Not upheld: service failure, failure to follow customer instructions, handling of correspondence complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained to Barclays about its handling of correspondence in 2022 regarding dormant accounts and a card request, and about the bank's failure to follow his instructions when a two-year fixed rate bond matured in January 2025. Mr A had submitted a form requesting payment by cheque by the 31 December 2024 deadline, but Barclays transferred the funds to a savings account instead, claiming it did not receive the form. The ombudsman found that while Barclays likely received the form in time and made an error, Mr A suffered no material loss since he was able to transfer funds electronically to another bank in March 2025, which was faster than the cheque process would have been. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Barclays adequately answered Mr A's 2022 enquiries about account status, and that properly addressed letters were likely successfully delivered. Regarding the bond maturity, while the ombudsman believed Mr A's form was likely delivered before the 11 January 2025 deadline and that Barclays made an error in not following his instructions, no material distress or inconvenience resulted because Mr A was able to transfer funds electronically to his chosen account, which would have been faster than receiving and depositing a cheque. The ombudsman declined to interfere with the bank's commercial decisions regarding branch staffing and changes to tax information provision.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website