Bank froze account

KdjaCL

Missus had her account frozen over unpaid overdraft which she doesnt have, BOI told her they sent her legal letters and her account was frozen (3 grand in it) over an unpaid overdraft(wouldnt say for how much or when).

After an hour and half on the phone to various people and the mortage not being paid due to this they said it was a "clerical error" and very sorry etc: She never received a single letter from them.

Now the mortage people have been in contact asking why it wasnt paid and she has to prove to them the account was frozen (1st time ever missed).

The account is back online after 3 days out, Sky also not paid so extra fiver resetting that back up for next month.

Any recourse?


kdjac

NeoRox

The first thing that came in to my head when I read your post was: has your credit rating been affected due to missing a mortgage payment?

I'm not certain of this but I have heard of people's credit rating being affected by missing a loan payment, not sure if this situation is the same though. I would get your bank to contact the mortgage company (if different) to officially rectify the matter.

bennyx_o

IIRC, missed payments effect your credit rating. Info on this site. I think it says somewhere it can be changed in the case of a genuine mistake, which the OPs situation seems to be.

gerrycollins

with BOI my experience was to moan,grump,complain,O woe is me a few times to customer services and ask for written apology,you will go to the papers anything you can moan about do it. it got me two months free loan repayments a while back

if you know someone in another bank they can run a check on you as if your applying for a loan and any marks against you will show, they will be unable to tell exactly what the marks are for but it will put you at peace of mind knowing that there are none against you, if there are then BOI can get them removed

Absolut

At the risk of sounding overzealous, get in contact with a solicitor and send a letter detailing what's happened so far, what they have (and haven't) done and that you're very unhappy with the situation and ready to bring it further. Demand, at the very least, that they send letters of explanation to anybody that missed out on payment, like your mortgage provider and sky, making sure that there's no record of your missed payment. Also it wouldn't hurt to seek some kind of monetary compensation.

Exactly the same thing has happened to two members of my family (more than once). The bank involved ignored everything except a solicitors letter, and even then they had to be threatened with court action.

naitkris

have you been with BoI long? is this the first problem you've had with them? if you have been with them long then you are in a much stronger bargaining position and banks do not want to lose loyal customers especially.

if you arrange to meet with your branch manager in person whenever you next plan to visit your branch, bring up this issue with him/her mentioning the time and money that you have lost over this "clerical error" and hopefully they will reimburse to you any financial loss you incurred (providing you have statements from Sky etc to back it up).

and if you are not helped, you can say that you are unhappy with the situation and wish to close your account and move to another bank. i doubt it will get that far though so long as you are friendly etc. meeting bank personnel in person for a meeting is a much better way to sort complicated matters out compared to over the phone etc.