Currencies Direct Problem

paulrudd

Hi,
I'm in desperate need of some help.
I needed to transfer some some money from my UK account to my USA account. Normally I use Lloyds but after seeing a recommendation on this site I set up an account with Currencies Direct. On the 21st June I transferred £1500 from my Lloyds account into Currencies Direct and arranged for them to transfer it to my SunTrust account. This was confirmed back to me on the 22nd June. I waited a couple of days and no money appeared. I called to check where it was and was told wait another couple of days. Still didn't turn up. Now I needed to pay some bills so I had to transfer another £1500, so this time I used my lloyds account and within a couple of hours it was there!. But still no sign of my Currencies Direct transfer. I called them again and asked them to recall the money, but they said better to put a trace on it first. So that went ahead. Another week passes and they say the money is with SunTrust. So I call SunTrust and speak directly to the wire transfer department, they can find no trace of the money. So I go back to Currency Direct and tell them the same. They now give me a reference number, so back to SunTrust, no sign of this reference number. Back again to Currencies Direct who say they will check again with their intermediary bank, Barclays, and come up with another reference number, so I call SunTrust again (yes these are long distance calls!) and this new reference number means nothing to them. So back to Currencies Direct and they now say its between me and SunTrust as they did everything correct! But I say, how? if I can transfer with Lloyds using the same details and it works and not with Currencies Direct something must be wrong between them and Barclays. I then ask them by email if they are now washing their hands of this? Now I get a phone call but honestly it was a pointless call. They just wanted to tell me the same thing! Ok, a couple of times I got really angry with them, I started to feel that they had lost my money and didn't care! All they cared about was pointing the finger elsewhere or pretty much shrugging their shoulders. I even said that my agreement was with them, not Barclays or whoever else involved and they should refund my missing money. They replied as the money had not been found and refunded to them, they cannot refund it back to me !!!!! So next they come up with another reference number and again I have to call the USA. Nope didn't mean anything to SunTrust. Ironically, Currencies Direct keep telling me that SunTrust won't respond to request to recall the money from Barclays, I said have you or Barclays tried calling SunTrust ? I even gave them the direct number ! But I don't think they have called them. So more chasing last week and I get a call from Currencies Direct, Barclays need to questions answered! 1. Whats the transfer for? 2. Whats my home address 3. How much is my mortgage? Can I give them a copy of my statement in the USA. I gave them a screenshot that shows no transfer from Currencies Direct or Barclays. Obviously it shows the transfers from Lloyds and the mortgage payments. End of last week I chased again, just got the same email response that referred me back to a previous response !

So here I sit, a MONTH since the original transaction. Still no refund. Getting no help from CURRENCIES DIRECT at all, just fobbed off all the time. I still think the responsibility sits with CURRENCIES DIRECT, why should I go to the expense every other day of calling the USA? I had no dealing with Barclays, they did.

So what next? Do I report it to the police? The Financial Ombudsman , The Daily Mail or Martin Lewis?

Any ideas?

alanq

Is this Currencies Direct , Foreign Currency Direct or yet another organisation?

paulrudd

Sorry, it is Currencies Direct.

eDicky

paulrudd wrote: »

Barclays need to questions answered! 1. Whats the transfer for? 2. Whats my home address 3. How much is my mortgage? Can I give them a copy of my statement in the USA.

This could indicate that Barclays (USA) did not make the payment to SunTrust for some reason.

Have you initiated a formal complaint with Currencies Direct? The form is here:

https://www.currenciesdirect.com/en/let-s-talk/complaints

Don't forget that the fault may actually lie with SunTrust.

eDicky

This just appeared, try posting there:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5684668

Meanwhile, after I posted yesterday the suspicion arose in me that you may have given CD inaccurate details of your SunTrust account, and they received your money but it has been credited elsewhere or nowhere. Is this possible?

System

On a side note, did you give them the correct details?

US banks often use different routing numbers for international transfers (SWIFT), domestic wire transfers (their version of CHAPS) and domestic ACH transfers (their version of BACS/FPs)

xylophone

https://www.currenciesdirect.com/en/personal/how-it-works/safety-of-your-funds

It seems that you are receiving very poor service.

Start with a formal, written complaint and then if no satisfaction, take the matter to their regulator.

paulrudd

Odd thing is I use the same details from my Lloyds account and the transfer always works.

Today they emailed asking for my wife's full name and dob. Maybe Barclays USA have held the transfer for some reason ?

I know mistakes can happen but what really frustrates me is the poor communication from Currencies Direct. I always have to chase them.

Also even if an error was made in the numbers the trace was requested just a few days later and then a recall but SunTrust keep saying they have no reference of receiving the money anywhere.

No one will tell me what's going on and it's been over a month. Maybe it is time to call the Financial Ombusman ?

eDicky

paulrudd wrote: »

Odd thing is I use the same details from my Lloyds account and the transfer always works.

Sending direct from your Lloyd's account is an international transfer, whereas when a broker such as Currencies Direct is used the money arrives as a domestic transfer from their account in the same country, in this case apparently Barclays USA. American Banks often use different ABA/ACH routing numbers for either domestic or international transfers. But if this is a factor, it should have been recognised long ago.

It's been suggested twice that you double check the SunTrust account info that you gave to CD - have you done so? It should be visible in your online CD account.

Have you initiated the formal complaints process with CD, as also suggested twice? Their apparent negligence in attending to this matter for a month is certainly not acceptable. Please let us know of any developments.

paulrudd

Today I received a call from the Operations Manager from Currencies Direct. Charming guy who has taken it upon himself to investigate and solve my problem. It turns out the money did go to Barclays UK and then onto Barclays USA who because my wife's surname may match someone on a list they decided to hold the transfer and not tell anyone ! So they've now been updated with my wife's details and hopefully the money will now end its journey! I did point out that Currency Direct did fail in its communication and that was taken on board. Once the money appears on my statement I'll update again

Currenciesdirect

Hi Paul,

Let me start by offering an apology. We completely appreciate that your experience with us hasn’t been good enough.

In this instance, the intermediary bank has held onto funds longer than expected, and also delayed their request for further information (as a result of their own compliance procedures). This is unusual, and has unnecessarily drawn out what should be a simple process.

Although this isn’t something we can control, we’ve monitored the situation throughout, raising a trace and recall requests on the payment to locate it. Our team have worked hard to do everything they can behind the scenes to ensure we transfer your funds (we have had numerous communications with the intermediary bank and Barclays, by phone and email).

However it’s our communication to you that hasn’t been up to scratch. So, we’re going to make that right – we’ve escalated the case to senior members of the organisation, who’ll be reviewing internal processes to ensure our communication is better in these scenarios.

We’ve also raised this issue with our own banking partner, to help understand how this situation is avoided moving forward.

With over 210,000 satisfied customers to date, we’re proud of the award-winning service we offer. We truly value our customers, and taking a look thousands of our positive Trustpilot and feefo reviews only confirms this – I hope we can turn this situation around to include you in that number at some point in the future.

Best wishes,

Jigar S.
Group Operations Manager | Currencies Direct