Not upheld: Account administration errors complaint against Furness Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained that Furness Building Society failed to notify him when his regular savings account deposits were not received in July and August 2021. The payments were returned due to incorrect reference numbers included in the standing order instructions, which Furness did not set up or record. The ombudsman found Furness was not responsible for the reference number error and that returning the payments was a reasonable step. Although Mr O experienced inconvenience in resolving the issue, Furness's agreement to accept the missed deposits returned his account to its proper position with no financial loss, which the ombudsman deemed a fair resolution. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that the root cause of the problem was an error with the reference number included in Mr O's standing order payments, for which Furness was not responsible. Furness's decision to return payments that couldn't be credited was reasonable. While Mr O experienced inconvenience in having to take corrective action, this was necessary due to the reference number error. Furness's agreement to accept the missed deposits returned Mr O's account to the position it would have been in had the payments been credited normally, resulting in no financial loss and a fair resolution.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website