how I can get deposit back

[rennai]

Ladies/Gentlemen

 

Last year I paid £200 refundable hostel accomodation deposit (from credit card) for a friend coming to UK for studies, of which he had refunded me. I paid for him because Uni preferred payment from UK Bank Account holder.

 

Problem: At end of academic yr the university said they paid back deposit into account used in making payment which is now closed. I asked university to cancel payment immediately they notified me of refundment but, they insisted that we wait for payment to bounced back to themselves. After about 1 month it hasn't bounced back.

 

I've asked university to contact Bank for return of payment but, they said I'd be the one to call bank, that bank advised them that the money is kept in a holding/suspense account.

 

I'd appreciate any advice/suggestions, Thanks. Please note that I'm a family man with wife and kids facing extreme financial difficulties, as such I'm unable to repay my friend.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I've moved your thread to the consumer issues forum, where I hope you'll get some answers. People should be along over the course of the day.

 

There will be a short term redirect from the Welcome forum where you first posted.

 

My best, HB

[rennai]

Thanks HB

[Migster]

So the money is with the credit card company? Why don't you just contact them, explain the situation and ask them to send you a cheque (or payment by some other means)?

[steampowered]

It sounds like the money was refunded to the credit card. The credit card is not necessarily linked to a bank account.

 

Are you 100% sure that the credit card account is closed? Could the card have stayed active even after you closed your current account? Best to check.

[ericsbrother]

Who owns the account that it is in (suspense account) If you then chase the bank but if another person them chase the uni. They are just being a bit lazy on this one really.

[rennai]

From: Uni

To: me

Subject: RE: Online Refund made by Uni

Dear.....

I have now spoken to our Finance Clerk, and have also called Halifax.

 

As I suspected, Halifax will only deal directly with the account holder, and would not release any information to me.

Our Finance Clerk has advised me that you need to call Halifax, and ask them if there is a payment in a suspense account which relates to the account which was closed.

Please be advised that you will need the details of the closed account in order to be able to do this.

Halifax should then be able to locate the money, and release it to you.

 

Our Finance Clerk has also promised to keep looking into your case, but since the money has left our account and has not been returned to us, there is very little else that we are able to do.

 

I can only apologise again that this is taking so long to resolve, and offer my continued support if there is anything else that I can do.

Please let me know the outcome when you have contacted Halifax, so that I can report back to our Finance Clerk.

 

Please do contact us if you have any further queries.

 

From: me To: uni

I can confirm that we've not received said deposit back.

My friend doesn't have UK bank account at the moment, so if any refund is made it would be into my UK bank account, then I'd in turn give the money to my friend. My friend and I have been waiting for this refund to be made into the bank account I stated in the deposit refund form submitted to yourself.

 

I reiterate that the Account in which you refunded this deposit into have long been closed, and I don't know why it didn't bounced back to yourselves.

However, I suggest that you contact the bank concern to return this money to yourselves so that my friend would have his money back as it's long overdue.

 

From: uni

To: me

I am writing to enquire as to whether you or your friend have received his deposit refund yet.

Since it has been over a month since we refunded the deposit, and it has not yet bounced back to us, I can only assume that it is in a holding account at the bank with which you held an account, or that it has been successfully refunded.

 

Please contact me to let me know if you have still not received the funds, and I will look into the situation further.

 

From: Me To: uni

.....I don't understand the rationale behind waiting for payment to be returned or rejected, when you could easily stop or cancel payment and reimburse me.

 

Given that it's over a year when I paid this deposit, I'd have appreciated it if I had been given any kind of notice before the refund was made, that would've prevented this incorrect payment issues.

 

 

From: uni To: me

.....Unfortunately, we have already sent the payment, and will therefore have to wait until it is rejected before we can pay it again, which can take up to 10 days.

 

However, if you fill in and return the attached form, then once it has been rejected we will then make the payment to your new account.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.

 

From: me To: uni

With reference to your mail below.

I regret to notify your Uni department which made this refund that the credit card account I used in paying accommodation deposit was closed months ago; as such I'm not able to receive or confirm receipt of this refund.

 

To ensure that I receive this refund on behalf of my friend, may I therefore request you to please stop, cancel or retrieve this refund so that I'd provide you with alternative UK Current Bank Account or Debit Card for said refund.

I'm also able to receive this refund via my paypal account or a cheque.

 

From: uni To: me

 

I am pleased to confirm that a refund of x amount has been made to your card.

 

This refund is in relation to reference:#########.

 

Please Note: It may take 3-5 working days for the refund to show in your bank account.

 

thanks for your replies migster, steampowered and ericsbrother:

I've just posted the mails trail between said university and myself, to provide details.

 

The university staff said the bank told her that the money is in suspense account.

The fact is that the Bank (creditor) closed this credit card account and ask me to return their card which I did; they closed the account because I couldn't maintain the monthly repayment due to financial hardship, I offered the Bank what I'm able to pay (which they're not happy with but, I'm paying just that per month, at the moment).

 

Who owns the account that it is in (suspense account) If you then chase the bank but if another person them chase the uni. They are just being a bit lazy on this one really.

 

So the money is with the credit card company? Why don't you just contact them, explain the situation and ask them to send you a cheque (or payment by some other means)?

 

Yes, the credit card account was definitely closed, card cut into two and sent back to the bank.

[dx100uk]

phone the credit card company

 

the account may well be closed

 

however this does not preclude a section 75 refund on the original payment.

you need to get them involved.

 

dx

[steampowered]

The university cannot "stop" or "cancel" a payment. Card payments are not like cheques. The money has already left the university's account and been sent to the recipient bank.

 

As the money has been sent to you, it is understandable that Halifax will not talk to the univeristy. I do not think you can rely on the university to sort this out - you have to get in touch with the bank to find out more.

[rennai]

Yes, the money has been sent to "recipient bank2 but not to me, as the account I hold with said bank has been closed; I do not receive any statement and the outstanding balance has also been transferred to DCA, who I now pay offered payment directly to.

I'm wondering?

 

1. If I call the bank, which account number will I be talking about....A SUSPENCE ACCOUNT! My thinking is that since they paid the money to the bank and it's in suspense, they can also talk about payment which didn't entered into the beneficiary account they intended. Noting also that the doesn't belong to me but a friend who doesn't have a UK Bank account at the time. If the bank refuses to talk to the university for an account which I hold that is not closed then I'd understand.

 

2. The bank hasn't notified me that they're holding any money sent to me by the university, so how am I sure they made payment to the bank.

 

Assuming they made payment to the bank, my question is, does the bank has the power to withhold said money given that I've not missed offered monthly payment I promised after also sending them my budget sheet, etc?

 

 

The university cannot "stop" or "cancel" a payment. Card payments are not like cheques. The money has already left the university's account and been sent to the recipient bank.

 

As the money has been sent to you, it is understandable that Halifax will not talk to the univeristy. I do not think you can rely on the university to sort this out - you have to get in touch with the bank to find out more.

[steampowered]

There are four stages to a banking transaction. (1) Customer instructs bank A to transfer money. (2) Bank A sends the money. (3) Bank B receives the money. (4) Bank B allocates the money to an account, holds it in suspense or returns it to Bank A. There can also be an extra step if an intermediary bank sits between Bank A and Bank B.

 

Based on what the university are saying, your money reached the third stage. The money is held by Bank B. Whether Bank B is holding the money in a suspense account, or whether it has allocated the money towards paying off your debt, is impossible to say. Neither the university nor Bank A is able to reverse the transaction as the money has already been received by Bank B.

 

I would think the best way to resolve this is to call Bank B and ask. You can try using your old account number. If that doesn't work you will need to obtain details of the original transfer instruction (i.e. date, time, account to which it was sent and any reference number) from the university.

 

It is likely that Bank B does have the power to keep the money and use it to pay down your debt. You won't know if this is what has happened until you ask.

[rennai]

Thanks Dx, but what exactly is section 75 refund?

Yes, the credit card account was definitely closed, card cut into two and sent back to the bank.

 

thanks dx, please give me details of section 75 refund?

phone the credit card company

 

the account may well be closed

 

however this does not preclude them from doing a section 75 refund

on the original payment.

you need to get them involved.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/31/creditcards-31.htm

 

might be useful, no harm in asking

 

dx

[MissyNA]

I worked for RBS and I do know for a fact that it will stay in the suspense account until claimed.

 

As it was your card, you have to ask for the refund and will be asked for proof of ownership of this credit card, which is not hard to obtain.

 

Once that has been established, the refund should take no longer than 7 working days.

 

Make sure you have all details to hand to make it as easy as possible for them to process.

 

Sometimes banking clerks make the processes within sound intricate but this is not not, just terminology.

 

Please don't worry, just call them with all details and the refund should be prompt, providing they are a reputable company.

 

Hope this helps. x

[rennai]

This is very helpful MissyNA

[MissyNA]

No problem.

 

I hope it helps you.

 

Oh I forgot to mention that they can also send the payment back to the account that sent once you give them reqd info.

 

Personally, I would get them to refund yourself though.

 

Good luck x

[rennai]

Hi MissyNA and all,

 

I contacted Halifax via telephone to request for refund.

 

They said the money received from the University was used to reduce the balance (debt) on closed credit card account.

 

I asked why I wasn't informed upon receipt of said payment and their decision to withhold money/ use money to 'set off' debt , they said if I want they can send me statement.

 

As I insisted on being refunded Halifax staff said I should contact the DCA to see if they'd refund.

 

The truth is:

-since they wrote me that account is closed and transferred to DCA on May 2013, they stop sending me statement.

-the payment from uni was July 2013, and neither the DCA nor Halifax wrote me to acknowledge receipt of money from uni

and advise of new balance less £200 paid back into my credit card by the uni.

 

Any further suggestion would be appreciated, many thanks.

[MissyNA]

Sorry for such late reply - I have been so busy with uni work.

 

Unfortunately, you will have to take the brunt of this.

 

If the payment was refunded back to the card and it had an outstanding balance, this would be paid to the debt whether or not it has been passed to DCA.

 

Sorry it is not the news you want to hear x