Isa transfers and the BACS system.

ratcatcher666

I recently made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman regarding an ISA transfer. I wanted to make a transfer from bank a to bank b, bank a rejected the transfer stating no account ,abandoned account etc. I complained to the Financial Ombudsman. The findings were that I supplied the correct information to bank b , bank b supplied the correct information to bank a but bank a are stating that they did not receive the sort code or account number, in fact they state that the the sort code and account no were oooooooo.oooooo.

The Ombudsman stated that bank a are not at fault as there is no human intervention during such transfers,.Therefore you could have a 110k in your account and the transfer is totally in the hands of a computer. Which is run by  the BACS company if such errors do happen then your cash could go anywhere and be lost forever.

Computers are very accurate and if the correct details were entered by bank b how can they dissapear when bank a received them. I find the whole situation difficult to believe and can't accept that bank a are not at fault in some way as the reason given for the failed transfer changed 3 times, when I queried the transaction.

YoungBlueEyes

This board would be better for your post

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/budgeting-bank-accounts

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

This board would be better for your post

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/budgeting-bank-accounts

Agreed, but the OP hasn't said if they lost money. I suspect not. If that's the case, what do they want? Is it a compo thing?  

The first question with compo is always, 'What are your losses?'

ratcatcher666

I wanted to transfer my ISA from bank a to bank b. The transfer did not go ahead neither bank informed me that the transaction failed. When I contacted bank b they said the other bank rejected the transfer. giving the reason closed account and later as abandoned account, I contacted bank a and they kept changing their story. I made a complaint and did not receive a satisfactory answere and took the case to the ombudsman.

The Ombudsman said bank a were not at fault because there was no sort code or account number on the transfer. Bank b were not at fault because they sent the correct information. They used the BACS system run by PAY.UK. I contacted PAY.Uk and they said they do not have any information on transactions.

The Ombudsman said that there is no human intervention in bank ISA transfers and that it is just a a computer error. I can't accept that as someone must intervene at the bank that holds the account to be transferred, bank a,

As they continually stated closed account ,abandoned account I thought I was going to lose my savings and just closed my account and lost the ISA status of that money.  The BACS system is not very safe if there is no human intervention and no one seems to kep records and open to  fraud and hackers.

northwalesd

Your original thread is here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6469687/isa-transfers-and-the-bacs-system though to be fair it didn't get many comments.

wmb194

I'd forget about it and move on. If a bank account number wasn't supplied to one of the parties and no transfer was initiated then I doubt it even touched Bacs so I think that's a red herring*, the issue appears to be with the (relatively new) automated cash Isa transfer system. IIRC you didn't lose out, the transfer just didn't occur, so, *shrug.*

*Plus Bacs has been around for decades and decades and must have ben used to process many millions of transfers and direct debits.

flo22

For a failed ISA transfer you would have been contacted, are you saying that this did not happen?

gt94sss2

From reading your original post (linked above), your issue does not really appear to be any thing to do with BACS.

Imo Bank B appears to be at fault for not sending the correct details to Bank A - and also for not telling you the ISA transfer failed.

 I thought I was going to lose my savings and just closed my account and lost the ISA status of that money.  

If this was done "in error", HMRC rules allow banks to fix the error so your money could get your ISA status back.

MSE_Laura_F

I've merged the two threads. Thanks,
MSE Laura F

ratcatcher666

I have raised a complaint against bank b we will see what has been sent when they reply. What makes me think   bank a is at fault is because when I queried the transfer , they did not say the account numbers were missing until I raised a complaint. Their reasons were . "Transfer failed because it broke ISA rules," second excuse "abandoned account," third reason" closed account" and finally " no account number"

ratcatcher666

I had a reply from the Ombudsman and they failed to uphold my complaint against bank a.  and claimed that the process is handled by BACS system and state it was a computer error. I said that computers are only as good as the people using them, I have copied and pasted the Ombudsmans reply below.

""
There was no human intervention during the process by either bank ********* or ***, the entire transfer process was handled automatically by BACS.'

 

So, whilst I appreciate that computer systems are only as accurate as the people entering the data, there was no human intervention between the time you initiated the transfer and when it was rejected. Regardless of whether the account information was included or not when the request was sent across from ***, we are satisfied from the evidence provided by ********* of its system that the information went missing when it was received. As such, we are of the opinion that ********* is not responsible for any claimed loss.   
                                                                                                             ""
I have removerd any names of banks etc. When I have a final decision I will publish the names of the banks. I would be interested in the forums opinion of the above statement.