Lloyds & my daughter's JISA money

Hoenir

customerdownunder said:

TadleyBaggie said:

How has it been stolen, if there is a valid cheque for the full amount?

The cheque isn’t valid - it was never authorised by the account holder and cannot be cashed.

Do you have any suggestions for a remedy?

The cheque is valid. It's drawn on a UK clearing bank. 

Qudos Bank

https://www.qudosbank.com.au/products/international-money/receiving-money-from-overseas

dunstonh

I opened a JISA for my daughter in 2016.  At the time we lived in the UK.  We moved to Australia in 2020 and left the account dormant.  

Dormant accounts are closed off with all banks.

We visited in branch 3 times and they refused to transfer money overseas or provide cash. 

That is understandable if the account is dormant.

My daughter was told to complete an account closure form and nominate a UK bank account to receive the funds.  She did as asked and nominated my NatWest account as she does not have access to a UK bank account.

She didn't do as asked as she nominated an account in your name.  Not hers.

My daughter has received a cheque in the post from Lloyds for the full amount.  She did not authorise this.  How can a bank perform a transaction the account holder didn’t ask for?  

The first half of your post is saying how she wanted them to close the account. They have done that and issued the cheque but not you are saying she didn't ask for that.

She cannot pay a £GBP cheque into an $ AUD account so this piece of paper is worthless.

That is highly unusual. Most banks are able to handle cheques from overseas banks. It just gets done differently and comes at a cost.

 I tried phoning but they can’t trace the account as it’s closed. 

That is to be expected. Especially if you say it was dormant.

18 years of Christmas and birthday money plus us scrimping and saving to pay a little each month when we couldn’t afford it to give our daughter a £4k nest egg.  The whole lot has vanished. 

Except it hasn't.   It is there in a form as a cheque that just needs to be presented at the foreign desk of her bank.

 Worse yet my other daughter is facing the same scenario in another 2 years.

It is a risk of leaving an account being classified as dormant.    It is best to ensure that you don't let it be classified as dormant.  Once it is classified as dormant it will be closed some time after that but there is still a window to get the money before it is transferred to the RFL.    Once the money has been transferred to the RFL, the account is closed.      Any attempt to recover the money after that will be with the RFL but the bank will handle the administration but it takes time and its typically handled by a specific team centrally and not by a branch or call centre.

Before accounts go dormant, warnings are issued in the post that it will be classified as dormant if they don't hear from you.

I'm surprised a 2016 account went dormant though as 15 years without transactions is the normal dormant timescale.

sausage_time

customerdownunder said:

TadleyBaggie said:

How has it been stolen, if there is a valid cheque for the full amount?

The cheque isn’t valid - it was never authorised by the account holder and cannot be cashed.

Do you have any suggestions for a remedy?

What makes the cheque not valid?  From what has been said it is, and could be paid into the likes of Great Southern Bank.

xylophone

The cheque isn’t valid - it was never authorised by the account holder and cannot be cashed.

Surely the cheque is drawn on LLOYDS' OWN ACCOUNT in favour of your daughter? 

Your daughter needs to open an account in her own name with an Australian bank that can collect a cheque drawn on a sterling account?

Have you tried Great Southern as suggested above?

https://www.greatsouthernbank.com.au/international-services/foreign-currency-draft-conversion

Flugelhorn

have you actually tried paying this into an account in Australia? It won't be the first time they have had a sterling cheque to credit to an account 

sheramber

dunstonh said:

I opened a JISA for my daughter in 2016.  At the time we lived in the UK.  We moved to Australia in 2020 and left the account dormant.  

Dormant accounts are closed off with all banks.

We visited in branch 3 times and they refused to transfer money overseas or provide cash. 

That is understandable if the account is dormant.

My daughter was told to complete an account closure form and nominate a UK bank account to receive the funds.  She did as asked and nominated my NatWest account as she does not have access to a UK bank account.

She didn't do as asked as she nominated an account in your name.  Not hers.

My daughter has received a cheque in the post from Lloyds for the full amount.  She did not authorise this.  How can a bank perform a transaction the account holder didn’t ask for?  

The first half of your post is saying how she wanted them to close the account. They have done that and issued the cheque but not you are saying she didn't ask for that.

She cannot pay a £GBP cheque into an $ AUD account so this piece of paper is worthless.

That is highly unusual. Most banks are able to handle cheques from overseas banks. It just gets done differently and comes at a cost.

 I tried phoning but they can’t trace the account as it’s closed. 

That is to be expected. Especially if you say it was dormant.

18 years of Christmas and birthday money plus us scrimping and saving to pay a little each month when we couldn’t afford it to give our daughter a £4k nest egg.  The whole lot has vanished. 

Except it hasn't.   It is there in a form as a cheque that just needs to be presented at the foreign desk of her bank.

 Worse yet my other daughter is facing the same scenario in another 2 years.

It is a risk of leaving an account being classified as dormant.    It is best to ensure that you don't let it be classified as dormant.  Once it is classified as dormant it will be closed some time after that but there is still a window to get the money before it is transferred to the RFL.    Once the money has been transferred to the RFL, the account is closed.      Any attempt to recover the money after that will be with the RFL but the bank will handle the administration but it takes time and its typically handled by a specific team centrally and not by a branch or call centre.

Before accounts go dormant, warnings are issued in the post that it will be classified as dormant if they don't hear from you.

I'm surprised a 2016 account went dormant though as 15 years without transactions is the normal dormant timescale.

It didn’t go dormant. It matured S the daughter became 18.
 She  instructed the bank to close the account.

Unfortunately, she  nominated a third party account to receive the money.

The money is the daughter’s and needs to paid into an account in her name.

As a result,  the bank issued a cheque for the balance due.. 

saajan_12

customerdownunder said:

TadleyBaggie said:

How has it been stolen, if there is a valid cheque for the full amount?

The cheque isn’t valid - it was never authorised by the account holder and cannot be cashed.

Do you have any suggestions for a remedy?

If a customer is not responsive with one of the actually valid options for transfer, then a cheque is all they are left with. They don't need authorisation regarding what method to transfer the money, they were authorised to close the account and are transferring the money.

Remedies - open a UK bank account in her name, cash the cheque into that account OR request them to cancel the cheque and pay into that account. Then arrange a conversion to AUD and transfer separately. 

customerdownunder

Hoenir said:

customerdownunder said:

My daughter was told to complete an account closure form and nominate a UK bank account to receive the funds.  She did as asked and nominated my NatWest account as she does not have access to a UK bank account.

Account would need to be in her name not yours. 

 Unfortunately the issues that have arisen are through your own making. Presumably you've informed Nat West of your non UK residency.

We asked the bank what action we needed to take and at every step we have done exactly what they asked us to do.  That’s why it is so frustrating. We explained that my daughter does not have access to a UK bank account and specifically asked if it was acceptable for the money to go into an account in my name.  We were told by the staff member at the bank that it would not be a problem.  She filled in the paperwork that he provided and he literally promised us that “it’s all sorted now, just wait for the money to arrive in your NatWest account”.  Hence when the money disappeared from the JISA and did not appear in the NatWest account I contacted Lloyds only to be told that they didn’t know where the money was. We never received any correspondence explaining what was happening.  The cheque arrived weeks later.  My daughter has completed a Particular Power of Attorney for our UK family member to deal with this on her behalf and Lloyds still won’t discuss the account with them.

la531983

You keep skirting the question about Great Southern Bank. Have you asked them?

cantbelieveit23

This may be a very stupid question but.....how would a bank receiving the cheque know it was not authorised by the account holder??  I have received cheques in a foreign currency in the past and had no trouble converting them (at a cost), so something must have changed.