missing money

[calmseeker]

I transfer money from my home country fairly regularly. It is not alot just a few £100 every two months or so to pay the rent. There is nothing illegal or dodgy about it. I did this as usual in January. I do it so regularly that I have it as something I can do online in a few minutes. I have the transfer set so that I do not have to regularly reenter account numbers etc. The last transfer 'went missing' it was debited (and still is) from the host bank but has not been lodged in my UK account. I have spent hours trying to sort out the problem. I have had the funds tracked and the money was at some interim bank account. This all happened about a month ago. I do need the funds to pay my rent plus I am completely fed up. What should I do know? I think both banks have taken a lax apathetic sort of approach and am frankly angry that I have been left to attempt to sort out a problem which one of the two banks is responsible for.

[mynameissecret]

Is it sorted now?

[antimatter]

Have you tried using paypal?

[cdtaylornats]

I would suggest you write to both banks informing them that without resolution within a week you intend to contact both the police and banking regulators in each country at that date.

[sooperdooper]

Why would PayPal be any use when the bank have lost the transaction?

Have you logged an official complaint with both banks? Do that asap and find out about reporting it to the financial ombudsman, it's their responsibility to investigate if the banks aren't doing enough

[antimatter]

I believe that transaction using Paypal simplifies transfer.
You transfer from one bank account to Paypal and Paypal transfers it to another.

No other steps. I am recommending Paypal as have used it for many years for international transfer to other countries and never had any issues with it. It is always very fast.

[sooperdooper]

antimatter this transaction has already been done through a bank and it's lost, the OP isn't asking for ideas of how to make a transfer

[JillyR2015]

Is it just delayed?
I did a bank transfer to Panama about 1 - 2 years ago and the recipient had given me his bank details of a bank account which had been closed - they close them there if there are no transactions for 3 months on an account! So the money was in limbo. What I did was find the right person at Nat West who deals with that. As there was no such account where it was sent after about 3 weeks it got sent back okay. It is not a fast process and in that case also went via an intermediary bank in NY too.

You need to find out who had the money at each stage of the transfer to work out who was at fault.

Obviously check you put the right account number in even if you just do it automatically from the time before. It sounds like your case is simpler than mine as it was from your account abroad to your account in the UK. Did it go say from a Nat West abroad to a Nat West here or are there quite a few banks involved? If your bank abroad sent it to the wrong account despite your clear instruction that would their fault.

It always seems to come down to if you get a helpful person on the phone. With mine I had to send faxes of all things as the transfer people use fax !!! and that seemed to speed things up and help in my case.

[calmseeker]

It was from HSBC to the ANZ in Australia. The money is at some intermediary bank. I have contacted both banks. No bank has accepted responsibility. Do I then contact an ombudsman in both countries. I am prepared to do so but the prospect must surely be time consuming and stressful. I am a single mother with a job and a young child so do not have a lot of time.

[calmseeker]

Actually I mean it was from the ANZ to HSBC,

[starfishmummy]

It seems most logical to start with the bank that sent the money.as presumably they sent it to the wrong place?

[JillyR2015]

Start with ANZ -you have your contract with them and they were bound to get the money to the right place. I would call them each day, email and fax them, rather than go off to an ombudsman which might take 6 months to decide to deal with your case. Just keep trying to get through to the ANZ department which deals with sending money. In my case it was fax which was the means they wanted all the paperwork sent in so I did it and they found the money.

[Justatoe]

The responsibility is with ANZ to trace the money. Call them up & ask them to put a trace on it & then follow up with them every two days. It should get it moving quickly. Your UK bank can't do much until it is with them.

[antimatter]

yes, I agree - I misread OP's post

[calmseeker]

The ANZ has done a trace and told me it is in some intermediary bank. I have told them repeatedly I want it back in my account. The trace was done about 3 weeks ago.

[ivykaty44]

I had trouble with ANZ and emailed them continually until they eventually put in order my deceased mother account. www.ceoemail.com/australia-newzealand-companies.php

[InkleWinkle]

It's ANZ's responsibility to sort it. They need to put a trace on it, if they've found it then they need to deal with it & get the transfer completed. (And refund you any charges)

It's stand at practice, not sure why they're not dealing with it properly.