What Happens When Bank Gives Your Account Access to Third Party, Are There Any Financial Penalties for The Bank ?

Them3lguy on 16/08/2018 - 17:32
Last edited 16/08/2018 - 17:33

Hi Everyone ,

So one of the big 4 banks with whom we have account with decided that my business partner is good enough to get access to all my accounts , couple of days back I along with my business partner opened accounts by visiting the branch and as per bank's process a new login id number was generated and given to him and me respectively. I have a everyday account and mortgage with the same bank.

No where I mentioned anything about me being an existing customer as the bank staff said that their system will track and identify that I am an existing account holder . I didnt bother to log in as the business is yet to be set up and there are ZERO dollars in the account whereas my partner logged in to see if everything is okay .

Next day he called me and told me that there to speak with bank something is not right and ended the call by telling me balance on both my accounts along with the redraw available , I was gobsmacked and called up the bank .

Bank has assured that they will investigate and find out how this happened and its been more than 45 days now. My concern here is are they liable financially when something like this has happened which they have clearly accepted as a " IT MISTAKE" . I did log on to new banking id given to me and everything looks good there.

I am getting legal advice and have been told prima faice I can pursue it with Financial Ombudsman or OIAC , was wondering what do fellow Ozbargain community's opinion on this type of situation where bank has allowed a third party to access the account.

Cheers

Financial

Comments

  • mskeggs on 16/08/2018 - 17:42
    +17

    What financial loss did you incur?
    That will likely be limit of you claim. I am surprised a lawyer didn’t advise this.

  • Baysew on 16/08/2018 - 17:46
    +4

    I am getting legal advice

    So why make a thread about it here?

    • Them3lguy on 16/08/2018 - 17:49

      was wondering what do fellow Ozbargain community's opinion on this type of situation where bank has allowed a third party to access the account.

      • Baysew on 16/08/2018 - 17:51
        +6

        If we have a good or bad opinion doesn't really have any real impact on the situation, does it?

        What do you want from the bank?

  • imurgod on 16/08/2018 - 17:48
    +6

    They are bound by the Privacy Act and can be fined for breach.

    • [Deactivated] on 17/08/2018 - 14:19
      +1

      they can be, but they won't. the best you'll get from going through the privacy guys is an apology and a promise that they'll try not to do it again.

  • tsunamisurfer on 16/08/2018 - 17:58
    +4

    How much money have you lost in this situation?

    Or can you quantify any financial losses caused by this third party accessing information on your account?

  • hogwarts on 16/08/2018 - 18:20
    +5

    Tl;dr - business partner has access to 2 of OP's bank accounts after signing up to a business account.

    I think thats it.

  • whooah1979 on 16/08/2018 - 18:25
    +3

    It sounds like op could be entitled to $100m in compensation.

    • mskeggs on 16/08/2018 - 18:45
      +2

      I bid $200m. Going once.

    • neo on 16/08/2018 - 19:05
      +2

      No win, no fee.

    • Curiouscat on 16/08/2018 - 19:10
      +1

      Nah, just blaming him for asking opinions from ozbargainers :)

  • Curiouscat on 16/08/2018 - 19:08
    +2

    If you haven't lost anything just tell the bank that you will report it to FOS and or other authorities, bank might offer you a little something as a compensation and if you have incurred losses let the bank know and ask them to make good of it if they refuse, take them to regulators or court

  • [Deactivated] on 16/08/2018 - 19:17
    +1

    OP if you’ve read the paperwork that you’ve signed and none of this included giving your business partner access to your accounts in any way then you have nothing to worry about. Investigate through your bank and escalate to financial industry ombudsman if their response doesn’t appear correct.

  • monkeybusiness on 16/08/2018 - 19:18
    +3

    You haven't lost anything financial wise. Unless your business partner starts to fraudulently withdraw and transfer money from your personal accounts, then none of it is quantifiable.

    However, since this is a clear breach of privacy, I would suggest to go to the bank and close the account immediately!!

    I also don't buy into the "IT Mistake". It is more likely the person (most likely operations/admin) from the bank who created the account decided to link your personal accounts to the login without knowing this is a business login to be shared between multiple people. That person stuffed up.

    It should not take 45 days to resolve an issue like this. Close the account and change banks.

  • Love a bargain on 17/08/2018 - 12:29
    +1

    If you haven't lost anything, you have no claim against the bank.

    The first and most important thing that the bank should have done as soon as you notify them is to disable the old business log-ins and reissue you a set of new log-ins that are not link to your personal account.

    If you are still concern, you canconsider switching bank. Since your business has not started, it should be pretty easy to just close the newly opened business account and go somewhere else.

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