Upheld: Account administration errors complaint against Barclays Bank UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs T complained that Barclays failed to process two international insurance payments in a timely manner and subsequently duplicated one payment, causing their account to become overdrawn by £9,767 while they were overseas relocating to the UAE. The duplicate payment prevented them from accessing funds for essential expenses and created concern about losing mandatory medical insurance coverage. Barclays acknowledged its service failures and offered compensation of £1,000 plus £270 in costs, which the ombudsman found fair and reasonable despite the complainants' expectation of approximately £9,000. The ombudsman upheld the complaint and required Barclays to pay the offered compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Barclays accepted responsibility for all complaint points and the ombudsman's role was to determine if the compensation offered was adequate. The ombudsman considered the impact on Mr and Mrs T during an already stressful relocation, the substantial distress caused by the duplicate payment and overdraft situation, the time spent resolving the issue, and the concern about medical insurance requirements. While Mr and Mrs T experienced substantial short-term distress, the ombudsman found the revised offer of £1,270 fell within the typical range of £750-£1,500 for complaints causing substantial distress with short-term impact, and was fair given that Mr and Mrs T had mitigated some impact through their own actions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website