Possible bank error, but tried to tell them

any_help_please

Hi all,

I've just completed a current account switch from Barclays to HSBC, but unbeknownst to me, I was in my overdraft on the day of the switch by around £500.

A couple of weeks later, I was called by Barclays who told me this was the case, and asked to set up monthly payments to get them their money back. I agreed and all was well.

Last week, I received a credit to my new account for the exact amount of the overdraft left with Barclays and I assumed something was amiss, so I gave them a call, not wanting to be chased twice for it.

Barclays seemed convinced that this was a mistake from HSBC and said if I paid them that money it would fulfil my obligation to them and everything would be OK. I double/treble checked this was the case, and they said it was.

I then received a phone call again from Barclays today saying my balance was still outstanding. I once again explained the situation and the guy on the phone said that he can see the payment is pending, so will make sure I don't get called again and the account will be closed.


If Barclays wait a few months and then come chasing me again, as HSBC are saying they have no idea where the payment came from (and they say it certainly wasn't them), where do I stand with telling Barclays that I tried to do my due diligence and explain the situation, but they have confirmed that the money didn't come from them?

I hope this all makes sense and doesn't sound too much like rambling.

As the name suggests, any help please?

eskbanker

It doesn't make sense to me I'm afraid - when you say "I received a credit to my new account for the exact amount of the overdraft left with Barclays", are you saying that someone unknown has paid in an amount to your HSBC account that corresponds to a debt you owe to Barclays? Even if you then pay that amount to Barclays, if you don't know where it's come from then how can you claim it as yours?

However, to answer your main question, as I understand it, if it's a mistake then trying to sort it out wouldn't remove your responsibility to pay it back to someone when all becomes clearer.

any_help_please

Sorry for not making myself clearer.

Essentially, yes, a payment for the exact amount to the penny of the overdraft hit my account, I thought it was some confusion from either Barclays or HSBC, so I called them both, explained the situation and both said the other must have sent it.

I repeatedly asked for this to be clarified by the phone operators on both sides.

I then paid Barclays the money and they said it would close the outstanding overdraft.

My worry is I've simply paid Barclays money back they mistakenly paid me, and NOT the additional money owed for the overdraft, even though they categorically said numerous times this isn't the case.

Would they still have grounds to come after me?

eskbanker

The way I look at it is you've ended up with more money than you started with, so there has obviously been a mistake somewhere and somebody else is down on the deal. The fact that you've tried to find out who is a responsible reaction but I don't believe it gives you any sort of immunity if/when the mistake is identified and someone asks for the money back so yes, I believe they would have grounds to seek to retrieve the money they'd mistakenly paid you.

StuC75

The fact that the new account appears to have an erroneous credit doesn't lessen your liability to repay the old account to the tune of the overdraft in place there.. Especially when different banks are involved.

So in short I would keep the credit in that account until such I time it is requested back, and repay the overdraft as per what you had agreed...

zerog

Well if you have already paid the overdraft off with the mysterious money - then I would try to save up an amount equal to that as soon as I could, so that you can repay it to Barclays again when they find out

Archi_Bald

jimmyy_2006 wrote: »

Banks are always quick to chase you when you owe them money but never the other way around

The OP does owe the bank money. The bank are not chasing the OP for it.

polarization

From the OP, my understanding is Barclays transferred £500 more to the HSBC account, i.e. Barclays is -£500 amd HSBC is +£500. (Please correct me if I am wrong)

If I were you, I will contact HSBC to understand why this happens and see if what they can do as the OD in Barclays may incur charges before you understand what's happening and clear the OD. The bank should deal with the switch and make sure that everything is alright.

joncombe

Did you switch using the switching service? I believe there is a gurantee that payments made to your old account will be automatically transferred to your new account for 12 months (I think it's 12 months anyway). Could it be that when you're overdraft payments were made to Barclays this system kicked in and transferred them to your new HSBC account?

any_help_please

joncombe wrote: »

Did you switch using the switching service? I believe there is a gurantee that payments made to your old account will be automatically transferred to your new account for 12 months (I think it's 12 months anyway). Could it be that when you're overdraft payments were made to Barclays this system kicked in and transferred them to your new HSBC account?

It was for the switching service, yes.

But I hadn't made any payments towards the overdraft at this point.

I called Barclays and specifically told them I thought this was a problem with Barclays internally trying to clear my overdraft and it sending the money to my HSBC account, and they specifically told me this was not the case and not a single penny had been transferred by Barclays in any way.

After having this conversation three times with them, I took the step of using this money to repay the Barclays overdraft back to them and they have now said this should close the account satisfactorily.

polarization wrote: »

From the OP, my understanding is Barclays transferred £500 more to the HSBC account, i.e. Barclays is -£500 amd HSBC is +£500. (Please correct me if I am wrong)

If I were you, I will contact HSBC to understand why this happens and see if what they can do as the OD in Barclays may incur charges before you understand what's happening and clear the OD. The bank should deal with the switch and make sure that everything is alright.

Yes, I think you're pretty much thinking along the same lines as I was.

Barclays was -£500.
HSBC was at £0

HSBC was all of a sudden at +£500 after this payment went in.

Barclays say my account there was STILL -£500 after the mystery payment so it couldn't have come from them.

I paid Barclays with this £500, so now HSBC and Barclays are both £0 and Barclays have said they would send a letter confirming.

Both Barclays and HSBC say the money didn't come from them and both are happy with the balance of my accounts.

You see my confusion with this mystery money? Both banks categorically deny it came from them, even after my trying to tell both of them I think they made a mistake.

Broadwood

Reading this thread has reminded me of a similar event which happened to us a couple of years ago while moving savings via our current account from one building society to another in order to obtain better interest rates.

Basically we moved it in batches over several days and for reasons unknown each batch was credited twice to the current account and then the second credit of each was debited again except for one batch. We were honest and raised the problem via phone with both the bank and the building society concerned. Neither wanted to know or admit a problem. Eventually we went in to our local bank branch with all the printouts of the transactions concerned. The bank stated that it was definitely the building society at fault. Two further phone calls were then made to the building society as they have no branches anywhere near us. They were adamant that there was no problem their end and it must be the bank.

Now about three years later we are still better off by the amount of the double-credited batch.

So basically provided you have acted reasonably and made every effort to tell your bank or banks of the descrepancy then all you can do is invest it and then see if they come after it if and when an audit uncovers the mistake.