Birmingham Midshires Bank stole my money. How to return?

B0bbyEwing

eskbanker said:

You're still missing the point 

To be fair, I think from the very start of the thread that was something that was going to be easily done here.

Qyburn

Swipe said:

@ayvan Contact your bank and ask for it to be refunded under the Direct Debit Guarantee. It should be back in your account by the end of the day.

Hopefully the OP read Swipe's suggestion before being put off by the bickering.

expansion

When I received the letter from BM they were shutting down I withdrew and then canceled the Direct Debit. Canceling the Direct Debit canceled the link to the nominated account. I know it didn't make sense to me either so I called BM and they said they have a special system and their Direct Debits aren't really Direct Debits but some sort of automated payment instruction and they are required for the nominated account to work. So even if you will not use to pull money from current account you need it to withdraw money. It didn't make sense but customer service was passive aggressive and our conversation wasn't going anywhere so I gave up trying to understand. I had the impression BM shutting down meant customer service was losing their jobs, they were very irritable and impatient. I ended the conversation and set it all up again to withdraw the interest balance that would be due but before it could be set up again the account was closed. A cheque was sent according to BM but the cheque has not arrived after 2 weeks. Maybe it is in a pile somewhere due to the RM strikes. I have canceled the Direct Debit again this time from my current account in case they decide to pull it against my wishes and will wait a few weeks for the cheque to arrive. It's been shockingly poor service from BM's systems and customer service, surprisingly amateur considering they are part of Lloyds Banking Group. Good riddance!

Descrabled

Account closed 2nd December; balance returned to current account 2nd December; DD taken from current account 2nd December. Made a complaint to BM on 5 December and received several texts saying they're looking into the complaint.

Today received cheque for the last DD. Problem solved.

myth123

Similar thing happened to me. Account closed at the start of December, DD taken a few days after. Called BM and they said it should just get returned, not received anything so just did a Direct Debit Guarantee claim with my current account, money back in account the same day I did that.

quirkydeptless

I have 100% of my savings back now with a couple of £1 cheques arriving Today.

All it needed was some combination of planning (cancelling DDs in advance of account closure), prompt action (contacting the sending Bank on the day of the DD allowed them to immediately recall it), and patience (got all my money back ... eventually  ... 28 days later ...)