Compensation due to Bank Error?

charliep93

Hey,

Couldn't find an appropriate place to post this, so thought this was best suited.

Here are the details of the error, I had an ISA account with barclays which had £2,300 in. On Saturday (6/04/13) I withdrew £1,800 to pay off the finance of a car. This car happens to be in the garage due to an accident that occurred in late February.

The accident was unfortunately my fault, so their is an excess of £550 to pay to the garage for them to release my car. I went in to barclays on Thursday to empty the ISA of the remaining £500.

But, when I tried to do this, I was told that ISA was already empty. I asked for a statement, which i got very quickly.

This ISA has not been used since I opened it a year ago yet on the statement there a 3 transactions. 2 of which have failed, and one of which was successful.

The first 2 were in February 13' 1 of £813 coming out and another of £810 coming out, both via 'ISA CHEQUE'. Both of these transactions failed though.

Then early march another transaction of £530.55, again via ISA cheque was taken from my account, and was never replaced.

I brought this up with barclays and they told me it was a processing error etc I would get the money back within 5-10 days.

So I have not been able to pick my car as I don't just have £500 laying around, nor do I posses credit cards. I have been having to get taxis everywhere this week, and live a £17 taxi ride from the main town here.

Can I claim anything off of barclays? If so what?

Thanks

magpiecottage

In theory yes you can.

Keep the receipts and send copies to Barclays with a complaint that you have incurred the costs unavoidably as a result of their error.

However, you should use more conventional public transport (bus etc.) if available.

charliep93

magpiecottage wrote: »

In theory yes you can.

Keep the receipts and send copies to Barclays with a complaint that you have incurred the costs unavoidably as a result of their error.

However, you should use more conventional public transport (bus etc.) if available.

I live in the countryside, there aren't any buses here.

If a bank can charge me for not having money in an account i.e going overdrawn, am I right in thinking I can charge them.

If this was a simple one off human error I wouldn't be so persistent, but they fact they have tried to take over £2,100 over a period of 3 occasions in 2 months is not a 'processing error'. I need that money asap!

magpiecottage

I would ring the bank on Monday - explain the position and tell them that you are making a complaint that you have been forced to spend this money on taxis.

If they say you must put it in writing, remind them that the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority say a complaint can be oral, that their eight weeks to resolve it starts now and that in the meantime, whilst you won't spend money unnecessarily, the longer it takes to get your money to you the more you will be claiming from them.

Then follow it up with a letter saying "I refer to my telephone call on 15 April 2013, when I spoke to ....".

Get proof of posting (free from the Post Office) - no need for recorded delivery.

Wywth

charliep93 wrote: »

Hey,

Couldn't find an appropriate place to post this, so thought this was best suited.

Here are the details of the error, I had an ISA account with barclays which had £2,300 in. On Saturday (6/04/13) I withdrew £1,800 to pay off the finance of a car. This car happens to be in the garage due to an accident that occurred in late February.

The accident was unfortunately my fault, so their is an excess of £550 to pay to the garage for them to release my car. I went in to barclays on Thursday to empty the ISA of the remaining £500.

But, when I tried to do this, I was told that ISA was already empty. I asked for a statement, which i got very quickly.

This ISA has not been used since I opened it a year ago yet on the statement there a 3 transactions. 2 of which have failed, and one of which was successful.

The first 2 were in February 13' 1 of £813 coming out and another of £810 coming out, both via 'ISA CHEQUE'. Both of these transactions failed though.

Then early march another transaction of £530.55, again via ISA cheque was taken from my account, and was never replaced.

I brought this up with barclays and they told me it was a processing error etc I would get the money back within 5-10 days.

So I have not been able to pick my car as I don't just have £500 laying around, nor do I posses credit cards. I have been having to get taxis everywhere this week, and live a £17 taxi ride from the main town here.

Can I claim anything off of barclays? If so what?

Thanks

In any claim for compensation, you are expected to mitigate any losses, so taking cheaper forms of transport if available (e.g. a bus) is certainly good advise.

What I suggest you also do is call Barclays and speak to them about the situation immediately, and explain the reason you need the £500 immediately and the consequences of you not having access to it.
The bank may offer you a £500 overdraft which sounds cheaper than £17 taxis you appear to be frequently taking. In fact, in the circumstances, I don't think it would be amiss for you to request a £500 interest free loan from them for 5-10 days