Internet payment to wrong beneficiary

cLeO

I recently paid money from my account to a relatives account via my internet banking. The money left my account and I assumed everything was ok, until they informed me a week later that they had not received it. They also showed me a copy of their statement to show it was not in the account. I called up my bank and explained. They sent me a copy of the transaction summary, it showed that the card number I had paid it to was correct, but the sort code and account number was different. The money should have went to a Visa account, however, it appears to have been paid into an M&S More account

I called in to my branch today to query it. They advised I had to call telephone banking, let them know it had gone to the wrong beneficiary and ask them to reverse the transaction. I done this and the call centre say they have sent me a transaction summary and this is all they can do for me and it is up to me to trace where the money has gone and claim it back as I done the transaction myself online so it is not their fault. I cannot see how it is my fault either as I entered the card number correctly (the person I spoke to at the branch confirmed this aswell as I took my relatives card with me to show show them the number I entered was correct.) I also was not aware that it was possible for 2 different people could have the same card number.

I cannot get back to the branch to speak with anyone in person for at least 2 weeks due to work commitments and I cannot get anywhere with this speaking to the call centre either.

Can anyone shed some light on this and advise what I should do now?

Thanks

YorkshireBoy

Your money is probably sitting in an M&S 'holding account'.

Your best bet is to ring M&S, but rather than ring the normal 0845 (India) number try 0800 997996 (Chester) in the morning.

BTW, whenever I pay a credit card bill by internet banking I have to enter a sort code and account number - as well as the 16 digit card number. How did you manage to mess it up?

cLeO

Yorkshire boy,

I have no idea how I messed up, this is the only time I have used my internet banking to make a payment, I normally only use it check my balance. The sort codes and account numbers are not even similar at all and I was not asked to enter this, just the card number.

Thanks for your help, I'll call M&S tomorrow.

MarkyMarkD

You must have specified the recipient for the money in some way - like by selecting "M&S &more card" before you entered the account number.

Your bank didn't simply guess that the payment was for an M&S &more card.

It's not possible for two credit cards to have the same 16 digit account number. So as YB says, the money must be sitting in a suspense account at M&S &more and they should be able to identify it from your transaction details and refund it to you.

Millionaire

Normally if you send it to an incorrect account number it will be returned within 7-10 days back to your account if the account doesnt exist.

Or it goes into the recieving banks "holding account" or into a persons account if that account exists.

Payments to credit cards require a sort code and account number via bacs and the credit card number is normally put in reference section. You've obviously entered this in incorrectly.

Your bank doesnt have access to the funds anymore as funds can only be recalled within 1 day or if your very very lucky 2 days maybe be possible on a long shot.

Your Bank needs to contact the other bank to request a manual recall. Get onto your bank and tell them they they must do a recall as you dont know who's account the payments gone into. the bank normally has to fill out a form with all details for the recall and is then done via the banking department.

They are just fobbing you off.

cLeO

Millionaire,

Thanks for clarifying things. As you said, I think what I must have done is put the 16 digit card number in the wrong section.

I got the impression the bank was just fobbing me off. I asked them if they would be able to recall the payment and they told me it was up to me to sort with M&S and they could not help me any further. They did not seem to understand that I did not know who's account the money had went into and just kept repeating that as I done the transaction myself online it was up to me to get the money back...How am I expected to do that? I cannot just call M&S and request they take £240 from somebody elses account and pay it back to me! I don't think they'll take me seriously somehow!

Thank again for your advice.

cLeO

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

It's not possible for two credit cards to have the same 16 digit account number. So as YB says, the money must be sitting in a suspense account at M&S &more and they should be able to identify it from your transaction details and refund it to you.

This is what I thought and when I mentioned it to the bank, they told me it was possible. Although I don't believe thats true!

The account/card number that I was trying to pay the money to was a debit card, not a credit card. I'm not sure if this makes a difference though?

Daisy_Duck

cLeO wrote: »

This is what I thought and when I mentioned it to the bank, they told me it was possible. Although I don't believe thats true!

The account/card number that I was trying to pay the money to was a debit card, not a credit card. I'm not sure if this makes a difference though?

When you say debit card do you mean that you were trying to pay the money into a current account?
If so then the card number is not what you enter online, you do a transfer into the account using the number and sort code of the account, you don't enter the card number at all.

oldagetraveller

I'm confused as well, or thick:D
I suppose the debit card number could be entered as a reference but as Daisy states the sort code and account number are the important bits of information.
If either or both of these are incorrect then the money will have transferred incorrectly, more than likely the sort code as the money has gone to the wrong organisation?

MarkyMarkD

No, o-a-t. The debit card number is completely irrelevant for a BACS transfer to another person's current account.

I'm not surprised this transaction went wrong - it sounds like cLeO provided completely the wrong details to his/her bank.

oldagetraveller

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

No, o-a-t. The debit card number is completely irrelevant for a BACS transfer to another person's current account.

I know, that's more or less what I said in my post But usually a reference for transfer is required so anything could be quoted e.g. Donald Duck, a debit card number etc. to identify the transaction.
I did say that the sort code and account number of the recipient were the important bits of information required.
I definitely agree with you and suspect the OP provided the wrong information in the wrong places, that's why things have turned to poo.