RBOS Unclearing a Cheque!

[spuzzcake]

Hello All,

 

I paid a cheque in at my RBOS Account which cleared yesterday. It was for £500, last night at 11.50 pm I withdrew £300 and at 12.10 I withdrew the last £200. This morning my internet banking is showing the cash withdrawals along with the £500 leaving my account for the cheque not clearing! So my balance now sits at MINUS £500! It's like RBOS have uncleared a cheque that I've taken all the funds out for. I am on my way to the branch this afternoon to see what's going on. Has anyone come across this before? Does anyone know why this may have happened? Am I entitled to the £500 from the cheque or will I be expected to bring the account back to £0 myself? I have Incapacity benefit going into that account tomorrow which I won't be able to access if it's overdrawn as I have no overdraft facility!

 

Mark.

[spuzzcake]

I went to the branch who have basically said that I will have to pay back the £500! They are (kindly!) waving the charges for going overdrawn but I will still be charged interest. I have lodged a complaint and they are going to get back to me.... Anybody come across this before?!

[121o121]

Had the cheque been returned unpaid (in other words had it bounced)?

 

It had definately cleared? There is a difference between 'available balance' and 'account balance'...

[orfoster]

Yeh this sucks but im sure somewhere i've seen on their websites that any payment by cheque is subject to 24hours clearance, they can withdraw the funds from your account if there are any problems with it so yeh you will have to pay it back.

[anon1]

Have you contacted the person who gave you the money to get the money off them, after all, they haven;t been debited with £500.00 so they still owe you the money. Just a thought

[lookinforinfo]

Spuzzcake, you are way short of details at the moment.

First of all-the cheque- was it a personal cheque, do you know the person who gave it to you, when did you bank it and was it drawn on another

RBOS branch or even a building society.

 

Did your bank tell you why the cheque had not been paid?

[spuzzcake]

Of course it had cleared or I wouldn't have been able to withdraw it! I withdrew it from a cash machine. The day before it said Balance £500.00 Available £0.00. Then just before I withdrew the money it said Balance £500.00 Available £500.00. Then the next working say they are saying it hadn't actually cleared and has now bounced. Why would I be able to withdraw the money if the cheque hadn't cleared in the first place?!

 

My problem is with the bank just now as I will struggle to get hold of the person who send the cheque.

[spuzzcake]

The cheque was a personal cheque. I don't know the person who sent it. I paid it in on Monday at 9am. It was sent from an HBOS customer. The bank did not tell me why it had not cleared but can only presume insufficient funds. They won't put him £500 over his limit but they will do it to me!

 

I have written a letter to HBOS to pass on to the person who sent me the cheque.

[lookinforinfo]

You may be in luck and it is being returned marked "please represent", in

which case it might get paid next week. I am surprised your branch did not

tell you the reason for the return, though you will know tomorrow.

[spuzzcake]

I have been told it's not being represented but will be sent to my home address "REFER TO DRAWER"

 

Is there anything I can do at all with RBOS. Surely they are in the wrong letting me access the money then taking it back!

[121o121]

Well to be honest if they have agreed to waive the charges implied on your account because of this, I don't think they'll do anymore about it. Wait and see how they handle your complaint.

 

What you can do however is try and find the person who's cheque is it. Do you mind me asking what the cheque was for? (ie. was it an eBay purchase etc)?

 

You obviously have the name of the person and if you have a rough idea where they live you could do a trace. If you can find them you can then take it further.

[spuzzcake]

I am doing all I can to contact the person but in the meantime I want to find out how they can let me access the funds and then a day later take them back! I have read through all the T & C's but there is nothing about reclaiming a cheque like this...

[lookinforinfo]

I think you are wasting your time working along that line. The banks are

aware that it takes too long to clear cheques at the moment, and your

bank has taken the view that as the vast majority of cheques do clear, that

they will take a risk and treat cheques as being cleared a day early which

is a bonus to many of their customers.

In your case though, you are in the confusing position of being told that

it is cleared, and then its not. But the fact is that you paid in a cheque

that has not been honoured. So you do owe the bank the £500. They have

been considerate in not imposing bank charges. Especially as you withdrew

all the money so quickly after it "cleared," since they could be forgiven if

they felt there was an element of collusion involved. Doubtless your meeting

with the bank on the Thursday allayed those fears.

[lookinforinfo]

Errrrmmm.... Karnevil, are you sure you are not confusing that with when a

cheque is treated as being out of date?

I may need Natweststaffmember to correct me here, and of course it would

depend on the reason for the return.

In cases of a forged signature or fraud, I am not sure that there would be a time limit at all.

But when a return is for lack of funds, stopped cheques etc, there is a

definite time limit. I am talking about situations where the cheque is drawn

on one bank and paid into another. I accept that when building societies

who are not part of the bank clearing system, are involved it may take longer

to clear cheques.

If you pay in a cheque on a Monday, then the latest it will be accepted as

a late return is the Friday of the same week. Obviously postal strikes and

a major breakdown in banks computer systems might cause a temporary

change in that rule.

[anon1]

You are right on the clearing thingy because a cheque can be returned at any point if there is fraud on the account. It is true that you can draw on a cheque from the atm prior to it actually being cleared. The leaflet on charges and fees would have details of the clearing cycle. Cheques are considered out of date after 6 calender months.