Guarantee card worthless

Maybe, maybe not in this case. Banks will always try to wriggle out and the staff you deal with may not be competent. The circumstances you describe above do not seem to exclude the guarantee according to the scheme T&Cs. Progress the issue formally through the bank's complaints process.

two options, bank ombudsman or small claims court (sue the bank).

Police too. The bank are, by trying to wriggle out of it, guilty of attempted fraud.

I'm sure the polioce will try and wriggle out of that as well. But the OP certainly shouldnt resign themselves to losing out, I'm sure thats just what the bank are counting on.

Well, if it is, then they are not only guilty of fraud but also of conspiring to commit fraud.

In this instance, the drawer is potentially guilty of fraud too, if he reported the cheque book stolen and after "finding" it again continued to use it.

In message , dixthewiz writes

This doesnt sound right, NatWest cant do that. What was the answer on the cheque? (i.e. what had NatWest written on the bounced cheque when you got it back?) How much was the cheque for?

The Police are even better at getting out of their obligations than banks.

If they didn't want to get involved they shouldn't have issued the guarantee card!

The lesson is that banks are staff by idiots and they have to be threatened with legal action.

Too right there.

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NOW READ ON. My wife had a phone call from the husband of the lady who issued the cheque promising that a replacement cheque is on its way.

We will see.

But the actual crux of the matter is that banks will ignore cheque guarantee cards when it suits their purpose.

What is the point of a guarantee card if it doesn't guarantee anything.

dix

In message , dixthewiz writes

Can you answer my question in my original response, i.e. what had the bank written on the cheque when they bounced it?

Also, in view of your posting above, was the original cheque posted to you?

Replacement cheque arrived.

The original did have a bank stamp on it but as we now longer have this cheque I can't check the wording.

It was an in person transaction. My wife entered the details from the guarantee card onto the back of the cheque.

dix

Why don't you still have the cheque?

In message , dixthewiz writes

Good! but as it was by post (I assume) then no guarantee will apply.

Ok, but its crucial to your complaint. Can you remember if it was something like 'refer to drawer' or 'cheque book and card reported lost, signature differs', or 'payment countermanded'.?

Good. If the signature matched then the bank should have honoured it.

Its a pity you no longer have the cheque, I am surprised you have thrown it away as it is crucial to establishing the banks negligence. The bank should pay you for the extra hassle you have suffered and there is a chance your own bank have charged you for the unpaid item too, so Natwest should pay this charge as well. (Its not your own banks fault and they are entitled to charge for handling an inward unpaid item).

You should pursue this because it threaten the whole integrity of the cheque guarantee scheme but I am pleased to say it is very uncommon. If you fully adhered to the conditions and the value of the cheque was within the guarantee limit of that particular card and it was in whole payment of a single transaction then the cheque should have been paid.

But if people want free banking then they should accept that staff wont be properly trained.