Cheque returned "Not signed in accordance with mandate".

Ponsienella

Update:

Today somebody telephoned and said they were from "the bank" and asked to speak to my husband. I had to ask the lady what bank she was from as the information wasn't volunteered. She couldn't talk to me as I wasn't the complainant so I gave her my husband's work telephone number.

When she spoke to my husband she admitted the bank was at fault for not having obtained his signature when they transferred information over to a new electronic system.

She said there was nothing they could do about the error now and that they would upload his signature from his cheque to their system so they have his signature for future transactions. She suggested he then write out another cheque....clearly having no comprehension that he has missed the deadline for it going into the ISA account last year.

In addition she said they would offer a gesture to him and asked what my husband wanted. He told her that he didn't want a gesture, that he wants to be compensated so that he is put in the same position as he would have been in had the money gone into the ISA in the last tax year. In addition he wants compensation for taking time off work to travel to and from the bank and for spending 50 minutes in there trying to sort the issue out when it arose.

It struck my husband that in offering a "gesture", they just try to abdicate responsibility and just get away with paying as little as possible.

He has asked her to write to him setting out what their offer of compensation is for his consideration.

Reaper

Since the bank has admitted liability this page may help as it describes what should happen if an ISA is missed and it was the bank's fault:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/isa-allowances.htm

atush

This happened to me once, but with HSBC. And they called me to confirm, as I had never written a cheque that large (50K), plus the signature wasnt exact (as had the acct for decades).

Ponsienella

Reaper wrote: »

Since the bank has admitted liability this page may help as it describes what should happen if an ISA is missed and it was the bank's fault:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/isa-allowances.htm

Thank you so much for that link which is really helpful and self-explanatory. It's something we can use in our negotiations.

Ponsienella

Hi,

A further update:

NatWest have sent my husband a letter and we are very pleased at the terminology used in it. They apologise profusely and properly and take accountability for the error. (They say it is their fault, their level of service is very disappointing to them and they are very sorry for their error, for the distress and inconvenience it has caused us).

They have already deposited £50 into our current account as a gesture for the time it has taken us to sort things out and they have also asked us for Barclay's ISA rate for them to calculate compensation.

So far I am impressed at the way they are dealing with this....although still keeping fingers crossed that the outcome is positive for us.

So often these days companies dish out what I call political apologies (e.g. "I am sorry that you feel that way" ) which makes it sound like your fault for feeling that way and isn't a genuine apology at all. This, however, is actually a genuine apology which makes you feel they really do care.

AnotherJoe

Good, hopefully they will eventually backdate the ISA application and put you in the position you would have been in had they not made this clumsy mistake.

Ponsienella

Finally - problem solved to my satisfaction.

The bank credited us with compensation of just over £686 which we are very happy to accept.

I was about to get in touch with our bank again to see how the complaint was progressing when I received our latest bank statement. Lo and behold, without bothering to inform us (and with no contact since) we found the bank had deposited this money into our account with the narrative 'compensation'.

So thank you to everyone who replied to my questions on this thread and a big thumbs up to NatWest Bank too.

atush

Thanks for letting us know how it all worked out