CHAPS - Missing payment

Rehees

Hi, 

All advise will be greatly appreciated.

Chaps payment went missing for 2 days. Santander (my bank from where the payment was made) claimed monies was sent from my account and that the recipient's bank was at fault.

Spend hours on phone to Santander trying to figure out where the monies was. 2 days later they tell me that they (Santander) blocked the payment for additional security checks and they do not know how long these checks will take.

So at present I do not have the monies nor the recipient, and no one knows when the money will be released to the recipient.
Santander have agreed to refund my CHAPS surcharge of £25.

Can someone suggest other than raise it with the financial ombudsman what other alternatives I have.

k3lvc

Rehees said:

Hi, 

All advise will be greatly appreciated.

Chaps payment went missing for 2 days. Santander (my bank from where the payment was made) claimed monies was sent from my account and that the recipient's bank was at fault.

Spend hours on phone to Santander trying to figure out where the monies was. 2 days later they tell me that they (Santander) blocked the payment for additional security checks and they do not know how long these checks will take.

So at present I do not have the monies nor the recipient, and no one knows when the money will be released to the recipient.
Santander have agreed to refund my CHAPS surcharge of £25.

Can someone suggest other than raise it with the financial ombudsman what other alternatives I have.

Answer the questions honestly in the hope they release your money - presumably there's something that's triggered their 'interest' 

MattMattMattUK

Rehees said:

Hi, 

All advise will be greatly appreciated.

Chaps payment went missing for 2 days. Santander (my bank from where the payment was made) claimed monies was sent from my account and that the recipient's bank was at fault.

Spend hours on phone to Santander trying to figure out where the monies was. 2 days later they tell me that they (Santander) blocked the payment for additional security checks and they do not know how long these checks will take.

So at present I do not have the monies nor the recipient, and no one knows when the money will be released to the recipient.
Santander have agreed to refund my CHAPS surcharge of £25.

The additional checks imply that something has triggered the anti money laundering flags. What was the value of the transfer, what was the source of funds, who were you transferring it to and for what purpose? Also to check was this a personal or business transfer?

Rehees said:

Can someone suggest other than raise it with the financial ombudsman what other alternatives I have.

The ombudsman will not be interested at the moment, they understand the banks are required to conduct AML checks. They will also want you to have exhausted the banks own complaints procedure first. What usually happens is in a few days the bank will either release the funds, or ask you for additional information, source of funds and who to and what the transfer is for. If they find something before that that they do not like, or they do not like your answers then they will likely refer the matter to the relevant body and your account will remain frozen.

Rehees

The funds were are from my saving account (over 30 years) so no question about where the money came from.
the payment was to my daughter as part deposit for house purchase.

Aylesbury_Duck

Rehees said:

The funds were are from my saving account (over 30 years) so no question about where the money came from.
the payment was to my daughter as part deposit for house purchase.

does her mortgage lender know you are making that contribution?

Rehees

They are aware as I wrote a letter to disclose the monies as a Gift.
The issue is with my bank, they have not released the money.

Aylesbury_Duck

Rehees said:

They are aware as I wrote a letter to disclose the monies as a Gift.
The issue is with my bank, they have not released the money.

That's good.  Sometimes people aren't as transparent, and you wouldn't want this hold-up to trigger a problem with the mortgage lender.

As advised above really, the bank will take time to complete the necessary checks and there's not much more you can do to accelerate that, other than to provide swift response if they do come back with queries.

Rehees

Thanks for the advice.

My complaint with the bank is that I should have been informed that there was a problem with CHAPS payment. I spent hours on the phone eventually been told why the payment was stopped.
And all along the bank was telling me it was the recipients bank that was at fault.

MattMattMattUK

Rehees said:

Thanks for the advice.

My complaint with the bank is that I should have been informed that there was a problem with CHAPS payment. I spent hours on the phone eventually been told why the payment was stopped.
And all along the bank was telling me it was the recipients bank that was at fault.

They generally do not tell people they are conducting AML checks because it tips off the people who are actual criminals.

It is likely that all will be resolved in a few days, otherwise the bank may ask you for supporting evidence in which case all you need to do is refer them to copies of statements from your savings account as the source of the funds over time and the letter to your daughter's solicitor for the purpose of the funds.

The only other issue that might have triggered something with the CHAPS payment is if your daughter's name on the account does not match the name on your CHAPS request, as an example she might use her married name but still have the account in her unmarried name.

Unfortunately you have to wait, fortunately as you have not done anything illegal the matter will in all likelihood be resolved in a few days.

pbartlett

it certainly would not hurt to raise a formal complaint with santander

born_again

Rehees said:

Thanks for the advice.

My complaint with the bank is that I should have been informed that there was a problem with CHAPS payment. I spent hours on the phone eventually been told why the payment was stopped.
And all along the bank was telling me it was the recipients bank that was at fault.

Front line staff may well not have been aware of the issue. As this type of issue often does not get noted in main customer notes. As front line staff can let slip what the issue is.