Faster Payments

dustysdaughter62

I've been battling with Nationwide for over 4 months now trying to get my money back because of an error in a sort code number.

Faster payments disregard the payee name and process transfers only to the sort code and account numbers. If the customer makes a simple typing error money can and has gone to the wrong account. £533 of my money went to a Barclays customer but my statement said it had been paid to the named payee so it didn't come to light for over a month. Nationwide say Barclays have asked their customer to pay it back but the recipient hasn't bothered to reply.

These payments are insecure and banks are in breach of the Financial Services Authority regulations by not acting on all the payment instructions provided by the customer. (BCOBS 5.1.14/ 5.1.15). A faster payment cannot be made without putting in the payee name. Had the payee name been electronically cross-referenced with the numbers this transfer wouldn't have gone through.

I am now mounting a campaign to raise awareness of this risk as I'm sure I cannot be the only person this has happened to and I'm still trying to get my much needed money back.
Faster payments have no safeguard and you could lose you money permanently if just one digit is wrong.

dtaylor84

Cross referencing names is impossible - think of the possible variations of title, initial, first name, last name, hyphens, suffixes, joint accounts... It would never work.

You are warned repeatedly to check the payment details you have entered are correct, and every bank I have ever used displays a confirmation screen with the full details of the transfer.

opinions4u

A faster payment cannot be made without putting in the payee name

Yes it can.

Payment routing information is the sort code and account number.

The reference field is a free format for your benefit to help you identify the recipient. You could type the word Zebedee in there even if you're sending funds to John Smith. It only forms part of the payment routing information where the recipient account needs to send it to a sub account (e.g. Building society roll number, council tax reference etc).

Your complaint has, however, lasted longer than 8 weeks. Why not escalate to the FOS and get a ruling from them?

pqrdef

There's a payee name field as well as a reference field. You fill it in, they ignore it.

Gromitt

pqrdef wrote: »

There's a payee name field as well as a reference field. You fill it in, they ignore it.

They don't ignore it, they use that fields when you request a list of payees. It easier to identify payees when you give them names rather than just sort codes and account numbers.

If you can't be bothered to check the information you are typing in, don't use internet banking. Go down the bank and ask someone there to do it for you. Don't blame the banks. I don't want them checking the recipient name as it would be a nightmare to determine the exact format (did the initials go at the start or at the end? etc. All banks seem to do it differently).

If I can, I always make a £1 payment first, and even for that I check the account number before clicking 'Continue' and then I check again on the confirmation page.

mgdavid

pqrdef wrote: »

There's a payee name field as well as a reference field. You fill it in, they ignore it.

Yes, those fields are there for YOUR convenience not the Bank's - they don't need that info. They just need a Sortcode and Account number, and customers who can type 8 digits without error.