Barclays wrongly taken 'right to offset' urgent help needed

[Muffintop]

My husband had a business which ceased trading

as a result of this my husband had a loan, which he had to pay back to the bank, to pay all the debts, which the bank called in the (overdraft) he had been given.

He was a sole trader,

. He was supposed to be paying £200PCM via direct debit

he would transfer money to this account or pay in cheques to cover the payments.

The cheques that went into the account were made payable to *****

He was apparently four months behind on payments but was unaware of this.

 

He works for his father’s business now, and is a signatory on the account.

His father is the director and this is a limited company.

Both accounts for both companys are held with Barclays,

obviously separate accounts and account numbers,

with no connection between the two companys.

 

In October he went to the bank in order to pay cheques x 3 into his fathers business which is the limited company,

the cheques were made out to this company.

Somehow my husband who had a paying in book for his old company in his drawer,

managed to complete the wrong paying in book and presented the cashier without him knowing three separate cheques which were made out to his fathers business.

The cashier did not pick up on this error and they got accepted and paid into his sole trader business account via the banking system.

This account is in a completely different name so there could be no confusion. These cheques have cleared.

 

My father noticed that there had not been a deposit into the company bank account and queried this with me,

I checked the paying in books and realised I had made an error and rang the bank.

I was told that they couldn’t deal with the issue at the branch and I had to contact the Head Office Complaints Department and generate a complaint.

I did this and was given a reference number and was told this could take 10 – 12 days.

I rang again a week later and was told because I am a signatory on both accounts they can keep the money because my account was in arrears!

 

Its like a cheque being paid out to fred blogs but its paid into a completely different persons account but the bank says well sorry we have taken it now.

 

I understand the right to offset but this isn’t the right to offset rules.

the way I see it as my fathers business is a substantial amount of money down which is affecting his business, c

ausing bank charges and interest being lost.

I should be able to claim all of these costs back.

 

Can someone advice me what to do quickly,

I think put it in writing but to who?

And to speak to FOS but I also think put in a civil claim now.

 

Advise urgently pls people greatly appreciated.

[dx100uk]

i'll let slick132 comment.

 

dx

[Muffintop]

thanks has Slick got view of this or do I need to pm him as we desperately want to get ball moving on this one

[lookinforinfo]

I should go back to the Complaints department tell them that not only has the bank wrongly accepted "account payee only cheques" into another account, but the cheques should have

gone into a limited Company. I think that the Inland Revenue would be interested in that so tell your bank you want those cheques reallocated to the correct account now.

[slick132]

Hi Mtop,

 

Firstly, I would make an urgent complaint to the FOS and see if they'll intervene quickly to resolve the issue.

 

We often advise against using the FOS but, in an instance like this, they may help if you can explain briefly and clearly how the bank have tried to Off-Set where they clearly have no right to do so.

 

I'd also raise an urgent complaint to Barclays HQ keeping it clear and short, perhaps enclosing a chronological list showing the critical events. Ask that they intervene to remedy the situation, failing which you'll have no alternative but to take court action using the BCOBs Regulations.

 

[andrew1]

Hi Muffintop, Thanks for the PM. I don't think I can add much to what LFI and slick have said. This is clearly totally and utterly incorrect of Barclays to do this. What I might be doing if this were my account is telephoning Barclays and going further and further up the pecking order until I reached someone who had both the knowledge and ability to correct this.

 

I don't know which banks these cheques were drawn on, but my cheque book states on the line where one writes in the name who the cheque is made out to " PAY.....................

 

Now if Barclays in their ultimate wisdom have paid someone else and as LFI states, this is probably a crossed cheque Account Payee only, then Barclays are clearly breaking every rule in the book. This means they could pay any cheque into any account....(how about paying it into mine?) No seriously, just create merry-hell on the telephone all the way up the ladder. That's where I would start. have your arguments well versed and do not waiver.

 

Obviously using the wrong paying in book hasn't helped and you must acknowledge that when speaking, but they are the professionals and should have the savi to realise their error too.

 

Good luck.

 

A1

[lookinforinfo]

Whilst the account payee part is important, the biggest no no is to pay limited company cheques into any account other than that particular company account. That is

where Barclays would be in serious trouble if they do not rectify that.

Of course there is no right of set off either. Three nil against the bank. Andrew is right-keep escalating until you get someone who understands the mess they are in.

I would have thought one of the bank or exbank members on here would have jumped in by now.

[lookinforinfo]

I think your Father should contact his local Trading standards office as the bank are acting unfairly [and possibly unlawfully] by offsetting his limited company money with

a debt on a Sole account where the two companies cannot possibly be connected. And failing to reimburse a relative of a debtor when the relative was not a party to the debt.

It is also unfair to communicate in an inaccurate or misleading manner ie stating that they can offset when they cannot.

 

Up to you all to decide whether to write to the bank outlining that you intend to question their right to a Consumer Credit Licence with the OFT if they don't regularise the situation

or go straight to TS