Standing Order not paid by Natwest for 6 Months

JulieLD_2

Hi I hope someone can help me. In June last year we set up a standing order to be paid monthly for our central heating. 2 weeks ago I had a call from the Central heating company to say that they had not received a payment since last June. I checked online to see what date the payments should have been made and to my horror discovered that the S/O had been set up on an annual basis. I telephoned the CH Company and asked if they had a copy of the S/O. They did and it stated to be paid monthly. I phoned the bank and they told me that the error had occurred at their HQ when inputting the S/O. I told them that they were liable for the payments and should pay the CH Company. They state they are not liable as the money should of been in my account anyway, I should of noticed it had not been paid and they are more than happy to take out a lump sum now. They also told me that as an individual I am not charged for banking services, news to me!, they therefore feel they have no contract to pay as advised.

Can someone tell me who is liable here please. I have forwarded to the Financial Ombudsman but I just need some reassurance

Regards
Julie

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

amandathepanda

Sorry to say that the bank are not liable here. It is up to the individual to make sure that they check their bank statements. Yes it is the bank's fault that it was set up incorrectly, they may send you some flowers as an apology, but they are not liable and will not pay out. Just out of interest, how much was the standing order for?

JulieLD_2

it was £89.00 a month

regards
julie

Floxxie

Have to agree with amandathepanda. Why did you choose a standing order and not a direct debit?

Debt_Free_Chick

The bank is only liable if their lack of action resulted in a financial loss to you.

However, you have not lost - in fact you've gained, as you now have 6 x £89 that you didn't expect to have.

Unless you've spent it, you have the money in your account to pay the arrears.

But there is no loss, so no liability on the Bank's part.

Sola

How come you didn't notice the money was still in your account?

natweststaffmember

Julie, technically that's right and technically that is wrong. The Bank should have a copy of the Standing order mandate which should show whether the mandate said annually or not. If it is then the bank is at fault for the error and would perhaps be guilty of Maladministration but they are not liable to pay the standing order amount to you because of checking account, etc,etc,
I am surprised the company took 6 weeks to contact you though

shellsuit

It's the banks mistake, but you can't expect them to pay what should have been paid - I'm suprised you didn't notice the funds not coming out of your account

System

Now this is interesting, Today I have just received notice of legal action from a tax credit overpayment. I phoned to see why as I had filled in a form to set up a standing order with my Natwest bank account to repay weekly, they said they sent the form to Natwest but Natwest had no set it up, they didn't care less that it wasnt my fault, the balance has to be paid with 14 days

Mikeyorks

JulieLD wrote: »

Can someone tell me who is liable here please.

You are .. I'm afraid. A SO is controlled by you .. you should have ensured it was set up and operating out of your account properly. Possibly (why would the CH company have a copy of your SO??) a bit of negligence in the setting up .... but a lot of negligence on your part in not checking it was working. SOs fall on your side of the fence to monitor.

Also - sounds as though you've wasted your time with the complaint. You have to exhaust the Nat West formal complaints system before you can refer it. It will just be sent back if you haven't done that.