Commonwealth hits back after Ellie Houston and Trae Murphy claimed bank lost $90,000 life savings

A couple who say their $90,000 savings disappeared from their Commonwealth account during a failed transfer has taken a hit, with the bank disputing their claim.

Ellie Houston, 21, and her partner Trae Murphy, 23, say they transferred $90,000 from their account to a bank Melbourne account on June 30.

The pair had saved a considerable amount of money for a settlement in Yarrawonga, a town near the NSW-Victoria border.

Ms Houston claimed in an interview with the 3AW radio station on Monday that the money initially made its way back into their account – before eventually disappearing altogether.

She claimed that she has screenshots and payment receipts showing the money moving between the two accounts, but Commonwealth refuses to refund them the lost money.

A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) said it had investigated the claims and had since told Mr Murphy that the receipt numbers he provided ‘do not appear in the CBA records’.

“On examination of the images of the receipts provided, the documents appear to differ from genuine CBA receipts and the receipt numbers do not appear in the records of the CBA,” said the spokesperson.

The statement added: “Mr. Murphy claims his account balance should be $96,000. Following an investigation by CBA, we informed Mr. Murphy:

“The account in question (or any other account belonging to Mr. Murphy) did not have a balance of $96,000 (or an amount close to it) at the time of the transfers in question or in the previous 12 months.

“The account from which the transfers would have been made is a NetBank Saver that only allows transfers to another CBA account and is unable to process transfers to another financial institution.

“Subject to additional information from Mr. Murphy, CBA is prepared to conduct further investigation.”

This differs from the account of events provided by Mrs. Houston and Mr. Murphy, who said it was so emailed a link to Commonwealth’s Beyond Blue suicide hotline in response to their complaint.

“Our money came back to our CBA account because both of our names had not yet been approved in the Bank of Melbourne account,” Ms Houston told 3AW radio on Monday.

The couple tried again to transfer the $90,000 to the Bank of Melbourne account on July 4, but the money was returned to their account a few days later.

Since they were vacationing in Bali at the time, the couple was unable to transfer the money internationally and was charged a $2,500 fine for the late settlement.

A spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) said it had investigated the claims and had since told Mr Murphy that the receipt numbers he provided ‘do not appear in the CBA records’.

“We came home from Bali on July 20, we went straight to the Commonwealth to settle this land and transfer the money to the Bank of Melbourne,” she said.

“There is no money in our account. 75c. And they can’t tell us where it went, nothing.’

Ms Houston said the $90,000 had been in the CBA account when they were in Bali, but when they were due to be transferred to the Bank of Melbourne on their return home, it was gone.

She and her partner took the day off to sit in a bank employee’s office in hopes of recovering the security deposit.

“We were visibly upset because we had lost so much money,” she said.

“They asked us if we got a ransom because we were so upset. This was a whole day, then it took them five weeks to come up with an answer.’

The couple claims Commonwealth Bank sent a link to Beyond Blue, a suicide prevention hotline, after describing the toll the missing money had on her and her partner.

The couple eventually obtained a ‘three-point’ statement from the complaints team, which stated that their records did not match the couple’s.

Ms. Houston says she has receipts and screenshots of the two times the $90,000 was transferred.

She claims the bank sent a link to Beyond Blue, a suicide prevention hotline, after describing the toll the missing money took on her and her partner.

“They said, ‘We’re really sorry, we’re still looking into this, here are some links if you need help,'” she recalled.

The couple has had to increase the amount of an existing loan in order to keep the land.

“My partner and I have been together since we were 15 years old, we saved for this land for so long and our goal was always to pay it off before we put a house on it so we could then travel,” she said . .

“It feels like everything has been taken from under us.”