Bank owes me money...... from 10 yrs ago

A question about : Bank owes me money...... from 10 yrs ago

Hi folks.

Not sure if in the right place but hopefully it is.

Its a long story but ill try to keep it short for forum purposes.
back in 03/04 i had a bouncy castle business. Due to life events I decided to sell up. The bouncy castles were sold to a buyer and the cheque was deposited in my bank. The cheque was cleared and paid and collection was arranged.

Roll on a few weeks later. I went to make a purchase using the card but it got declined and the cashier kept hold of said card.
I rang the bank and was told to come in the next day.

On meeting with the bank manger, he said the card was declined as they had put a stop on my account due to 'suspicious' activity.
The said 'activity' was my spending!!

Anyhow, Mr Manager said that he has reason to believe that the cheque that was paid in was fraudulent and went on to accuse me of paying it in. I told him that someone i had sold some stuff to had paid it in, not me. I asked him what time it got paid in and he responded in an arrogant way 'Well you should know....' I told him it was impossible as I started work at 07:30 in the mornings. He the quipped that he had me on CCTV paying it in. I again repeated that it was impossible for I was working. I asked to see CCTV but he said he couldn't do that at that time. I asked to see the cheque. He said he didn't have it available. I told him he has got this so wrong. I feel he tried to bluff me by saying that I should go to the police and log it to get a criminal number. When I said i will, I remember the look on his face.

I returned to the bank that day after visiting the police and gave Mr Manager the criminal number. His face was awkward. I remember it well.

About a week had passed and I was called back into the bank. Mr Manager sat across the table and showed me the cheque. ... Well, a photocopy of a cheque. A very bad, printer ran out of ink effect type cheque with Fraud written across the middle in faded red writing. There was nothing on this cheque to identify it as the cheque in question. I contested it but he was adamant that I would have to pay back what I had spent. I told him hell have to take it to court.

And that's where it was kinda left. I had some letters for the next few months threatening me with court. As I couldn't afford to take them to court, I thought I would wait until they actually got a date. This didn't come. I would get the odd collection agency contact me, but I would give them the story and the case number and they left it alone.

Now, I kinda forgot about this until a dinner party got on to the subject of being owed money and I thought, yeah, I really should follow this one up.

So folks, Thank you for taking the time to read this and any advice would be gratefully received.

A

Best answers:

• I suspect you've left it far too late to take this further. Not only is it too late for legal action, the delay will make it impossible for the complaint to be investigated. Even in the unlikely event of a regulatory body accepting your complaint.
• Thanks for the reply.
  i thought it may have been too late but the account is still open as i receive new cards and statements from the account.
  The statement reads -Ј00.05.
  Not sure if that's any help or not.
• What money would the bank owe you? If the cheque was fraudulent, it's the fraudster that owes (/ owed) you money.
• The bank took the value of the cheque out of my account.
  This is the thing with the cheque. There was no conclusive proof that the cheque was fraudulent. it made it through clearance and was paid. the bank didn't get in touch until 3/4 weeks after.
• ..........And as you spent some if not all of the money ''you'' paid in they don't owe you anything but YOU owe them.
• I can't see how you could get the money back, as the money was from the bank not the person who gave you the cheque, the money belongs to the bank if it was fraud, and I think they can claim it back from you as the money was not rightfully yours.
  its like if you buy a stolen car, you loose the money you paid for it and the car, or fake money, its worthless.
• I've received many cheques in recent years, but not once has the payer ever paid the cheque into my bank account on my behalf.
  Usually, you get given the cheque, and you pay it in yourself, no?
• The cheque you were given was probably from a stolen cheque book. Whoever paid it in probably knew that. The person whose account was debited called their bank to say they didn't write said cheque. Your bank had to pay them back, it's not difficult to understand really. A fraudulent cheque can be returned at any time.
  The person you need to be chasing is whoever bought your stuff. The bank owes you nothing.
• Hey guys.
  Thanks for all the input.
  Its something i been meaning to look into for a while to see either way and now i guess i got the answer.
• They don't owe you the money.
  Prior to the 246 changes in 2007, the cheque clearing cycle had three stages:
  - earning interest from around Day 3
  - ability to draw on funds from around Day 5, but some banks could delay this e.g. some building societies took two weeks
  - and, importantly, there was no 'fate' on cheques; if a cheque was found to be fraudulent the bank was entitled to recover funds from the account credited.
  With 246 in 2007, the banks 'voluntarily' agree to set fate of after six working days. So if a cheque is found to be fraudulent after that point, the bank bears the loss unless the crediting account holder is a knowing party to the fraud.