Commonwealth Bank blunder: Victorian couple lose $90,000 before bank sends link to suicide helpline
Commonwealth Bank blunder: Victorian couple lose $90,000 before bank sends link to suicide helpline
A young couple whose $90,000 was lost on their bank claim has not received a dime back and only received a link to a suicide helpline.
Ellie Houston, 21, and her partner, 23, were emailed a link to Beyond Blue by Commonwealth Bank after their deposit vanished more than two months ago.
The couple transferred $90,000 from their account to a Bank of 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.
“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.
“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 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.
Ellie Houston, 21, claims Commonwealth Bank sent a link to Beyond Blue, a suicide prevention hotline, after describing the toll the missing money took on her and her partner
The couple transferred a $90,000 deposit for a land settlement in Yarrawonga, Victoria
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 putting a house on it so we could then travel,” she said.
“It feels like everything has been taken from under us.”
A CBA spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: ‘Mr Trae Murphy has lodged a complaint with CBA asking CBA to investigate the balance of his account after two wire transfers to the Bank of Melbourne failed.
“Mr. Murphy claims his account balance should be $96,000.
“Following an investigation by CBA, we informed Mr. Murphy, “Subject to additional information from Mr. Murphy, CBA is willing to conduct further investigations.”