Nat West Blunder

pepsifurball

My partner has just taken out a credit card with Nat West and gave them details of his Sainsbury credit card so they could do a balance transfer.He has now discovered that Nat West made a mistake with the credit card account number by one digit, and have balance transferred the wrong account !!So he still has an outstanding balance with Sainsbury Credit card and also with Nat West. Nat West have admitted that it was their mistake but have informed him that it may take up to 8 weeks to recover the money and pay off the correct account. In the meantime he has been told to pay the minimum payment on BOTH the credit cards !! He has tried to argue against this but has been told by both credit card companies that if he doesn't pay, he will incur charges.How can this be right? His credit card balance has just doubled overnight !Any advice please ?

Dylanwing

Further proof of the staggering incompetence of the Banks and complete indifference towards customers. A good question to ask Nat West is whether they have sent the money to a live Sainsburys account, if not, it should be in a suspense acount and should take days to recover, not 8 weeks. If it has hit a live account, as it was Nat Wests error they should re-send the money from a suspense account, and when the money is returned by Sainsburys, put the suspense acount back to zero. Their whole story smacks of BS, and I would be inclined to demand to speak to a Manager, and ask really awkward questions, such as why it takes 8 weeks. If you get nowhere, you could phone the Ombudsman and see what their take on this would be.
There have been a number of threads recently about Bank errors, and by a third party putting pressure on the Bank, or having a friend in the Bank willing to actually do something, these matters can be resolved incredibly quickly.

Good luck, and don't let them off the hook. If phoning gets you nowhere, write a 'Final Complaint' as per complaints procedure.

Lizzy

Well nothing is a surprise anymore is it . I can understand that Sainsbury's will want the min payment but surly not Nat West :eek: . I feel another call to Nat West is due. You should not have to pay them anything until this is sorted. You have not had ANY of the money. You may even be able to cancel the deal (but if its a good one don't do anything you might regret). You are the one losing out because I am sure that you have moved to a lower rate so you are paying more interest to Sainsbury's than you should.

I know I've not been much use, but I really feel for you.

Alfie_E

Dylanwing wrote: »

If you get nowhere, you could phone the Ombudsman and see what their take on this would be.

Their take will be that the Financial Ombudsman Service will not look at a complaint until eight weeks have passed since you made the complaint to the bank or the bank has given their final answer on the matter. Now, isn’t that convenient.

Once NatWest have got it all sorted, there’s nothing to stop you asking for compensation. If paying the extra money to NatWest has caused you to lose out financially, you could work out exactly what it’s cost you and ask for that. If NatWest don’t want to know, you could take the matter of compensation to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Dylanwing

Their take will be that the Financial Ombudsman Service will not look at a complaint until eight weeks have passed since you made the complaint to the bank or the bank has given their final answer on the matter. Now, isn’t that convenient.

I thought that was the case, but then I have read postings on here where people have called the FO, and explained the problem, and by coincidence, it has been sorted quickly by the Bank concerned. Truth is I don't know if they can get involved, but if all else fails, it might be worth trying.

robnye

why are sainsburys asking for a minimum payment if the transferred sum of money hasnt hit the account? or are you using the new sainsburys card?

YorkshireBoy

robnye wrote: »

why are sainsburys asking for a minimum payment if the transferred sum of money hasnt hit the account? or are you using the new sainsburys card?

OP is attempting to transfer the balance from Sainsburys to NatWest.

jonesMUFCforever

There is a very interesting letter in today's financial pages of the Daily Mail.
Someone had transferred from bank a to bank b but had got a digit wrong and the money had gone to somebody else's account.
I gather that the recipient does not want to give the money back and bank b cannot/ will not disclose details of whose account it is because of data protection laws.

The reply and advise was - it was really the fault of the originator and to get the money back they were to employ a solicitor to apply to the court for a notice of disclosure in order to get the name and address of the recipient and then sue them in the small claims court!

I know that this was a bank blunder but this seems to be a common theme and perhaps Martin should start a campaign to get banks working together to resolve problems like this rather than hide under data protection laws.

YorkshireBoy

ejones999 wrote: »

Someone had transferred from bank a to bank b but had got a digit wrong and the money had gone to somebody else's account.

Which is all the more reason (as I think you yourself have posted before) to test the conduit first, wherever possible*, with a £1 transfer. Then use your 'saved' payee details to send the rest when you've verified that the money has arrived.

Doesn't help the OP, but I think it's worth a mention.


* The only exceptions I've found are balance transfers from card to card, where they sometimes have a £100 minimum amount. Still, I'd rather 'lose' £100 than several thousand.

robnye

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

OP is attempting to transfer the balance from Sainsburys to NatWest.

but that doesnt answer why sainsburys are asking for a miniumum payment, unless the OP has used the card for something else.... ie purchase or another transfer

YorkshireBoy

robnye wrote: »

but that doesnt answer why sainsburys are asking for a miniumum payment...

You still haven't got it, have you?

Because NatWest messed up with the card number, Sainsburys couldn't apply the money to the OP's account. Therefore OP still owes money to Sainsburys.

From the OP...

pepsifurball wrote:

He has now discovered that Nat West made a mistake with the credit card account number by one digit, and have balance transferred the wrong account !!So he still has an outstanding balance with Sainsbury Credit card