I am the Treasurer of the local church. We are having major works carried out and there is a lot of money being paid out on a monthly basis for architect's fees, builders etc.
There was a substantial amount of money which had been transferred from a separate deposit account into the current account with a major high street bank to cover the cost of the works. My 'personal manager' called me to say that, as there is so much money in the account, why don't you enter into this new arrangement whereby the money is kept on deposit, so you receive some interest - however, the Bank will transfer money into the current account as and when required, to cover monies being paid out of the account.
Just before Christmas, I received a large bill from the builders and I sent them a cheque to cover this. I had a frantic call from them a few days later to say that the cheque had been dishonoured. I checked with the Bank and it transpired that there was not enough money in the account to pay the cheque. I transferred funds from another account, with a different Bank, I explained the position to the builders, and following the 5 working days it took to move the monies, I paid their bill in full. in the meantime, I had paid half of it, having issued a fresh cheque, as they are a small business and it would have been a problem for them otherwise.
Coincidentally, I was called yesterday by my 'personal manager' - who had changed from the one I had a few months ago - to ask if I were happy with everything and if there was anything they could do to assist etc. I told them about the situation with the dishonoured cheque and said that I was disappointed that my 'personal manager' had not called me, so that I could make arrangements to transfer money, rather than just bouncing the cheque. They said that they didn't have the resources to call people in this sort of situation, although they did agree to refund the charges incurred.
I accept that I should have kept a closer watch on the account, but AIBU to think that if you have a lot of money invested with a Bank and a so called 'personal manager', they should have alerted me to this problem. The builders are fine about it, but I feel deeply embarrassed about the whole situation.