Beware Barclays Cheque Cashing Proceedures

mcmalins

We like a few other families I suspect put our child allowance into a separate account to roll up for holidays etc which had some £750 in it. We use this instant acces savings account as we can only access at the branch using their ATMs or over the counter - making it that bit awkward deliberately to stop us dipping into it willy nilly

We just had a PPI compensation cheque from LLoyds for some £6,000 and banked it in the account.

My wife went to get £50 of funds out of the account using the ATM card which was declined.

Slightly concerned went into the branch - wondering if anything happened to the account and they confirmed the funds in there - cleared funds now some £950 and the uncleared cheque.

Still declined to give her funds - saying the cheque was having additional checks done on it as it was an unusual transaction and therefore we could not access ANY of our funds.

After 40 minutes told they would allow us to access the cleared funds pre cheque and after asking for a complaints form told we access all cleared funds in their about an hour at this point.

After spending over an hour on their complaint telephone line I was told I would have to ring their Fraud team on an 0845 no the next day as they only take calls between 9 and 5. I told them they could call me.

Have been called today and had the banks proceedure explained to me.

TO PROTECT THE BANK - they put a FALSE debt on the account for the cheque until it clears with no chance of the cheque being bounced and funds recalled - some eight days - so our instant savings account with no o/d facility was showing as some £5,000 odd overdrawn and therefore we are unable to withdraw any funds.

We can now go into the branch with the letter from lloyds to prove its source and they will PROBABLY clear it overnight.

At no point has the Wife been asked to prove her identity - no attempt at contact to advise us of any of this has been made by the bank. The first we know is when the wifes ATM transaction is declined and it takes over two hours for some one from the bank to explain the PROCEEDURE in about two minutes.

We have accepted £100 in compensation for annoyance time wasted and distress half of which we will donate to charity.

We are debating whether to close the account.

But please be aware of Barclays proccedure and how to protect themselves they can freeze an account without contacting you

:mad:

Goldiegirl

The cheque you paid in was out of the ordinary for the normal pattern of transactions on the account, so they needed to carry out some additional checks.

It's not just to protect them, its to protect you as well, and indirectly all of us.

If they didn't carry out additional checks where something unusual has been flagged up, the criminals and terrorists would have a field day, laundering money left right and centre.

Don't blame the bank, blame the world we live in today

You've done well out of it as you have been given compensation, which considering they were doing their duty to protect everyone is actually quite generous of them.

Why close your account - you should be reassured that they take the security of your account seriously.

grumbler

Goldiegirl wrote: »

The cheque you paid in was out of the ordinary for the normal pattern of transactions on the account, so they needed to carry out some additional checks.

Fine, go ahead then and carry out the checks for the cheque before crediting it to the account. Why has the entire account be blocked?!

It's not just to protect them, its to protect you as well, and indirectly all of us.

If they didn't carry out additional checks where something unusual has been flagged up, the criminals and terrorists would have a field day, laundering money left right and centre.

Don't blame the bank, blame the world we live in today

You can't be serious.

Goldiegirl

Grumbler, I'm not even going to rise to the bait

pmduk

grumbler, as customers we expect banks to bear the loss of any fraudulent behaviour, so we can hardly expect them not to be careful when protecting themselves.

grumbler

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Grumbler, I'm not even going to rise to the bait

pmduk wrote: »

grumbler, as customers we expect banks to bear the loss of any fraudulent behaviour, so we can hardly expect them not to be careful when protecting themselves.

Both of you failed to explain why the entire account has to be frozen when a questionable cheque has to be investigated.

Buzby

I'm with Grumbler on this - the actions were shoddy and grossly inconvenienced the account holder. We expect cheques to take time in clearing, more so f there is a query - but to take the action they did was lamentable, and should be reported as maladministration.

As they've paid out - I hope the compensation wasn't on a no-fault basis.

Goldiegirl

grumbler wrote: »

Both of you failed to explain why the entire account has to be frozen when a questionable cheque has to be investigated.

I imagine they took the view that a questionable cheque makes the whole account questionable.

mcmalins

We are annoyed and not impressed

I would expect if there is a problem with an account with my money for someone to contact me - no - because per the bank - they were protecting Barclays from risk. ITS OUR ACCOUNT


They put a FALSE debit on the account which created a FALSE overdraft. There is a phrase for that

They froze our account WITHOUT informing us.

And when asked why they did not verify my wifes identity in branch if they are assuming fraud said that because she used her card she therefore had the pin and that proved her identity.

Its simple - cleared funds/uncleared funds you can draw on one but not the other. NOT create a false entry and freeze an account without informing the account holders.

2 and 1/2 hours lost and thank heavens we had not promised those funds to anyone else or needed them urgemtly

mjm3346

mcmalins wrote: »

But please be aware of Barclays proccedure and how to protect themselves they can freeze an account without contacting you

:mad:

The way Barclays work seems a little odd but all banks can freeze an account without contacting you and they do so in order not to alert you until they have to that you are under investigation.

Goldiegirl

So, there's an account where the only credits are child allowance, and you don't dip in to the account willy nilly, so that implies very few withdrawals.

Then, completely out of character, a large £6000 cheque lands in the account, and immediately afterwards there's a willy nilly withdrawal.

The activity on the account is so unusual, they wanted to investigate. If the willy nilly withdrawal hadn't been made, you'd have been none the wiser.

I agree that there was inconvenience and they could have handled it better.

But, you wouldn't have liked it if someone had hijacked your account and were laundering a fraudulent cheque through your account.

So they need to be cautious to protect themselves and you.