HSBC cheque refused due to signature

apophthegma

regularsaver1 wrote: »

I've never heard of what you mention by signing the back of the cheque to clear quicker though???

I'd never heard of this either. My solicitor advised me to do it, supposedly to help with signature validation.

In the end, I managed to find a branch that was still open at 5 PM and made the CHAPS transfer. It cost me £20 and the branch manager refused to waive the fee, even after I explained the situation to him. I never got an explanation of why they ignored the note on my account, especially since they would have to check my account in order to compare the signature and would surely have seen the note.

There was an interesting comment from one of the bank employees: 'Customer service and banking operations are not linked.' I really couldn't agree with her more.

gt94sss2

apophthegma wrote: »

In the end, I managed to find a branch that was still open at 5 PM and made the CHAPS transfer. It cost me £20 and the branch manager refused to waive the fee, even after I explained the situation to him. I never got an explanation of why they ignored the note on my account, especially since they would have to check my account in order to compare the signature and would surely have seen the note.

If you complain to HSBC - you never know they might refund the fee. (just try sending a message to the contact details in 'step 2')

Out of interest, did you try doing the CHAPS payment by telephone? I would have thought that would have been possible..

Regards
Sunil

apophthegma

gt94sss2 wrote: »

If you complain to HSBC - you never know they might refund the fee. (just try sending a message to the contact details in 'step 2')

Out of interest, did you try doing the CHAPS payment by telephone? I would have thought that would have been possible..

Regards
Sunil

I'll definitely be complaining to the Service Quality Team.

I did try to make the CHAPS payment using Telephone Banking, but they insisted I come into the branch with photo ID.

cherry_snaps

Hi,

I have recived compensation for HSBC mistakes on a few questions, just dont accept there first answer. I Usually complain through thier on line contact us page.

£50 when my visa was rejected over xmas.
£5 time 2 when telephone banking staff was un trainned, and i had to call back

hope this helps

Andy

darich

apophthegma wrote: »

I tried to transfer the funds using BACS, but the amount exceeded the internet banking BACS transfer limit.

Why didn't you make two/three/whatever transfers for smaller amounts totalling the overall amount required by your solicitor??
Wouldn't that have worked?

lesley1960

ejones999 wrote: »

I don't know of any bank that would do a Chaps over the phone.
I presume it is for a fair amount of money so when you go into the branch - take photo id with you as well as your bank card.
I'm told a scam at the moment is Chaps payments with false passports!

Barclays allow me to do up to 5 chaps payments at a time over the phone at any one time ( business account )

jonesMUFCforever

lesley1960 wrote: »

Barclays allow me to do up to 5 chaps payments at a time over the phone at any one time ( business account )

Do you have a code card system to verify your id?
Personally I would never do one over the phone. What if someone mishears a digit or amount?
I know that certain businesses can fax in details using a code card.

[Deleted User]

It wouldnt suprise me if it was just a policy of theres so that they can make more money out of you by CHAPS.

What you need to do is go to one of there big city banks and demand it in cash and now. The cause a scene when they say you need to order it for X days before and shout out "give me back my money" over and over like in mary poppins.

jonesMUFCforever

Yant1 wrote: »

It wouldnt suprise me if it was just a policy of theres so that they can make more money out of you by CHAPS.

What you need to do is go to one of there big city banks and demand it in cash and now. The cause a scene when they say you need to order it for X days before and shout out "give me back my money" over and over like in mary poppins.

Act like that and you will get free transport ................................in the back of a police car!

Dylanwing

Write to them (Harder to fob you off) and demand to know why they did not phone you to verify the cheque. Did they even bither to advise you that the cheque had bounced? If not, I'd also demand to know why not. I would enclose a claim for all of your time and expenses, and pursue it. When writing, ask for a copy of their complaints procedure and follow it through. There is no excuse for such cavalier behaviour.

MarkyMarkD

Banks don't go round phoning people to ask them if they've written a cheque. Cheques are an antiquated method of transferring funds, particularly for large amounts, and they don't have modern processes for dealing with them.

The point that the cheque clearance department and customer services departments are not linked and don't talk to each other is not surprising. Cheque clearance is a specialist, boring job. All people do all day is check signatures on large value cheques to signatures they can see on a computer system.

The fact that you've been successfully writing cheques for years doesn't prove anything - most cheques are not checked because their value is too low for it to be worth doing so.

Most people's signatures do change over the years, quite possibly to the extent that a reasonable person wouldn't consider them a match.

My bank, A&L, will do a BACS transfer for any amount if you authorise it over the phone, or do a CHAPS transfer for any amount if you authorise it over the phone and send a fax (with signature) to confirm.

You should also consider that whilst £20 might seem a lot for a CHAPS payment, you've quite possibly lost far more than this in lost interest by seeking to pay the funds by a slow method.

3 days' interest on £50,000 at 5% = £20.55, for example.