Lodgement f*** up by bank

bullrunner

My girlfriend went into BOI in blackrock yesterday to lodge money to my account. To do this she went up to the counter and gave the teller her card and asked them to withdraw the money from her account.At the same time she gave the teller a lodgement slip. Instead of the teller processing this as a cash withdrawal from one boi account and a cash lodgement to another boi account the teller put this through as a credit transfer...meaning I cannot access the transferred funds until they have cleared!!!

I noticed the problem first on the website when i tried to transfer the money to savings. I queried this with the helpdesk and they told me (over the phone) that it was because it was lodged in a bank which wasnt the same branch as mine and would take till the end of the day to clear !!(complete lie!)

When I talked to the girl responsible for booking the lodgement she kept telling me that it was my girlfriends fault...even though she clearly asked for cash to be withdrawn from her account and lodged to mine!

As you would imagine i'm not overly impressed by all this and am not prepared to let this be. Anybody got any suggestions as to what I should do?

Slice

Do you both bank with the same bank?

Sad Professor

to be honest - nothing. it was mistake. since you weren't there you don't know for certain who's fault it was. your girlfriend was obviously misunderstood. surely you can wait a day.

bullrunner

Firstly..we both bank at the same bank.(but not the same branch)

Secondly I was there and heard what had happened.

My point is that the bank have use of my money for 3 days while I dont....I dont know about anybody else but I dont think that is fair/acceptable.

I could have earned interest on this money (while the bank most certainly did).

dudara

Lodgement of cash in a bank to an account, even if not in that branch, should appear by close of business day. (or at least it does for me, with the Bank of Ireland).

I don't know if complaining will do much good though

bullrunner

Thats the thing, I can see it lodged to the account and it has increased my account balance, but should I try to withdraw the money it will not allow me to because the lodgement has not cleared.

I remember a couple of months back BOI had a similar system wide problem (which happened the day I got paid!) where lodgements were 'stuck' in their system for a couple of days.

I'm wondering if this has happened again or is it just incompetence on the tellers part?

Sad Professor

I'd say its just waiting to be cleared. it should do so by the end of the day. any time i've transfered to another boi account, its instant. but they were the same branch. Different branches, same bank shouldn't take more than a day. but its boi so...

bullrunner

Sad Professor..it was lodged midday yesterday. As is was taking cash from one account and lodging to another it should be effective from the moment it is lodged.

iguana

A similar thing happened to me a few years ago except that the money was coming from my savings account into my current account. I withdrew the money from the savings account and lodged it into my current account, then I went on holiday and ate into my overdraft as they did had not done as I asked.

When I came home and realised this I was so mad, I used this bank for business also and they were constantly f*cking up. Arguing with the bank manager should have been listed in my job description.

So anyway I took my complaint to the customer service desk, just before lunch time when the bank gets very busy. And I told them what happened and that I wanted to be refunded any interest I was charged on my overdraft. They were dismissive, and said they would 'see what they could do' and they asked me to stand aside so they could deal with the next customer.

I refused to do move, I told them I was not going to step out of the queue and be forgotten about. The person who was dealing with me would have to continue dealing with me until the matter was rectified, their growing queue was not my problem. So she looked up my account and condesendingly said "it's only 69c." I said it is my 69c and I want it back. So they refunded me.

The key is to go in as they are about to get busy, near closing time is good too. And stand your ground, know your facts, and don't allow them to get rid of you without sorting it out. It might be a small issue, but banks do this kind of thing constantly because they continue to get away with it. And if you had a direct debit that was 1c short they would charge you a penalty charge.