A B.C. man who claims he lost hundreds of dollars due to questionable practices from the Royal Bank of Canada took his fight to the tribunal.
According to the Civil Resolution Tribunal dispute decision, HM claimed over $600 in damages, alleging that Royal Bank improperly reversed a cheque that he deposited.
In response, Royal Bank said it was entitled to reverse the initial credit and denied owing the applicant any money for reimbursement.
HM has a personal banking account at Royal Bank. On Nov. 4, 2022, HM deposited a 5,000 Euro cheque into their Canadian account. Royal Bank immediately credited his account with C$6,730.54. It didn’t provide the exchange rate it used.
On Dec. 5, 2022, Royal Bank reversed that cheque and debited HM’s account $7,336.57, this time providing the relevant exchange rate as of that date.
A week later, on Dec. 12, 2022, HM claimed that the cheque was redeposited into his account, and then Royal Bank credited him $6,924.07. Royal Bank contended that this was a second cheque, but no exchange rate was provided.
“In total, the respondent credited the applicant’s account $13,654.61 and debited the account $14,907.19, a difference of $1,252.58. The applicant says the respondent credited them $641.95, and they claim for the balance outstanding. I calculate the balance to be $610.63,” the tribunal’s decision states.
The tribunal decision says that HM questioned Royal Bank’s practices, adding that they only deposited one cheque, and that Royal Bank credited and debited their account a second time without his knowledge.
“The respondent says the applicant attempted to deposit two different cheques, and that it provisionally accepted the items and provided a credit to the applicant’s bank account. It says it was later unable to collect on the cheques, so it debited the applicant’s account based on the current day’s exchange rate,” the tribunal decision continues.
Royal Bank was not able to provide a copy of either cheque as evidence in the B.C. legal fight.
The tribunal member overseeing the case said, “I note the respondent did not provide a copy of either cheque, though I expect it would have at least had copies after the applicant deposited them.”
According to the decision, the tribunal pointed out two problems with Royal Bank’s case. One, it wasn’t able to prove that the applicant deposited two cheques. Two, the respondent didn’t provide evidence of the exchange rate for three of the transaction dates, so the tribunal was not able to determine whether or not Royal Bank properly debited and credited the account.
Ultimately, the bank was ordered to pay the applicant $790.83, including $610.63 in damages and the rest in tribunal fees.