Help needed please

[midge61]

Hi

I have a problem and wondered if anyone could answer it for me. I used to have an account with HSBC which they very kindly closed in May. On Aug 28th a company called Aqua Pay made a deposit of £250 to my HSBC card and the bank accepted it apparently. 6 weekks on and I am still without my money. HSBC claim they cannot trace the payment so they say that I have to take this up with APbut AP claim that the money has gone from their account so therefore I should take it up with HSBC. AP gave me an ARN number which they claim is commonly used within banking and that with this HSBC can trace the money. However HSBC say they have no idea what this number is and they cannot trace the payment.

So I am very p***ed off and minus £250. What I need to know is:

Who is actually holding the money (and earning interest on it)

Who can I threaten with court action

and what is an ARN number

Many thanks in advance for any help offered

Midge61

[stephenfletcher]

Banks normally have some sort of holding account for such funds.

I don't think court action should be required, I would ask HSBC what information they require in order for them to be able to trace the money. (Unfortunately I don't know anything about ARN numbers).

 

I had something similar a couple of years ago. Turned out the sending party had transposed a couple of the digits of my account number. I think we traced it using the date and the sort code / account number of the other party.

[midge61]

Thanks for the reply.

I will contact HSBC and see what exactly they need to trace the transaction, although when I went in last week they did try to trace it via my account no and sort code and came up with nothing.

[midge61]

Well I contacted HSBC again and they said that they would do a full investigation and then write to me. I had a reply today stating that they can not find any trace of this £250 payment made on 28th Aug and that I should contact Aqua Pay and ask them to put a trace on it. I had already done this and they had said that it was no longer their problem as they had made the payment, the money has gone out of their account and now it was down to the bank arghhhhhhhhhh

So what do I do now! I'm still minus the £250 and nobody wants to take responsibility!

Any ideas as I really don't know where to go now.

Many thanks

[Guest bong]

The way I see it is that it is Aqua Pay's problem even though they say it isn't. Look at it this way, if you owed your credit card your monthly payment and sent it to the wrong place, say your mum's account for instance, so it never arrived, your credit card company would still come after you for the money you owe them, you wouldn't say I've paid it so it's your problem to track it down. Sorry that was a bit long winded wasn't it !? Threaten to sue AP for the money they owe you and I'm sure they will soon find out where it went if they don't want to end up paying twice!!

[bigboyprice69]

Hi Midge,

 

It will be AP's responsibility to trace it, it's all very well them telling you it's left their account but if it didn't arrive at your account it will go to holding for a time (6 weeks I think) then get sent back to their account, so they'll have it to pay back to you.

[midge61]

Hi

Bigboy do you mean that HSBC may hold it and then return it to AP?

[midge61]

Hi

Well this saga is still going on. HSBC wrote and said they couldnt find money go back to AP. Did this got no joy and asked for business name and address to write and complain to. They refused. Rang again and said under Business Names Act they had to provide it so 20 mins later they did! Sent letter a week ago and no answer (no surprise checked companies house and that another story)

Phoned AP again and said this time I would go to Trading Standards.

Surprise Surprise the Manager now going all out to sort it!

Can anyone tell me who are the issuing bank for HSBC debit cards?

[midge61]

sorry to bump

Does anyone know who is the issueing bank for HSBC debit cards?

Thanks

[Guest bong]

Not sure I understand you but isn't it HSBC?

[midge61]

HI

well thats what I thought but I dont have the card anymore to check. The manager from AP has said that she has investigated on my behalf and found out that the co-op bank are the issueing bank of the card but I don't understand this so was trying to check.

Credit cards have an issuing bank and if anything goes wrong you contact the issuers ... apparently not the bank so she says

[midge61]

So apparently they are asking co-op to trace the money and pay it back to them and then AP will transfer it to my bank account.

Don't know if this is flannel tho

[Guest bong]

midge I think I can safely say without any doubt that an HSBC card is not issued by Co-op bank. What were the first two digits of the sort-code? You haven't got your card anymore but it should be on the payment advice slip that comes with the statements if you've kept these.

 

Atleast AP are doing the running now by all appearances..

[midge61]

Thanks Bong will go in loft and have a look tomorrow.

What I understood was that if HSBC had taken payment they would have money in a holding account and after 6 weeks send it back to whoever sent it in first place..... namely AP then they should pass it on to me as they should have done in first place. But obviously that would be too simple!!!!!

Well I going to ring AP once again tomorrow but I have insited that they don't try to do refund on any card but pay straight into my bank account .

Hopefully that easy enough to do!!!!!!

WE shall see.

Thanks for help tho

[midge61]

HI

You know what I've just realised it must have been my Smile account that the card was linked to..........doh! Did't have it for long so forgot about it so I've been chasing wrong bloody bank!!!!

[Guest bong]

Glad you've remembered!

[midge61]

HI

Phoned Smile they can't trace it either. Phoned AP they say they can't do anything until they get the money back THEN and only then will they pay me. Phoned Smile again and they asked for AP to fax a copy of their BACS trace so they can double check. Phoned AP and have asked them to do this. Had no reply so will have to wait to Mon to chase again.

At this rate won't get the money til next Xmas! What a bloody saga