Family member can access my bank

sn1994

Hello

My business bank is with Barclays

My father has told me (and shown me) that he can access my bank account from his personal Barclay's account. With my permission he was able to download my statements; send £1 from my account to his own account in the web interface, and he can send secure messages on my behalf.

We share an address and surname, but nothing else.

How do I complain about this? I've had some issues with Barclays already. My card was used without my permission but Barclays refused to rectify the issue. The Ombudsman has offered £100 compensation -- but the card was used to the amount of £800, so I'm not to keen on engaging with the Ombudsman.

Should I open a county court claim, and if so, how do I assess a realistic compensation value? My current balance with Barclays is £300k as most of my other money is in business savings accounts with limited access in the hopes of getting a higher return on my cash.

Thanks in advance

Sam

elsien

You complain about it to Barclays in the first instance as you can't go any further without exhausting their complaints procedure first.


Who used your card and have you reported them for fraud? I'm sensing a few relevant but missing details about the full picture here.

sn1994

Thanks for the prompt response.

I went to an official BMW garage and was charged a different amount than on the invoice. Barclays have admitted that the pricing is incorrect as have the ombudsman, but they have suggested I refer this to the motoring ombudsman as they have claimed that VISA are not responsible for price differences when taking payments. I had no knowledge that the payment would be different as I gave my card details over the phone and was told the price was as per the invoice, which I have a copy of.

Barclays didn't respond to my complaint for several months, and when they did, they backdated the response to a month before I ever made the complaint. For this reason, and this reason only, the Ombudsman suggested compensation of £100. I am of the opinion that my card was therefore used without my consent -- at least the sum charged is not agreeable; but they are not.

I will complain to Barclays as per your recommendation

Thank you,

colsten

sn1994 wrote: »

My current balance with Barclays is £300k

£300k in cash in Barclays? Unless this is proceeds from a recent property sale, that seems a silly thing to do, for various reasons.

As to why your father has access to your bank accounts: given the circumstances, that seems a simple error by Barclays which they can no doubt correct if you ask them to.

Not sure what your complaint to Barclays is about being charged more than on an invoice amount. It's pretty irrelevant now, anyway, as the Ombudsman has already ruled on it, and it doesn't have anything to do with your father having access to your bank accounts.

If you don't like Barclays, you can always take your business elsewhere. There are plenty of other banks.

sn1994

I will take my business elsewhere and agree it's a separate issue. But it's noteworthy that Barclays keep messing up.

I have £300k in cash there as I run a business.. I have other business savings accounts and like to stick to FCFS limits of £85k, but it's not practical. We need £250k+ cash on hand at any given time. I chose Barclays to hold this cash as they seem to be one of the few banks that didn't go under in 2009.

I don't think that my father's personal bank account should be linked to my business bank account in any way and don't see how this could ever happen, given the differences in account type.

eskbanker

sn1994 wrote: »

I will take my business elsewhere and agree it's a separate issue. But it's noteworthy that Barclays keep messing up.

Obviously on here we can only see what you choose to share, but what was the reason the ombudsman gave for siding with Barclays on the core of the complaint about the wrong transaction value? What was the response when you complained to the garage, as it's their error, even if pursuing the bank is potentially an alternative resolution?

sn1994 wrote: »

I don't think that my father's personal bank account should be linked to my business bank account in any way and don't see how this could ever happen, given the differences in account type.

Surely it's not two bank accounts being linked as such but your business account being (wrongly) accessible from his online banking?

sn1994

I understand that you may believe there's more to the story than meets the eye. I've cut a long story short because it's been quite exhausting.

The Ombudsman did rule that there was a mistake and said that Barclays owed money due to the fact that they didn't respond to the complaint in a timely manner. My complaint was raised in March, and still to date I have not received a final response from Barclays. They just kept sending me letters every month with new complaint ref numbers saying they'd received a complaint. I sent copies of these to the Ombudsman. The ombudsman ruled that this was unfair. They did state that my card had been used without my permission (the sums were not correct), but as I had not paid via a credit card, only a debit card, it was not subject to a Section 75 dispute and a chargeback would not be possible. They state that Barclays were wrong with their understanding of VISA payment rules, but this would be difficult to enforce now given the time that had lapsed.

In short: always use a credit card I suppose..

The garage themselves are criminal.. I had to file a crime reference number and when I visited them they were quite aggressive. I contacted BMW UK who said the head of business at that garage would be in touch; he never got in touch. Perhaps naively, I'd considered that given the money I put through Barclays, and with no complaints and having my account in good standing over the years, they'd sort this out -- either by calling the garage and asking them to resolve the pricing issue, or matching the difference themselves.

Barclays have confirmed yesterday via their secure messaging system that the accounts are linked. They have said they can provide me with a response within 14 days to confirm why this happened. They haven't said anything about removing that access yet..

I suppose I'll have to wait it out until they give me a response, but I'm not chuffed, to put it simply.

Robin9

sn1994 wrote: »

Hello

My business bank is with Barclays

My father has told me (and shown me) that he can access my bank account from his personal Barclay's account. With my permission he was able to download my statements; send £1 from my account to his own account in the web interface, and he can send secure messages on my behalf.

We share an address and surname, but nothing else.

How do I complain about this? ………...………….

I suggest you treat the issues separately.

For the above write to Barclays and ask them to investigate the above? Is it possible your father is a signature on your account and it has been set up as a joint account - perhaps in doing so he has quoted his own Barclays account which has been used in the set up procedure.?