Bank didn't cancel Bank Draft as requested

S

sadie

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We got a bank draft from our Building Society made payable to a car company, next day - turned house upside down but bank draft lost. Went back to Building Society, requested to cancel old bank draft and got another one issued. This was in July 08. Annual statement now shows that the previous bank draft was not cancelled and the money for both drafts is still showing as being gone out of our account! Can they trace that the money is still there and was never cashed, and can we claim interest on the time the money was missing from our account?
 
Not an answer, but a follow up question...
Isn't a bank draft essentially cash? i.e. if you lose it, it's as if you've lost a €50 note?
 
A Bank Draft is legally not the same as a cheque, therefore whereas banks can try and watch out for it, legally placing a stop on it is very difficult. When they issued you a replacement draft, normal practise would be that whatever they asked you to sign contained an indemnity in which you guaranteed to pay the replacement if it surfaced, albeit they should have credited your account back with the value of the first one. In other words, they should have credited your account with the value of the first draft, but if it was ever paid, they'd be within their rights to debit your account.
From what you are saying, they don't ever seem to have credited your account back. They should be able to check to see if the original draft was ever cashed, if it wasn't they should credit your account back. However, if it was cashed, you are at a probable loss. They may be able to tell you where it was lodged to and you could try and get the funds back from them, but if the original draft was stolen for example, I'd say you would have very little chance
 
A bank draft is a cheque drawn by a bank on its own account. It would seem that the draft as issued may now be more than 6 months old, and would be difficult/impossible to negotiate. If it was payable to a named car company, then it could not be accepted to any other account other than the car company. Accordingly, there is now virtually no risk to the building society. It should be easy to get a refund under indemnity.
 
Thanks for that. Building society have a record of us cancelling the first one, phew. However they want a letter from the company named on it confirming they never received it and haven't cashed it.
 
Last year I placed a stop on a bank draft that was posted to my daughter in the UK and never arrived. The Bank had no problem with this and refunding my account
 
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