He said the bank had not checked and acted on his instructions correctly, even after he had given the bank advanced written notice of his instructions. His written instructions included a schedule showing the money was needed to advance to family members. The subsequent errors prevented him from accessing his money when he needed it. Arlo sought $10,000 for inconvenience, stress and time he had spent dealing with the matter. The bank offered him $3,000.

Our investigation

The bank acknowledged its staff had made errors when recording and carrying out Arlo’s instructions. It said it was simple human error rather than a systems problem. The bank’s records showed it reinstated the right deposits and backdated the correct amount of interest.

Arlo had told the bank by both post and email why he needed the money and had given it information about the deposits due to mature. Staff did not check the instructions for several of the deposits and reinvested them in error.

After we pointed out the bank’s communication defects and the resulting inconvenience for Arlo, it increased its offer to $4,000.

Outcome

Arlo accepted the bank’s revised offer.