Bank Mistake

Mrs.W_2

Last month my OH used a cheque from his Lloyds bank business account to pay a plumber who did some work for us.

The cheque was for the sum of £1800.00. Lloyds freely admit there was a keying error, their error - they have image evidence that the cheque was made out for £1800.00 - and they incorrectly paid out £1900.00.

It took us a week to realise they had overpaid, and ask the branch manager to remedy their mistake. The manager said we needed to go through the telephone banking system to remedy their mistake.

OK, we tried. Promises of call backs never happened. We were passed from pillar to post. No one could give the number or name of anyone who could sort out this problem. Many times we were told, "Can't you just ask for the money back from the tradesman?!"

Well, he is not answering his phone to us. Fat chance of chasing him for the money. And we should not have to!

My OH is now so irate, he is about to start legal proceedings, cost be damned. It is the principle that makes him so irate. The bank admits this is a problem they caused, yet they are doing their best to avoid making good on their mistake.

Is there anything anyone can suggest - above telephone calls and writing letters to Lloyds, because they are ignored - to try to resolve this situation?

mgdavid

have you followed Lloyds formal complaint procedure?
https://www.lloydsbank.com/business/complaints.asp

If you have, then wait to see if it's unresolved after 8 weeks and then you raise it with the Financial Ombudsman Service (as you will already know if you've read up on the complaints process, link above).

grumbler

Stop wasting time on phone calls and complain in writing. Demand a compensation for the wasted time as well.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/business/complaints.asp

That said, I don't understand how it could be Lloyds' error if it was a cheque from Lloyds account. Was it deposited to the same Lloyds?

Mrs.W_2

It was a LLoyds cheque paid in at a Lloyds branch to another Lloyds bank customer. They mis-keyed the amount to be paid out. We lost money by their mistake.

Thank you, grumbler. We have tried putting this in writing. And we are still chasing after an answer as to whom might be able to sort this out for us.

Thank you, mgdavid, yes we have followed said procedure. If holding back for another month is what it takes, them so be it. But I think you can understand why it is so very galling.

EDIT: Thanks for taking the time to reply, guys. We'll just have to wait out the eight weeks, and carry on with the Ombudsman. But I thought it worth an ask if anyone had a different approach

alanq

The bank's error. It should credit your account with the £100 that it debited in error and then IT should reclaim it from the plumber. It should then in addition pay you compensation according to how much inconvenience it has put you through. If it gets as far as a complaint to the Ombudsman then the bank will incur a cost just because the complaint has been raised. This is in addition to anything that is awarded to you.

I have noticed that some banks' Ts&Cs now explicitly include a term that they can take back any funds they credit in error to an account. (If the payer makes an error then there has to be negotiation with the payee but if the bank makes the error it should not have to seek permission. This should be very simple in this case as the payer's and payee's bank are the same)

YorkshireBoy

The Payment Services Regulations deal with matters such as these, ie unauthorised payment transactions. Reg 61 clearly states that in this case Lloyds should credit your account with £100 "immediately"...


http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/209/pdfs/uksi_20090209_en.pdf


I'd refuse whatever they offer you by way of compensation/goodwill, and refer to the FOS...being sure to cite the many instances of "can't you get the £100 back from the plumber (and save us the bother of dealing with it!)?".

YorkshireBoy

alanq wrote: »

If it gets as far as a complaint to the Ombudsman then the bank will incur a cost just because the complaint has been raised.

Unless the 'rules' have changed recently, the case fee is only charged if the case moves up the FOS food chain to an adjudicator. This one probably won't do? Last time I checked, only one in six complaints necessitated adjudicator involvement.

Mrs.W_2

Thank you all so much. YorkshireBoy, you've given me some reading matter that will be used in the next letter I write to Lloyds.

This ought to have been a simple situation, but we are being ignored by the people we were told to write to, or telephone.

Thank you, again, because my next letter will be reinforced by your guidance.

Westie983

Slightly confused, as lloyds should have seen the keying error as the copy of the cheque shows the amount was I assumed scanned and keyed incorrectly, so they should credit your account with £100, and sent an internal message up to the processing team, or put the money down and bank error, either way you shouldn't have to wait for the money.

If they have accepted that the cheque was drawn for £1800.00 but processed as £1900.00 then they have accepted bank error....

I would go back into branch and ask them to rectify their error, you shouldnt have to wait for their error, they can then investigate the error and reclaim the £100.

Ballard

This seems a very straightforward case to me and I can't understand why Lloyds are dragging their feet. As for asking you to request a refund from the payee? That's just plain stupid.

This matter will be resolved in your favour and I hope that it's sooner rather than later and that you're compensated accordingly.

warby68

Are you sure your missing tradesman didn't alter the amount as there would have to be a matching credit of £1900 I would have thought?

Still not your fault but a different issue