Help please!!! transferred £300 into the wrong account.

typistretired

This is what Barclay's advise if you make an incorrect payment

"If you've still typed in the wrong information and confirmed the payment, there is little we can do to get the money back for you - partly because of Data Protection Act regulations surrounding the account of the person you accidentally paid. We suggest you identify the bank where you have sent the payment to (you might be able to do this through the sort code), write to them giving the account details of where you accidentally sent the payment and ask them to investigate whether your payment can be returned to you.

In the meantime, you should arrange for payment to be made to the correct recipient.

The Online Banking Helpdesk may be able to help if you cannot identify the bank from the sort code. They can also put a trace on the payment to find the sort code if you've not kept a copy of the payment but this does take some time."

matttye

Hominu wrote: »

It is used, and quite clearly stated that it is used.

The 'name' you type in is for your reference. It lets you identify the payment in the transaction list and statements.

The 'reference' field is for the payee's reference. It allows them to identify the payment in their transaction list and statements.

Both very useful fields.

Add to that that pretty much every bank has a confirmation screen that asks you to check your account number and sort code before hitting the 'I confirm' button, then it's pretty much on your back if you decide to enter wrong information and then confirm that wrong information as correct.

John1993 wrote: »

This has been explained to you, several times. The payee name is for your records, it's what will appear in your statement, to remind you what the payment was for. The "ref" field will appear on the recipient's statement, to show them the source of the funds.

The sort code and account number are the instructions for delivering the money.

You can think of it as analagous to an address on a letter, if it helps you to understand. You can put "Darth Vader" as the first line, and the post office will still deliver it if the address below is correct. They won't carry out a check to see if Darth Vader really lives there.

I know that you'd like the world made fail-safe for the lowest common denominator. I hope, though, that you understand that this is not without cost, and that the rest of us prefer it how it currently is.

You must be confusing me with someone else, because it hasn't been explained to me multiple times.

By 'used' I mean 'used in the transaction.'

In any event, I don't think there is anything wrong with the current system. I just think the bank should explain what information is actually used to ascertain the recipient, as it is not obvious to the layman. Lloyds does this just fine; why can't the other banks?

It would not be difficult or costly to add a simple warning that the account name isn't actually used in finding the payee.

It seems you're being deliberately obtuse here. Nothing actually has to change in terms of the process of sending money itself, I'm literally just suggesting that the banks should be clear on the payment page which information is used.

pqrdef

By coincidence, two threads at the same time. One where somebody has sent money to the wrong account, and one where somebody's account has been suspended because somebody else has paid money into it.

The answer is obvious. They have got to stop this farce where money can be plonked into accounts without the knowledge or permission of the account holder. All unexpected incoming payments should stay in a pending state until accepted by the recipient.

Archi_Bald

pqrdef wrote: »

All unexpected incoming payments should stay in a pending state until accepted by the recipient.

How is this going to work? What will be deemed "unexpected" and how is it going to get identified? What is it going to improve?

You can just about picture a whole lot of new threads on MSE, like

1. I thought the money was mine, so I accepted it, but now I realise it wasn't meant for me
2. Help - got overdrawn because I thought I didn't need to accept an incoming payment but it wasn't credited automatically
3. etc etc

pqrdef

Hominu wrote: »

The 'name' you type in is for your reference. It lets you identify the payment in the transaction list and statements.

So why don't they just call it "Sender's ref"? And why don't they let you change it between payments?

Certainly there ought to be a Sender's ref. And it's about all the Name field is good for. But the banks are being deliberately disingenuous here. They don't want to make it too glaringly obvious just how lame the system is.

Uxb

The sender ref can be/is important

Some building societies use the number in the sender ref box to allocate the money to the correct account.
This is when they are using another clearing bank as a centralised collection account.
You are quite clearly told to do it this way when they need you to.

Insurance companies sometimes use it likewise to allocate your payment to your account with them
So reference can be very important.

That is why you are not allowed to change it - without setting up a new payment mandate with your bank to ensure money goes to the correct place as detailed in both the account/sort code AND sender ref box.

Gromitt

pqrdef wrote: »

So why don't they just call it "Sender's ref"?

Because there are thousands of instructions out there that tell you what to put in the "reference" field, and if there's two reference fields it becomes confusing.

pqrdef wrote: »

And why don't they let you change it between payments?

Normally there's no need to, your paying the same person. If you want to know why you paid them, you can check your own records.

JuicyJesus

pqrdef wrote: »

The answer is obvious. They have got to stop this farce where money can be plonked into accounts without the knowledge or permission of the account holder. All unexpected incoming payments should stay in a pending state until accepted by the recipient.

Over in pqrdef-land, his desire to assert that Everything Is The Fault Of The Banks Somehow leads him to make an absurd, unworkable suggestion that would do nothing but lead to complaints, unwarranted bank charges and extra administration work for absolutely everyone in the country, but fits his criteria of 1) there is an issue 2) the issue Is The Fault Of The Banks Somehow even when in reality it's easily preventable by people using a modicum of common sense 3) it could be solved with method XYZ, even if method XYZ is totally insane, unworkable and of disproportionate cost to the severity of the issue 4) therefore the banks should solve it with method XYZ and consumers should have to do nothing because it is the Fault Of The Banks Somehow.

robatwork

Uxb wrote: »

That is why you are not allowed to change it - without setting up a new payment mandate with your bank to ensure money goes to the correct place as detailed in both the account/sort code AND sender ref box.

Indeed some people seem to be missing that. Those of you in the "all you need is account number field and sort code field" camp - you're wrong in some cases.

Some Virgin accounts for example - when setting up a payment the details to enter are sort code xx-yy-zz and account number 00000515. In the reference field you put the actual account number.

Hominu

Uxb wrote: »

That is why you are not allowed to change it - without setting up a new payment mandate with your bank to ensure money goes to the correct place as detailed in both the account/sort code AND sender ref box.

Incorrect, it's only some banks that prevent you from changing it, others (eg. First Direct) allow you to change the reference each and every time you pay someone with those details.

robatwork wrote: »

Indeed some people seem to be missing that. Those of you in the "all you need is account number field and sort code field" camp - you're wrong in some cases.

The name still isn't used, and if you miss off the reference field, the payment will still be sent and reach its destination holding account. It just will not be automatically associated with your account and you may have to ring up try and get them to associate it manually for you.