Child benefit paid into wrong account

atrixblue.-MFR-.

i could be wrong but the bank could possibly chase the payment. all payments by the hmrc have a refurence number on them. e.g CHB(your NINO number or CB number) child benefit could easily trace this payment, but if the person that recieved this large amount spent it could end up paying it back.

i would ask them to review the tape recording from nov to see if you did actually give the wrong sort code if not then its their mistake and liable, you would also have to request a new child benefit number or NINO due to this mistaken payment as the payment reference has either nino or CB numbers as reference and this data would be visible to the reciever of the money.

aimee0763

charlottecake wrote: »

Many thanks to almost everybody who has been very helpful. Many interesting points were raised. The origional application form made in 2005 has the correct bank details on it and child benefit have infact made three paymets successfully into the account. I think the error with the sort code happened during a telephone conversation, following which we did not receive documentation detailing changes to bank details. Had we have done I would have been able to check the new details and spot the error. The letter child benefit sent in January 2010 stating that they would pay gave the date of payment but again, did not specify the account details it would be sending it to. That seems bizarre now that you have pointed it out. On telephoning the bank today, I was advised to provide dates, amounts of money with reference numbers of each payment, that the money is traceable and that once this info is received they would be able to transfer the funds. Then the advisor spoke to her supervisor who said the advise she had given was incorrect and that it was down to the child benefit office to sort it out and that the bank could not do anything. Child benefit have said they will investigate. It is a nightmare and keeping me from asleep. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Night

If you still have problem with the Child Benefit you can try Legal Aid they are pretty good. I am lucky enough to have a very good retired Lawer/Solicitor who does Legal Aid in my area any problem he sort them out and it cost me nothing.

charlottecake

I think I will ask for transcripts of telephone calls. Do they record them all? It is a very large sum of money to us and we don't have any choice but to go down the legal route if everything else proves fruitless. Many thanks.

clb776

the child benefit agency should reclaim the money. Wether you gave them the wrong sort code etc, its highly unlikely that they would have been correct bank details and have prob gone into a holding account that they can reclaim or the bank can trace. They should have gone by what you wrote and not what you gave over the phone anyway

Starrystarrynight

The child benefit people need to contact their bankers to put a trace on the money. It's likely that the funds couldn't be applied at the receiving end and will be returned to the originating bank, and then be put into a suspense account. Takes a while to wend it's way back through the system, but the funds will probably end up back in the CB agency's bank account and they would be notified, and then it would be their job to figure out who the money belongs to.

hermum

If they had already paid money into you acct succesfully, they would have had to amend your details so I would have thought that anyone with an iota of common sense would have come back to you & queried the changing of 1 digit. I take it that they are saying you gave them the wrong number, pooh.
Last year I had from IS 2.5 years backdated mortgage payments, during the time they were sorting out my claim, they were writing & asking questions relating to the application form. When I called them to see what was happening they had no record of my claim!!!! I could not get through to them that if I hadn't claimed they wouldn't be writing to me. Your case sounds similar, slopy shoulders, they changed 1 digit & it's easier to say you gave them the wrong number. I'm getting really cross on your behalf, in fact very.
Ask them why they didn't confirm with you that the sort code had changed on your acct. The thing is everyone's human & makes mistakes but why can't people say, I'm really sorry I've done this wrong & then put it right. Far easier & less time consuming in the long run.
Whether they will have transcripts I don't know how long they would keep them but it sounds as if you've accepted that you made the mistake. Ususally in any sort of change of circ etc you would have written confirmation & should have done for something as change of bank.
Good luck & phone them every day until they put it right or speak to your local MP.

charlottecake

Thanks alot, the last couple of posts have been really lovely with the kind tones making me feel a bit teary! You're absolutely right, the change of sort code should have been confirmed in writing and to be honest the child benefit office have made one mistake after another, nobody calls you back when they say they will, they lose application forms the same thing that happened to you and it just takes up so much time and effort to get it sorted as they seem unable to. For us its masses of money so we have to fight but you know its just so daunting. Child benefit are investigating at the moment so they havn't said who's to blame but the bank say the money has definately been paid into someone elses account, god it is so horrid. Thanks tho to people for being so helpful and supportive. I've got everything crossed that the money will turn up and that who's ever's account its been paid into hasn't either spent it or put it in a high interest savings account and say they can only pay back 50 quid per month! Thanks again, Charlottecake

hermum

Hi Charlotte, it is only my opinion but for what it's worth, child benefit are the ones who should get whatever is offered if the person has spent it. It could be that they haven't checked their account yet so don't know it's in there. I take it that it's a few thousand, not an amount that could go unnoticed, hopefully as soon as they see it they will call their bank. I certainly wouldn't spend money that went into my account wrong. I am surprised that by changing one digit on the sort code, there was another bank acct with your acct number. Have they given you written confirmation of the sort code & acct number?
good luck

hermum

Aha just found this,
http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/demos/bankvalidator.aspx
so if they have told you the sort code they put it into you can check that it exists & that it is also the coop.

charlottecake

Many thanks to everyone.