Transfer of funds to wrong account

matttye

meer53 wrote: »

The other bank wouldn't discuss anything with the OP's sister, she has no relationship with them at all. They would refer her back to her own bank.

Doesn't have to discuss anything, just write to their customer...although I guess they would probably want confirmation that it actually is her bank account she's contacting them about.

Magroo

Hey! Thanks for all the replies! They are both Santander accounts, both my sister and the recipient, my Mum is also a Santander customer and she entered the correct sort code just one digit off on the account number. I have sent her the terms and conditions info and the links. Thanks again!

innovate

We have had similar threads before. A "one digit off" on the account number is, I am afraid, not a credible explanation as to why money should have gone to another account.

More likely, the money would have gone into a Santander holding account, from which it should get returned to the originator. However, since it's been going on for such a long period, something very odd is going on, or your sister has only told you part of the story.

grumbler

Yes, unlikely, but why not credible?
Even more unlikely would be for some real person known to the sister to have an account number with just one digit different from her mother's account number.

matttye

When I make faster payments using my bank account, I have to input the account name of the recipient (I bank with Lloyds TSB). I always thought this was so that the bank can verify the account details given match the name, or have I just been putting in a name for the good of my health all these years?

I would have thought other banks would do the same... it seems logical.

grumbler

matttye wrote: »

...I always thought this was so that the bank can verify the account details given match the name, or have I just been putting in a name for the good of my health all these years?

It's the latter. And it's not that easy for a computer to check the correctness of the name as it can vary slightly for the same person.

meer53

matttye wrote: »

When I make faster payments using my bank account, I have to input the account name of the recipient (I bank with Lloyds TSB). I always thought this was so that the bank can verify the account details given match the name, or have I just been putting in a name for the good of my health all these years?

I would have thought other banks would do the same... it seems logical.

Electronic payments are made using the sort code and account number, the name doesn't come into it. If the sort code and account number are correct, the payment will go through, doesn't matter what name is on the account.

ChiefGrasscutter

matttye wrote: »

When I make faster payments using my bank account, I have to input the account name of the recipient (I bank with Lloyds TSB). I always thought this was so that the bank can verify the account details given match the name, or have I just been putting in a name for the good of my health all these years?

I would have thought other banks would do the same... it seems logical.

Some bank account names are alomst impossible to get right unless you take great care "Mr JA Jones and Miss GH Smith Household a/c" being one example I've seen on cheques to me. So if you are writing a computer program checking this one would you reject it if "a/c" was submitted as "acc." - both being accepted abbreviations for "account"...what about if they miss out the middle initial, put an extra dot in the sequence.......and so on.

You can see why banks do not check names on transfers.

dggar

Similar to a story in the Guardian Money 9th Feb

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/feb/09/26000-banking-error

matttye

grumbler wrote: »

It's the latter. And it's not that easy for a computer to check the correctness of the name as it can vary slightly for the same person.

meer53 wrote: »

Electronic payments are made using the sort code and account number, the name doesn't come into it. If the sort code and account number are correct, the payment will go through, doesn't matter what name is on the account.

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Some bank account names are alomst impossible to get right unless you take great care "Mr JA Jones and Miss GH Smith Household a/c" being one example I've seen on cheques to me. So if you are writing a computer program checking this one would you reject it if "a/c" was submitted as "acc." - both being accepted abbreviations for "account"...what about if they miss out the middle initial, put an extra dot in the sequence.......and so on.

You can see why banks do not check names on transfers.

I see I was mistaken.

I wouldn't say it's that difficult to get an account name right though, invoices and suchlike usually say "Please make cheques payable to ________", it's not hard to just copy what they've written.