Imprisonment no justification for long delay in pursuing complaint

Categories:

Other, Other,

Summary:

In March 2020, Patrick began serving a prison sentence. In 2021, he became aware of a series of withdrawals or transfers totalling $70,000 from his account without his authority. In 2024, he became aware of more unauthorised withdrawals totalling $1,000. In May 2024, he complained to the bank about the later withdrawals and accepted a payment in full and final settlement of that complaint. In February 2025, he complained to the bank about the earlier $70,000 withdrawals. The bank initially said Patrick’s complaint had been settled and it was unable to reconsider it. When Patrick explained that the settlement related only to the 2023 and 2024 transactions, it said it considered Patrick had failed to take reasonable care of his banking and rejected his complaint.

Published:

April 2026

Our investigation

The bank’s 2024 complaint file referred only to the later unauthorised withdrawals. The bank’s settlement amount of $1,124 related to those withdrawals only. The settlement did not therefore cover the $70,000 amount.

Our rules say that we can not look into a complaint if the person knew about what the bank did or didn’t do for more than 12 months before bringing the complaint to us. Patrick said he had contacted the bank several times from 2021. However, there was no supporting evidence of that claim, and the bank had no record of Patrick trying to complain about the earlier withdrawals before February 2025. We considered Patrick had not pursued the matter with reasonable diligence, and his complaint fell outside the 12-month deadline.