Credited bills money paid into a closed bank accoint

apav90 · 18 August 2017 at 9:13AM

Good morning all,

Looking for a little help and guidance!

I've been expecting a credit refund from Thames Water, approximately £318, originally when I got the notification of credit through it said to ring a specific number with my bank detail to handle the refund but then a couple of days later I received an email saying the money had been refunded to the card it had came from.

A few months prior to this, I closed my old student/graduate account with Natwest, not realising the money would go back to this account (I needed to pay the water bill through this account due to not yet being paid and this account having decent overdraft facilities).

My initial thoughts were that the money would just bounce back to Thames Water as the account was closed but after ringing Thames Water, they've said the money would be held within Natwest, some kind of holding account. I've contacted both parties and they're both telling me it's held with the other.

Has anyone experienced this before?

xylophone · 18 August 2017 at 10:00AM

Thames Water made the payment through their bank.

Their bank should be able to trace it/state whether or not the payment was returned.

If the payment was not returned, then it is in a holding account with Natwest.

First get hold of the details (dates/reference) from Thames Water.

Once they have confirmed that the payment was not returned, write to Natwest requesting them to state where the payment is being held.

amanita · 18 August 2017 at 8:54PM

Above advice correct, and for future reference never close a current account yourself any more- with the current account switching service you can ensure this doesn't happen, and your account still gets closed.

mt99 · 19 August 2017 at 12:27PM

I wouldn't worry too much - what normally happens it the payment to a closed account or invalid account details will just get bounced back to Thames Water