I gave money away, what can I do?

Lansdowne

alanq wrote: »

Do bank accounts numbers not have check digits to catch single digit or switched digit errors? If not why not? Also I cannot understand why when making a payment one has to enter the name of the payee and then any mismatch between that and the name on the account owner is ignored. Also there should be a check digit on the sort code.

OK we should all be very careful but the system should be designed to be resilient against human error.

Yes they do have check digits so it is very unlikely that a mistake in an account number would produce another valid account number. Unfortunately judging by the regular incidences reported on this site, the clearing system does not appear to reject transfers to invalid numbers.

I always assumed an account number is not repeated under a different sort code with the same bank but who knows.

madgagoo

Lansdowne wrote: »

I always assumed an account number is not repeated under a different sort code with the same bank but who knows.

They are regularly. The same account number can be allocated to 3 or 4 different sort codes.

Bit like telephone numbers I suppose, different STD code with the same 6/7 numbers after it?

fs110

I always assumed an account number is not repeated under a different sort code with the same bank but who knows.

I used to work for a bank and was processing a transfer for a customer one day to his account with a different bank - he read his account number to me and i couldnt work out why it was so familiar until i realised it matched MY OWN account number with another different bank!! :j Spooky!!

JimmyTheWig

fs110 wrote: »

I used to work for a bank and was processing a transfer for a customer one day to his account with a different bank - he read his account number to me and i couldnt work out why it was so familiar until i realised it matched MY OWN account number with another different bank!! :j Spooky!!

Wow, I make it something like a 1 in 100 million chance of that happening. Obviously working in a bank you'd get lots of those chances each day, but even so that's impressive.

Were you tempted to enter your own sort code "by mistake"?

ElmerFudd

anselld wrote: »

You can validate the account number here ...
http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/demos/bankvalidator.aspx

It will tell you the branch address where the account is held. I would then go in and explain to the branch manager in person.

Incidentally, I have been on the other end of this; received money from unknown source. Went in to bank to report it was not mine but they could not tell me where it came from (data protection!) and refused to do anything themselves to return it!!

I had a large sum of money sent to my Lloyds account back in the 90s. Despite spotting it within a few days of it being transferred and informing the bank it took 3 to 4 months before they transferred it to the correct party. I got a tidy sum in interest that they told me I could keep oddly.