I would advise anyone who uses internet banking to pay their regular credit card and other bills to check their recent statements carefully.
Just before Xmas I paid one of my credit card bills from Bank B in the usual way using the standard Internet "Faster Payment" procedure (as I do every month) using an account with Bank A. When I received my January credit card statement from Bank B the payment wasn't there. At first I thought I'd overlooked it (not unknown
) or paid it into the wrong account (possible as my wife has a similar credit card account and I deal with both). However, Bank A assures me that it
was paid into the correct account at Bank B whereas Bank B insist that it wasn't and is trying to charge me interest etc for a missed payment.
What amazes me about this is that each bank tells me to sort the problem out with the other bank. It seems to me that
they are the ones who need to sort it out between themselves - and that their IT technicians are probably the ones who need to investigate.
Also, where has the money gone? Bank A says it is probably in a temporary "holding" or "suspense" account with Bank B. The people I spoke to at Bank B didn't seem to know such a thing existed. Perhaps this is the tip of a massive bank fraud and someone is pocketing thousands of "missing" payments?
I'm now waiting for written evidence from Bank A that the payment was made so I can take the evidence to Bank B. Yes, "take" - I intend to physically take it to Bank B as I certainly wouldn't consider sending it by post to them - they would probably only claim they hadn't received that either...
My guess is a foul-up at Bank B but I'm not sure. Watch this space.
Anyone else had a similar experience recently?
