bank transfer gone missing

00neil00

This is my first post here,

i joined because i need advice on what to do regarding a bank transfer that has gone missing.

I have an US business account with Wise (formally known as transferwise).
Over month ago, on the 24th of august I transferred my savings of £50k from Wise to Synergy savings because i read on MSE that the savings rate was (0.6%).

The payment did not arrive at Synergy so i sent them a message. They responded by telephone saying that because the funds came from an account with a US business name  they refused to accept the funds. I dont know why this is because Wise has a UK Bank account number and sort code. 

Any way, i have asked Wise to trace the missing funds and they have insisted on many occasions that they have not received the funds from Synergy. Wise are asking me to provide evidence that synergy have sent them the funds back. synergy are saying they do not provide evidence. I am really tired of this back and forth with both banks. I am not sure why they cannot just contact each other to locate the funds.

Can anyone suggest how i should go about getting this resolved as i will need the funds shortly to purchase a property. 

Many thanks

Neil

molerat

https://wise.com/help/articles/2235393/how-do-i-make-a-complaint

Daliah

molerat said:

https://wise.com/help/articles/2235393/how-do-i-make-a-complaint

Similar for Cynergy - raise a formal complaint.

Use the correct name for Cynergy in your complaints.

Thrugelmir

Be sitting in a suspense account awaiting processing. With millions of transactions flying about every day. No one is going to look for your money. Will be dealt with when it comes to the top of the pile. 

ischris85

This must be quite a stressful situation and I hope it get sorted very soon.

00neil00

Thanks for your help guys, i have formally complained  to both banks. 

eDicky

00neil00 said:

The payment did not arrive at Synergy so i sent them a message. They responded by telephone saying that because the funds came from an account with a US business name  they refused to accept the funds. I dont know why this is because Wise has a UK Bank account number and sort code.

It's not clear what you mean by a 'US business account' with Wise, but if your account is in the name of a US company or entity then that name is what the recipient will see on receiving a transfer from the account, regardless of the funds arriving (presumably) in GBP as a domestic transfer from Wise.

Cynergy will probably require funds sent to a savings account with them in your name to come from an account that's also in your name, hence their refusal to accept the transfer.

I'm actually only speculating, because the circumstances are unclear, but one thing for sure is that Wise is not a bank (yet).

00neil00

WISE has messaged me with:

What we would need to proceed with the case is a Proof of Return document or an FPID. Both of these can be provided by the recipient bank. 
Without that document, unfortunately we are not able to look into this case any further due to the missing information from those documents. 

This is very upsetting as Cynergy said they are not able to provide these document:

" Payment has been returned value dated 21.09.2021. We do not provide proof of return and there is no FPID available as payment has been returned as an overseas and not faster payment"

Its amazing that both banks seem to be so blase' about such a large amount of missing money.

I would be great full for any further help.

JenB79

00neil00 said:

WISE has messaged me with:

What we would need to proceed with the case is a Proof of Return document or an FPID. Both of these can be provided by the recipient bank. 
Without that document, unfortunately we are not able to look into this case any further due to the missing information from those documents. 

This is very upsetting as Cynergy said they are not able to provide these document:

" Payment has been returned value dated 21.09.2021. We do not provide proof of return and there is no FPID available as payment has been returned as an overseas and not faster payment"

Its amazing that both banks seem to be so blase' about such a large amount of missing money.

I would be great full for any further help.

I suggest you write a firm but polite letter of complaint to Cynergy, preferably by recorded post. 

https://cynergybank.secure.force.com/ContactUs/

ischris85

Dear 00neil00, Can you ask WISE for proof of payment that they sent the money to Cynergy to begin with? Did they send this by Swift? If so, it is called a MT103 report. Once you receive, you can send that to Cynergy to look into would be my suggestion

eskbanker

ischris85 said:

Dear 00neil00, Can you ask WISE for proof of payment that they sent the money to Cynergy to begin with? Did they send this by Swift? If so, it is called a MT103 report. Once you receive, you can send that to Cynergy to look into would be my suggestion

Can't see how that would help - Cynergy saw the money arrive but refused to accept it, so there's no dispute that it was sent by Wise and initially made it as far as Cynergy:

00neil00 said:

The payment did not arrive at Synergy so i sent them a message. They responded by telephone saying that because the funds came from an account with a US business name  they refused to accept the funds.

The issue is with tracing its return journey from Cynergy to Wise - it's perhaps significant that the initial payment was apparently made on 24 August but Cynergy report its return as being initiated four weeks later on 21 September.  International transfers aren't renowned for their speed but it's not clear exactly how much of that time was spent with the money sitting in a holding account at Cynergy.


Incidentally, it's obviously too late for OP now but for any other readers, this is a classic example of the importance of sending small test transactions before large ones - having your personal savings in a US business account (even if just temporarily) also seems worth avoiding....