Halifax transfer confusion after I year Help!

moneynomoney

We had a remortgage to do some work on our house were advised by our F.A to open separate account to house money, this he advised us to open with St james place. As our builder and other people often wanted cash we made frequent cash withdrawals which had to be made from our local Halifax branch. I had to call st james place a couple of days in advance in order for them to transfer cash to Halifax. All fine until F.A Emailed me in April 2006 to say that although I had got £4000 (a couple of weeks before)in cash by signing form showing passport etc. St James Place had not taken money from current account , The money was then taken from our current account. Later that year i received another email from my F.A saying that the bank had again 'forgotten to take £4000 from our current account when i had collected cash on a subsequent occasion. I spoke to F.A saying I did not believe that it had /could happen twice incredulous and annoyed i said there was no way that I could have taken £4000 without realising.
In December 2007 I received a letter The first notification from the bank saying that in November 2006 i took £4000 in cash from halifax and that to this date the bank has not debited that amount from my account. the bank threatened to take amount from current account (now empty ) and that we may incur unauthorised overdraft fees and that their debt recovery dept will take legal procedings if the funds are not recovered. the letter inferred that this was an "oversight" on our part.
We are so stressed about this how can this have happened, considering every time a cash withdrawal is required a phone call to order the cash and arrange the transfer of money is required then in the halifax signature and passport.
We budgeted every time from our online bank statement, the money has run out. How can we check what has happened and how can a bank be so inept or do we suspect the somone is attempting fraud .
We are unable to make head or tail of statements and halifax slips in relation to money movements as there were a lot. Help !!!

Mikeyorks

Is this a wind up?

Why deposit money, needed frequently, in St James Place? Not readily accessible ... nor noted for good interest rates - and particularly as you intimate (several times) it was in a current account!

Why did they communicate via your FA - rather than directly, on matters directly pertaining to the account?

If there is / was a problem - isn't your FA the first port of call?

moneynomoney

No not a wind up but just some not very money savvy people who took advise from F.A now feeling confused as to why bank us to confirm that we took money out in cash on particular occasions and why they havent taken it out of account and why it has taken them so long to spot error.

Mikeyorks

OK. First you need to talk to the FA - who seems to have been over involved with the account at St James?

Then you need to get help if you can't do it .... and absolutely pin down the Halifax withdrawal slips to the St James statements. If there are discrepancies you need to identify them to St James and ask them for evidence of any additional withdrawals. Sooner the better .. whilst audit trails are still warmish.

Best to advise them immediately you're taking positive action. And would suggest you tell them to only communicate with you / your new advisor.