Barclays complaint

pyrahpyrah

this started last july when i noted a cheque for £8,000 had be written on my business account, so i contacted barclays to inform them i had not issued it, they said i had but i knew i had not.
so i asked for a copy cheque and a copy of the mandate, it turns out that there was a 3rd variant of my signature that was my ex husbands and business partner at the time.
so i contacted the fraud department who said it was not fraud but a mistake by the bank and passed it to the complaints department, i also asked for the other copy cheques where i believed i was out of pocket but they never arrived, i also put a complaint in about my debit card which had been canceled by someone.

earlier this year barclays paid back the £8,000 cheque plus interest because they made a error by putting my business partner on the mandate under my name. but did not reply in relation to my debit card or other cheques, so i went to the ombudsman, barclays have now come back to the ombudsman and now say that they want the £8,000 back as it was paid out in error as the bank were not aware i was in the middle of a divorce, but they were from the very start aware of the situation.
they have no problem that my debit card was canceled by someone, and a million and one reasons not to proceed with the other cheques.

the ombudsman seems a little confused with it all and happy with barclays response and he seems to not understand the information i have sent him which clearly shows barclays at fault, people who i have discussed this with think barclays are fobbing me off.

am i at fault here, am i missing something,
can anyone help with my situation? .

meer53

Your post is very confusing.

How many signatories were on your account ?
What do you mean by "3rd variant" of your signature ?
Did your ex/business partner write the cheque ?
Do you have proof Barclays were aware of your divorce ?
How long ago did the FOS respond to you ?
Did you make a separate complaint about the debit card issue ?

Too much missing info to give any constructive advice really.

PrinceYumil

I think the ombudsman is the last port of call and it does sound to be a complicated case. I know there are some things that come under "civil disputes" that the banks won't get involved in and if you were going through a divorce at the time that may be what they are saying to the ombudsman.

If your ex-husband is the one who has taken the funds then this may be something more suited to civil courts (ordinary cause in Scotland) and I would definitely ask the ombudsman this too.

Was your husband named on the business account when the third signature variant was added that gave him authority to write cheques and how long had passed between him being removed from the account before he wrote he 8k cheque?

Sorry I'm not a bit more help, I have worked in banks but never the business section so the info here is purely from the personal standpoint and my experience of people looking to raise fraud when it was someone they knew who took the money.

bengal-stripe

pyrahpyrah wrote: »

the ombudsman seems a little confused with it all.....and he seems to not understand the information i have sent him...

Well, the ombudsman is not alone!

pmduk

Why not make a list of each stage that has happened, highlight whose fault you consider it to be?

Alas, both Bank's complaints Depts and the FOS are staffed by humans who sadly, make mistakes.

Goldiegirl

Also, please could you clarify '3rd variant of your signature'

Does this mean that this '3rd variant' is the actual signature of either your ex husband or business partner? (Or is the ex husband and business partner the same person?)

Or do you mean they've signed the mandate in your name, pretending to be you?

Plus, who are the authorised signatories on the account on the date the cheque was drawn?

Who actually signed the cheque in question?

Was it signed in accordance with the mandate that was valid on the day that the cheque was signed. By this I mean you thought that your'd removed someone as a valid signatory, but the cheque was actually written out BEFORE that signatory was removed

I must admit I'm quite confused by your original post, so this is why I'm asking all these questions, to get to the bottom of the issue, with dates and details of signatories

pyrahpyrah

My ex husband and business partner are the same person.

He wrote the cheque, payable to himself.

On the mandate there was of course my signature, then a variant of my signature which was a little different from the first, then a 3rd variant which is a variant of my ex husbands normal signature.

It is not clear who were signatories on the account, barclays have not been helpful in any way at any time in coming forward with requested info or paperwork or copy cheques.

The fos came back to me on friday last week.

Proof that barclays knew all along that i was in a long divorce battle, not really as barclays would not allow contact by letter or email only over the phone, all i have as proof is that my business manager knew and i have this on a email, and he was in contact from the start, with myself the fraud department and complaints department.

As for the debit card complaint, all the complaints went in at once.

Hope this helps,
thank you for your response .

SuperHan

So your husband signed a cheque for a business account where he was a business partner? That seems legitimate.

I would assume that you were both signatories to the account (did you set the account up that way? Never mind what Barclays are saying, did he ever sign other cheques before the divorce? Did you inform the bank that he was no longer a business partner/signatory prior to the date of the cheque?).

This does seem quite confusing, and I'm still not sure exactly what happened or what your complaint is. The money has been refunded with interest, so it appears to be resolved to me.