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

A couple who claimed their savings of $90,000 disappeared from their Commonwealth account in a botched transfer have had their claims dismissed by the bank.

Ellie Houston, 21, and her Trae Murphy, 23, Suppose you transferred $90,000 from your account to a bank Melbourne Account on June 30th.

The couple had saved a substantial sum of money for a country estate in Yarrawonga, a town near the New South Wales-Victoria border.

Ms Houston claimed in an interview with radio station 3AW on Monday that the money initially returned to her account – before eventually disappearing altogether.

She claimed she had screenshots and receipts showing the money moving between the two accounts – but Commonwealth now denies this.

Ellie Houston, 21, and her Trae Murphy, 23, say they transferred $90,000 from their account to a Bank of Melbourne account

A spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) said it investigated the claims and has since told Mr Murphy that the voucher numbers he provided “were not present in the CBA records”.

“Upon examining the images of the receipts provided, the documents differ from genuine CBA receipts and the receipt numbers are not present in the CBA’s records,” the spokesman said.

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

“The account in question (or another of Mr. Murphy’s accounts) did not have a balance of US$96,000 (or an amount close to it) at the time of the relevant transfers or in the 12 months prior to that.

“The account from which the transfers are alleged to have been made is a NetBank Saver account which only allows transfers to another CBA account and cannot process transfers to another financial institution.”

“Pending further information from Mr. Murphy, CBA stands ready to investigate further.”

This differs from Ms. Houston’s and Mr. Murphy’s account of events, which indicated so Following her complaint, the Commonwealth emailed a link to the suicide hotline Beyond Blue.

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

On July 4, the couple tried again to transfer the $90,000 to the Bank of Melbourne account, but the money ended up back in their account a few days later.

Because they were on vacation in Bali at the time, the couple were unable to send the money overseas and had to pay a $2,500 late settlement fee.

A spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) said it investigated the claims and has since told Mr Murphy that the voucher numbers he provided “were not present in the CBA records”.

“We came home from Bali on the 20th (July) and went straight to the Commonwealth to settle that land and wire the money to the Bank of Melbourne,” she said.

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

Ms Houston said the $90,000 was in the CBA account when she was in Bali, but when it came time to wire it to the Bank of Melbourne on her return, it was gone.

She and her partner took a day off to sit in a bank teller’s office in hopes of finding the bail.

“We were obviously desperate because we had lost so much money,” she said.

“They asked us if we would ransom because we were so upset.” “It took a whole day, then it took them five weeks to get an answer.”

The couple claim the Commonwealth Bank sent a link to Beyond Blue, a suicide prevention hotline, after describing the toll the lack of money was taking on them and their partner

The couple eventually received a “three point” statement from the complaints team, saying their records did not match the couple’s.

Ms. Houston says she has receipts and screenshots from the two transfers of the $90,000.

She claims the bank sent a link to Beyond Blue, a suicide prevention hotline, after describing the damage the lack of money was doing to her and her partner.

“They said, ‘We’re really sorry, we’re still investigating. Here are some links if you need help,’” she recalls.

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

“My partner and I have been together since we were 15, we’ve been saving for this country for so long and our goal has always been to pay it off before we build a house on it so we can then travel,” she said.

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