Help - Payment into wrong bank account

anniemac0210

I hope someone can help me, mrs notsobright!
I made a payment online from natwest into my mum's bank account, at Lloyds, for 1000 squid. When it did not appear in her bank account we checked and I still had the details of her old joint bank account with her former husband. She is not on this account anymore but the account is still open and used by her ex. His health is is serious decline these days and his son has power of attorney on the account.
ANYWAY we have tried both banks and neither can help. Natwest say they cant return the money to my account and Lloyds say they dont check the name on payments only the account number. If the account is open it will be transferred regardless of whether the name is Donald Duck or Mrs N.Otsobright.
Now obviously I should have checked the details but I find it rather lacking in security in this computer age that Lloyds do not check that the name on the payment does not match the name on the account. The only suggestion they can give is to speak to the account owner. Which will be very difficult in these circumstances but at least we know the account holder. What happens if I put an incorrect digit but it was still a valid account of someone I dont know. How on earth would the money come back then as the bank wont give any details of bank accounts out.
Does anybody have any idea how we can get this money back?

Thanks

YorkshireBoy

anniemac0210 wrote: »

What happens if I put an incorrect digit but it was still a valid account of someone I dont know.

You'd double check as you were entering the details, there being two confirmation steps to take.

How on earth would the money come back then as the bank wont give any details of bank accounts out.

You'd write a pleading letter addressed "to whom it may concern", send it to your bank, and asking that it be forwarded to the other bank, for them to forward to their account holder.

Then you sit and wait!

Does anybody have any idea how we can get this money back?

At the risk of stating the obvious, you contact your mum's ex husband's son don't you?

2sides2everystory

Your post serves as a reminder of how dangerous it is to click "Submit" in online banking until you have treble-checked what you've typed.

I agree on the face of it that bank computer systems should be able to offer warnings by now before this type of mistake gets made, especially since a lot of the time the two banks computers are effectively handshaking in real time via the Faster Payments system or as a direct effect of it. We can be forgiven for wondering why the banks do not do this - they are perfectly aware that it causes their customers enormous problems and I believe quite often the money is lost to the original customer because the banks say they cannot help or cannot force the person who received it to give it back.

I did an experiment the other day and did three different-sized transfers from small UK bank which is not a major clearing bank to another account with a major clearing bank to see how fast it was and to see whether I was near a higher limit for faster payments. I had both online systems open at the same time and in fact all the transactions appeared at the other end faster than I could refresh the screen.

This means the banks might easily introduce a system that required an exact account name, but because for obvious fraud prevention reasons they cannot feedback any (different) name provided by the receiving bank that goes with the numbers you have submitted then the checking progress that both you and I would like to see would not appear to be very viable. Personal names come in so many different national styles. Company names maybe even more so. I think it might be pretty difficult if not totally unsatisfactory to create a system that was intelligent enough to prompt you in all the right circumstances "Are you sure because this account number doesn't look like it is the right one and might be a different person?" without telling you exactly why but is a system which then lets you proceed anyway by clicking "I'm sure. Proceed."

In your case I would contact the recipient directly and sort it out yourself however embarassing that might be. I don't think it will get sorted any other way.

opinions4u

I find it rather lacking in security in this computer age that Lloyds do not check that the name on the payment does not match the name on the account

So what should they be checking for?

A SMITH
MR ANDREW JOHN SMITH
A J SMITH
AJ SMITH
MR A SMITH
MR ANDREW J SMITH
ANDREW JOHN SMITH
ANDREW SMITH
ANDY SMITH
ANDY S
AJS
ANDY

The list goes on.

Numbers are precise and perfect - just make sure you put the right detail in.

YorkshireBoy

opinions4u wrote: »

Numbers are precise and perfect - just make sure you put the right detail in.

And always, but always, on a first time transfer send a token £1 test payment first.

JuicyJesus

Every bank system I've used has had a "double check" page. You enter the details you are sending to on the first page, then click next; you are then shown the details of your payment and asked to confirm those. That's two opportunities there to spot any error.

It would be impractical for banks to check the name on incoming FPS and BACS payments because, as Opinions4u says, there are many different permutations of names held with different banks. My NatWest account is Mr Juicy H Jesus, my HSBC one is Mr J Jesus, my credit cards various different forms of Juicy H Jesus, Juicy Jesus and Mr Juicy Jesus, Lloyds TSB Mr JH Jesus... it's actually fairly useful, as say if you want to pay into an account of yours at another bank, you can have the payee name as "Bills Account", "Holiday Fund" or whatever and have the reference as whatever you like.

The account number, at any rate, is the unique identifier of the account you want it to go into. If you're not 100% sure of that then don't send a payment. As YB says, a test payment is the best way to be absolutely positive.