Financial Ombudsman: have you held your bank to account?

Just wondering if any1 in the know is likely to respond or are the ISA regulations just that poor? And will the same poor regulations going to cover NISAs too.

Looking at the T&C’s for some other kids accounts that the Coventy are offering, it would seem a common condition of theirs.

See http://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/savings-accounts/home.aspx

Just be grateful they didn’t open a Junior Cash ISA as withdrawals aren’t permitted until the age of 18.

The issue wasn’t the withdrawal of funds, it was the movement of the money from one savings account to another one. Basically they have no competition as the money is ‘trapped’ in their account so they don’t bother to give a good interest rate.

However, I’ve seen the new which petition so its obviously a massive issue for all savers.

Hello John

Many thanks for the question.

The majority of cases we handle involve amounts much smaller than the maximum limit we can award – and this means they are not affected by the limit on how much compensation we can tell a business to pay.

However, as you may know, we can tell the financial business to pay compensation of up to the maximum limit – £150,000, but we cannot tell it to pay any further amount in excess of this. We can only ask if it would be willing to do this – sometimes it will and sometimes it won’t.

If not, the other option is to take the business to court instead and it can award unlimited compensation.

Here’s a link to our website with some info on the subject which I think may help: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/factsheets/compensation-over-100000.pdf

Thanks
Shane

Hello Richard

I’m really sorry to hear you’re unhappy with how we handled the case you mention – but glad you got it sorted out in the end at the same time.

I’m not sure exactly what happened or why we didn’t take the steps you did to get the bank to pay back the money – but I can assure you that we do try to look at all the evidence and give the right answer to each individual complaint. But once more, sorry this isn’t the case with you.

Thanks
Shane

Hello Shane
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
You use the expression “the evidence”, but how does the FOS view evidence?
In one case where I was assisting the cardholder to recover a disputed transaction the police asked the retailer for some information, then gave it to the bank who then gave it to you – and you accepted it as evidence.
But in another case when a business colleague of the victim of fraudulent transactions worth over £15,000 provided you with a sworn statement of the events of that particular evening when he had been with the cardholder all evening, you said that you couldn’t accept it because you had no way of validating the statement.
This is very one-sided!
Also when I made a submission in a case to the FOS you sent it to the bank and allowed them to comment. But when they replied you accepted their request that I should not be shown their reply.
How one-sided is that?
If you aren’t even handed then how can we have confidence in the process?

You should forward spam texts to 7726 if you’re with O2, Orange and T-mobile; its 87726 for Vodafone and Three its 37726.

I would suggest checking the ICO website but they only list 7726 and unless they’ve all changed to using that then the ICO is wrong.

Hello Sue

I hope you’re well and thanks for the question.

Yes, we can and do look at loads of complaints against loan companies – and I do appreciate how frustrating this is for anyone. If you’ve asked them to stop doing it and they haven’t, I would suggest having a look at the Telephone Preference Service: http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html

I hope this helps!

Thanks
Shane

Hugh, you might find this helpful.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/may/04/banks-pin-card-fraud

Thanks, but my issue was about profiteering through excessive share dealing spreads,and conflict of interest.

Hello Gavin

Thanks for the comment – though sorry to hear you feel a bit let down by our service.

At the ombudsman, it’s our job to look at individual complaints – and I’m glad that in your case we were able to help you get it sorted out. But ordering the banks to change how they do things isn’t really a job for us – but the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We work closely with the FCA and pass over information on any trends or poor practice that we spot – but we are not able to change a business’s process.

I hope this helps clear things up.

Thanks
Shane

Hi Richard,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

I have never banked with Tesco.

Over a number of days several letters arrived from Tesco confirming opening of 4 new accounts and requesting I complete documentation within 30 days to confirm the accounts. A bank card was also delivered. Confirmation of an opening balance of over £6k was confirmed for one of the accounts. I have no idea if any transactions were carried out or if the accounts were indeed frozen.

I wanted an explanation from Tesco of how these accounts could be set up so easily in my name ie. was it as simple as confirming details from the electoral roll – genuine details eg. DOB were accurate.

I also requested information relating to the funds lodged in the account and confirmation that these funds could not have been intended for me eg an intercepted cheque or diverted funds from any of my accounts.

To this date I have had no update from Tesco relating to their investigation or information relating to the funds deposited.

I had to undertake a number of steps to ensure that my security was not further compromised as a result of these bogus accounts eg Experian searches, CIFAS registration etc, reports to police and completion of fraud documentation etc – all of which involved considerable time and expense.

I would be satisfied to know that procedures for setting up on-line accounts had been tightened up. I would be prepared to accept an apology. I would like to be absolutely sure that I had not lost funds. It would be nice if I was compensated for the time and expense of resolving a situation that was not of my making.

Hello William

Thanks for the message. Sorry for the delay – the length of time it takes a case to get sorted out does vary significantly. However, I’ve just spoken to the person handling it, and I get the impression it won’t be all that much longer before an ombudsman has a chance to look at it.

I’ve also asked that she gets in touch directly to give you an update on things.

I hope this helps.

Thanks
Shane

Hello Shane

Thank you for your response and I am pleased that the matter will be resolved shortly. William

National Savings doesn’t do it that way. They give you good notice of upcoming maturity and ask you how you want the payment, preferring you to elect for a direct transfer to a bank account. Reinvesting the sum in another NS product is just as straightforward. Other institutions probably think either that their customers are getting such a poor return that the lost interest is negligible or that the amounts paid out are so large that a few quids worth of lost interest is not worth worrying about.

My “mis-sold” endowment policy, (£30K), matured mid October. The funds were not available to me for over three weeks – losing me an investment I had hoped to make in RM shares.

Lack of access to your capital for three weeks after maturity is not good enough and worthy of redress is some form. It’s more than just system admininistrative inefficiency, it’s tantamount to unauthorised witholding or retention of funds [but I bet there’s a let-out in the small print of the T&C’s].

Yet again, this time from Aberdeen:-

“Providing we have received all the required documents from you, we will send you a cheque four business days after the date we sold your holding. Please note that if you sell your investment over the telephone or you are a joint holder we may require a written authority before we can release the proceeds. We do not currently offer the facility to have deal proceeds paid by BACS. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. We can send your cheque direct to a UK Bank for them to pay into your account. Please confirm in your instruction if you wish to do this. ”

This is blatant robbery!

A small victory:-

I e-mailed Aberdeen Customer Services last Wednesday enquiring as to how to cash in my investment. They responded yesterday, (Monday), with info posted above. I e-mailed them again last night expressing my displeasure and copying therm in on an e-mail I had sent to my MP.

Lo and behold I receive a phone call at home at 10am this morning. As a special favour, just for me, they will offer me a BACS transfer. However I will have to provide them, by post, proof of my bank account details:- a recent statement, (I am totally paperless), or a cancelled cheque, (again I have not written a cheque in over 5yrs). Even then they could not guarantee the BACS would be effected on the day of my sale……..

Better than nothing I suppose………..

Hi Ronnie
You have explained that the accounts were set-up in your name but I need some more details if I am to help you.
Did you already bank with Tesco?
How did you find out about the accounts?
How are they linked to you? e.g your full name, your home address, linked to an existing account?
How much money has gone into or been taken from the account(s)?
What action do you want Tesco to take? e.g. a letter confirming that they know that it was not you and the accounts have been frozen? Or what?
Regards
Richard Emery