Worthless current account switch guarantee.

[unco operative bank]

Switched my joint current account from Nationwide to the Co op in November 2014, switch completion date was about 14th November. I had written a cheque a few days before to pay my credit card bill using my Nationwide cheque book as I had yet to receive my Co op bank cheque book and posted this to the credit card company.

The switch completed on the due date and I received a letter from Co operative bank confirming this.

On 9th December 2014 I looked online at my credit card account and was horrified to see that my payment had been reversed, because the cheque I had written had been dishonoured and a £13 late patment fee had been charged.

I have pursued a complaint with the Co op bank who dishonoured my cheque and they have issued thier final response which confirms that the cheque was dishonoured due to a bank error, they have offered an insulting £100 in compensation and provided me with a "To whom it may concern" letter for me to use in correcting any damage done to my financial reputation with my credit card company and the credit referance agencies.

I thought that under the current account switch guarantee the "new bank" was supposed to put right ant damage caused due to it's error. Seems like the Co op bank sees things differently.

My choice now is either proceed to the Financial Ombudsman or make an appointment with a solicitor to sue them. What is the best course of action ?

[BankFodder]

There are at least two other courses of action.

 

Rather than see a solicitor, you could sue them yourself because it is very easy. A solicitor wouldn't be interested in will simply take a lot of your money and because it is a small claim you wouldn't get that money back.

 

Another option is to go back to the bank and tell them that £100 is not good enough and that you want more.

 

You haven't told us what your losses are and whether this appears on your credit file. If it does appear on your credit file then this is a serious matter and deftly needs to be addressed. If it doesn't appear on your credit file then frankly £100 is not too bad but you could probably push them to improve on the offer.

 

I think that you need to search on your credit file. Also, you need to get an undertaking from the credit card company that none of this is kept on their files.

 

You should write to the Co-op with the relevant rules and tell them that you are giving them an opportunity to change their position or else you will go to the ombudsman.

 

Tell them that you will accept the hundred pounds in part payment.

 

We really need to know what your losses are before advise you further. You probably need to wait a month or so before checking your credit file.

 

In the intervening period you could write to the Co-op and tell them that you are considering a position pending an enquiry of the credit reference agency

[Ford]

ditto

there may be a late payment on yr credit file, so you wld want that removed together with its fee. so, at least 100 + 13 + credit file recitfied. maybe more compensation for their 'mistake' and the inconvenience.

welcome to cag btw

[unco operative bank]

Hi again,

I did not mention in my original post that the Co op bank dishonoured my cheque with the answer "no mandate". This was because even though my wife and I had handed the forms in to their branch in Belfast they had not updated thier computer system in a timely manner, timelines as follows, account openened and welcome to the Co-operative bank letter dated 25/10/14, cheque written on old account on 8/11/2014, switch completed from the Nationwide to the Co-operative dated 13/11/2014 then cheque "dishonoured and debited to my credit card account on 04/12/2014. This means they had the forms with my signature for in excess of a month and had not updated thier computer system.

 

 

Is "no mandate" a recognised "answer" when dishonouring a cheque ?

 

 

The Co-operative Bank say they tried to phone me twice to verify if the cheque had been written by me. both calls made to my home number. One call was recieved by my wife and she told the caller I was at work and asked could she take a message, she was told no and the caller hung up. My wife is a party to this joint account so they could have discussed thw matter with her but chose not to. They held in thier records my work and mobile numbers which they could have contacted me on, but did not try to ring me on either of those numbers. In fact, I believe they put very little effort in to trying to contact me to verify I had written the cheque.

 

 

Does BCOBS apply to the above ?

Moving on to the current account switch guarantee. The Payments council website frequently asked questions has the question "Will switching my current account affect my credit rating ?"

 

 

The answer, "No, providing you repay any outstanding overdraft on your previous account as required by your old bank or building society. If there are any problems with payments (as part of the switching process) your new bank or building society will correct them and ensure your credit rating is not affected."

I am writing to my credit card company as suggested but do you think I can force the Co-operative bank to comply with the current account switch guarantee ?

 

 

I think I will write back to the Co-operative as suggested before progressing the matter on to the Financial Ombudsman service. I believe that if I do not like the ombudsmans decision I can still progress the matter through the small claims route.

 

 

Other things the Co-operative bank failed to do include not telling me they had bounced my cheque which resulted in me raising a complaint against the Nationwide as I had thought it was them that bounced the cheque.

 

 

Also the cheque was made patable to the credit card company followed by my name as the account. eg XYX bank Ltd a/c little old me. They concentrated too hard on the signature missing from thier records and did not see that the drawer of the cheque and the beneficary account payee were one and the same which should have been recognised as meaning minimal risk to the Co-operative bank.

 

 

Sorry to have been so long winded but they had no right to dishonour my cheque !

Edited January 31, 2015 by citizenB

[unco operative bank]

Hi again,

Took on board what Bankfodder said and have written again to the Co operative bank on 16/01/15 requesting they reconsider thier final response, to date not even the courtesy of a reply. Will write to them again tomorrow in view of the information below.

Also wrote to Sygma Bank about my Asda credit card on which the Co op bank bounced my cheque without good reason, the first reply just said they were not going to refund the charge so was forced to write again to see if a late payment had been recorded. The response is as follows:-

 

Dear Mr _____ ____,

 

Thank you for your letter regarding the fees on your account.

 

I'm sorry the previous response didn't answer all your questions. The late fee applied to your account will be kept on our records, and will also be shown on your credit file, and unfortunately I won't be able to amend that.

 

I understand the reason for the late payment wasn't your fault, however as responsible lenders, we have to show a true reflection of your account on your credit file.

 

If you have any further queries please feel free to call me on 0871 704 3362

 

Thanks again for getting in touch. Please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

 

Kind regards

 

______+_________ Customer Service Advisor

Asda Money Credit Card

 

Well I now know that the Co operative bank have put a big black mark on my credit file which shoulkd not be there.

 

I am not happy that this information can not be removed from my credit file and do not think that a notice of correction is sufficient.

Advice and comments will be welcome.

 

Many thanks and Kind regards.

[BankFodder]

Just to let you know that I have spotted and corrected some in my post of 11 January – Post number two which makes the post a bit more sensible.

 

I often use dictation software and sometimes it produces some howlers and afraid that I didn't check closely enough.

 

On the basis of what you say I think that you have an excellent case in BCOBS and if you wanted to go ahead and start a small claim then we would help you.

 

It has become altogether much more serious now as your credit file has been blighted.

[unco operative bank]

Hi BankFodder,

Many thanks for your reply. I have today written again to the Co operative bank complaints department enclosing a copy of the letter from my Asda credit card showing that they have registered a late payment against me. i have also sent a copy of same to the CEO of the Co operative bank.

I am also awaiting information requested by way of a data subject access request to see what nuggets of information it may provide.

I will post again and will certainly consider a small claim but may go via the ombudsman route first.

Kind regards