Bank error in my favour? What's going on?

cte1111

Was it only me that thought of Monopoly when they saw this title? Bank error in your favour, collect £10. If only real life was so generous...

agrinnall

pqrdef wrote: »

But suppose I use my CC for betting, and I make withdrawals from 10 bookies, via refunds to the card, and all 10 websites show a withdrawal, but only 9 payments show up on the card account. I need to know who to chase.

And how do I know one of the 9 payments I've got isn't a mistake?

I don't see that equates to the OP's situation at all. In your example I would hope that the bookies would provide a meaningful reference, but even if they don't you'd know the source of all expected payments anyway, so there would be no need for the CC issuer to provide you with any information that isn't on the statement, if you have any queries you can go back to the bookies to ask them.

COIAHLGW

You should also assume that the payment never hit and continue to make your own payments. That way if it does get reversed, you won't get caught short at the end of the statement period if it hasn't already rolled over.

pqrdef

agrinnall wrote: »

In your example I would hope that the bookies would provide a meaningful reference

What should happen is that I provide the meaningful reference, and the bookie passes it on with the payment, and it appears on my statement.

But it makes no difference whether it's my reference or the bookie's, it can't be transmitted because the system is broken. It should pass two refs with a transaction, but it only passes one. This is used for the card account number, so there's no room for any further data to identify the transaction.

The only useful information the payee gets is the sender's name - if he gets it.

agrinnall wrote: »

there would be no need for the CC issuer to provide you with any information that isn't on the statement

There's no information on the statement, that's the problem.

agrinnall

pqrdef wrote: »

There's no information on the statement, that's the problem.

Change to a different credit card? I've just checked a couple of my statements and they both have fields for the payee name and a separate reference.

RosiPossum

"Bank error in your favour"
Not playing Monopoly, are you?

Gentoo365

antrobus wrote: »

She can't. Even if Capital One could identify who it was, the Data Protection Act would prevent them from telling her.

This is not strictly true. Payment Services Regulation states that the source of the funds must be made available:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/209/regulation/38/made

Information for the payee after execution

38.—(1) The payee’s payment service provider must, immediately after the execution of the payment transaction, provide or make available to the payee the information specified in paragraph (2).
(2) The information referred to in paragraph (1) is—
(a)a reference enabling the payee to identify the payment transaction and, where appropriate, the payer and any information transferred with the payment transaction;
(b)the amount of the payment transaction in the currency in which the funds are at the payee’s disposal;
(c)the amount of any charges for the payment transaction payable by the payee and, where applicable, a breakdown of the amount of such charges;
(d)where applicable, the exchange rate used in the payment transaction by the payee’s payment service provider, and the amount of the payment transaction before that currency conversion; and
(e)the credit value date.

So the name (or company name) of the payer should be available, unless there is a more appropriate 'reference' supplied (e.g. a company name)

When an individual makes a payment the 'reference' field usually has their name. If you have the name, sort code and account number, you can then contact the relevant bank and ask them to contact their customer to inform them of the possible error.

Then they will have to somehow 'reverse' it. Although I am not sure how this can be done for credit cards.

matttye

Gentoo365 wrote: »

This is not strictly true. Payment Services Regulation states that the source of the funds must be made available:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/209/regulation/38/made

So the name (or company name) of the payer should be available, unless there is a more appropriate 'reference' supplied (e.g. a company name)

When an individual makes a payment the 'reference' field usually has their name. If you have the name, sort code and account number, you can then contact the relevant bank and ask them to contact their customer to inform them of the possible error.

Then they will have to somehow 'reverse' it. Although I am not sure how this can be done for credit cards.

I'm pleased the law backs up what common sense was telling me! That would be like the police not telling you who burgled your house because of data protection.

Mishomeister

Gromitt wrote: »

Problem is, asking them reverse the payment could still take months unless they are willing to transfer the sum to a holding account first, and most are unlikely to do that and prefer to leave it in your account.

So I'd say to remove the money from the account and put it somewhere safe, if the account is debited in the future will a figure out of the same amount, simply transfer it back. Since its a credit card rather than a debit card, you will not get any charges for waiting until that time and it'll save confusion now, as you can move the funds now.

What if the payment was made by cash over the counter? Surely it can not be reversed to payer's pocket.
If she withdraws the money from c/c she will get charged a withdrawal fee so this is not exactly a good advise.
Instead she should bring the c/c balance back to it's normal balance via normal spending. This will allow her to release £700 of available money which she can put in to best available instant access savings account.

What is the card limit?
Hence if it is say £600.00 and if provider can reverse the payment at any time it would technically mean she has always to keep it in credit for £100 and therefore not being able to use it in a normal way as using her limit could mean the reversal of the payment would take her overdrawn and keeping it constantly in credit would deprive her of protection of purchases that c/c entitles you to.

Gromitt

Mishomeister wrote: »

If she withdraws the money from c/c she will get charged a withdrawal fee so this is not exactly a good advise.

I never said to do that, indeed that way would cost you money. However, just asking the CC issuer to transfer the in credit amount to your linked bank account is no problem. Some will do a transfer, others will prefer to send you a cheque. Either way, money gone at zero cost.

I wouldn't advise to get rid of it via normal spending as some CCs say that you are no longer protected if anything goes wrong as you are not borrowing any money from them so as such it doesn't fall under the consumer credit act (not sure if this is truth or CC issuer talking crap).