HBOS messed up a transfer

GlasweJen

I got a mystery letter a couple weeks back and long story short HBOS owed me money that I told them they weren't due 3 years ago.

I closed all my HBOS and related accounts after the incident where they threatened me with debt collectors and all sorts even though I kept pointing out that the paperwork agreed with me and not them (this relates to personal loan payments), I paid what they wanted and left them for RBS.

So mystery letter appears and I took it to the local branch who confirmed it was legitimate and called their collections department to arrange repayment. The branch was really crowded and loud and I think the person on the other side has misheard my sort code, mistaking 83 for 80. It probably doesn't help that I'm hard of hearing and use hearing aids so I was struggling to hear her too.

I got the letter in confirming the refund with this wrong sort code on it but the number on the letter isn't in use at the weekend.

Is there anything I can do today to remedy this or will I need to wait until tomorrow? I've checked an online thing and apparently the sort code and account combo that they've sent the refund to doesn't exist but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

jonesMUFCforever

They won't be open on a Sunday so you will have to wait until tomorrow.

If they have paid into wrong account ask a member of staff at the Halifax to help you with the call.
Might take a little time for them to sort out - you could always ask them for a cheque to be sent to you if that would be better for you.

GlasweJen

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

They won't be open on a Sunday so you will have to wait until tomorrow.

If they have paid into wrong account ask a member of staff at the Halifax to help you with the call.
Might take a little time for them to sort out - you could always ask them for a cheque to be sent to you if that would be better for you.

I asked for a cheque in the first place and was told they wouldn't send one as its against policy and that it must be a BACS transfer

agrinnall

I would insist on giving them the sortcode and account number in writing and to get a receipt that shows that the correct details were used.

Yorkshire_Pud

Could google Halifax fraud number and phone or email today and if they say nuffink to do with us guv at least you can reference that you attempted to stop a payment happening that should not.

Apart from that they should have applied interest as they have had your money for a few years and as they are now admitting they made an error make a complaint for compensation for all the stress, threats of bailiff etc

Sometimes I find it better in a protracted phone call where you get nowhere to just say, "can you put me through to the complaints department please or give me their freephone number? Works wonders.

GlasweJen

Called them this morning and they listened to the call and complained the audio was poor! When I pointed out it was a call from branch they changed their tune and are going to reprocess the payment and send it to the correct bank account.

Thanks Yorkshire Pud, had no luck getting anything for compensation out of them but they are giving me 8% interest on the amount which, after tax, is another £390!

Yorkshire_Pud

Glad that part of it is resolved.

I'd still be tempted to make a formal complaint because although they may fob you off initially the fact you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman if you don't agree with their decision kind of sharpens their focus, i.e. stand up for your rights!

At least £500 if not £1,000 compensation.
Depriving you of the use of your own money over a three year period, possibly leading to extra costs, loans etc.
Distress and frustration.
Having to fight them and giving in when in fact they were wrong.
Admin costs.
In fact everything they would hit you for, which is a lot more than 8% interest especially if that's the total which is about 2% per year for three years, measly. They would have charged you about 16% per year compounded as often as they could.

However if its not cut and dried then maybe just be happy with the cash and forget them:)

agrinnall

GlasweJen wrote: »

Thanks Yorkshire Pud, had no luck getting anything for compensation out of them but they are giving me 8% interest on the amount which, after tax, is another £390!

[STRIKE]I hope that it is what you get, but I strongly suspect that you have misunderstood, and that the 8% interest will be per annum, so you will only get a small fraction of that for the number of days in which the payment was missing.[/STRIKE]

Ignore that, I've realised that it's interest on the money that you paid due to their error 3 years ago.

GlasweJen

Yorkshire_Pud wrote: »

Glad that part of it is resolved.

I'd still be tempted to make a formal complaint because although they may fob you off initially the fact you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman if you don't agree with their decision kind of sharpens their focus, i.e. stand up for your rights!

At least £500 if not £1,000 compensation.
Depriving you of the use of your own money over a three year period, possibly leading to extra costs, loans etc.
Distress and frustration.
Having to fight them and giving in when in fact they were wrong.
Admin costs.
In fact everything they would hit you for, which is a lot more than 8% interest especially if that's the total which is about 2% per year for three years, measly. They would have charged you about 16% per year compounded as often as they could.

However if its not cut and dried then maybe just be happy with the cash and forget them:)

It really is as cut and dried as that. Basically I took out a 3 year loan in October but for some weird reason the last payment was due in June 2013, I checked the numbers and all of my payments from October 2010 to June 2013 equalled the value of the loan plus the interest at whatever percent I was being charged for the entire 36 month term.

Come July 2013 I got a letter telling me my direct debit had failed (because they cancelled it, I'd forgotten all about it) and asked for a payment. I took the paperwork and my own sums to the branch and they agreed with my maths and faxed it off. Heard nothing until August when I got a letter from Blair, Oliver and Scott making demands for ~£1500 which they said was the entire balance left on the loan. Sent them what I'd given the bank, it was batted backwards and forwards between BO&S and HBOS and then they said if I didn't pay it they'd go for a CCJ so I paid it and took my business elsewhere.

I might write a complaint, no one to date has apologised or explained exactly what happened to make the error occur in the first place or how they realised that I was due money back.

I also wonder if my credit file has been affected at any point so I'm going to check and if necessary ask them to make ammendments.