Cheques paid into wrong account

PlumbingTheDepths

Hi,
A couple of days ago I went to my local branch to pay a couple of cheques that were in my wife's name into our joint account.

I used one of their automated machines and was assisted by a member of staff (I explained that they were to be paid into the joint account).

A while later, I remembered that I had used the card from my individual account, and called the bank to ask if that would be OK, and if the cheques would be deposited into the joint account. I was told that it would be fine.

However, now that I have checked online, I can see that they have, in fact, being paid into my individual account.

My wife is fine with this, but I am just wondering if the cheques will clear properly, or whether the discrepancy will eventually get flagged and the process cancelled.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

agrinnall

There was never any chance of it being credited to your joint account because the account details taken from the card were for your account.

If you're lucky it'll go through, if you're not then the cheque will be returned so that you can re-present it for credit to the joint account.

If you give it a couple more days and it stays in your account then it's pretty likely that nothing more will happen, but you won't know for sure until day 6, which may be Wednesday or Thursday next week given the bank holidays coming up.

PlumbingTheDepths

agrinnall wrote: »

There was never any chance of it being credited to your joint account because the account details taken from the card were for your account.

Yes, that is was I initially thought, but I explained the situation in detail over the the phone to the customer service guy (who also spoke to his manager) and he was convinced it was OK (but never explained exactly why it would be OK, and how the accounts would be reconciled).

It is, however, very clear that he was wrong.

It's not clear to me how the process of cheque clearing works. I realise that my bank will now contact the originating bank requesting the money, but what happens to the physical cheque? Is it (or a copy) now sent back to the originating bank along with the request for the money? Is the originating bank made aware of the account/person it is to be paid to, or are they just asked to transfer the money to my bank? At what point in the process might the names on the cheque and the account be compared?

I'm a little surprised that it got this far, because presumably somebody at my bank looked at the physical cheque.

d123

I’ve never had a problem putting joint cheques into a single account, or even with cheques made out to wrong first name as a lot of people know me by my middle name and not my actual first name and I’ve received a number of cheques made out that way (ie cheques is made out to John Smith while I’m actually David Smith).

If it’s been accepted at the bank, 9 out of 10 chance it’s going to clear.

agrinnall

PlumbingTheDepths wrote: »

Yes, that is was I initially thought, but I explained the situation in detail over the the phone to the customer service guy (who also spoke to his manager) and he was convinced it was OK (but never explained exactly why it would be OK, and how the accounts would be reconciled).

It is, however, very clear that he was wrong.

It could never have gone into the joint account because the computer system was unaware of the account details. The staff who advised you were, as you found, simply wrong. That could be worth a complaint.

boo_star

agrinnall wrote: »

It could never have gone into the joint account because the computer system was unaware of the account details. The staff who advised you were, as you found, simply wrong. That could be worth a complaint.

According to the OP the CS rep said it “would be fine.”

That appears to be correct so I’m not sure what the basis for a complaint would be.

eDicky

boo_star wrote: »

According to the OP the CS rep said it “would be fine.”

That appears to be correct so I’m not sure what the basis for a complaint would be.

The CS rep was confirming that the cheques would be paid into the joint account, which was clearly incorrect.

agrinnall

boo_star wrote: »

According to the OP the CS rep said it “would be fine.”

That appears to be correct so I’m not sure what the basis for a complaint would be.

I can't add a lot to what eDicky has said other than to suggest that taking 3 words out of context isn't a particularly helpful thing to do.

PlumbingTheDepths

eDicky wrote: »

The CS rep was confirming that the cheques would be paid into the joint account, which was clearly incorrect.

Yes, I did ask, very explicitly, and more than a couple of times, for him to confirm that, even though I had used my card, they would be paid into the joint account.

If the cheques clear then it's all fine, but the advice I was given was wrong, and has obviously taken up some of my time

My only concern is that I need to move that money to the joint account, and I want to make sure that I'm not going to get a letter in a few weeks, saying that I am overdrawn because they reversed the cheques (one of which is for a substantial amount of money).

After the 6th day (taking into account holidays), is there any chance of it being reversed?

The cheques were paid in on Monday. If Monday was Day 1, and next Mon/Tue are bank holidays, then I reckon next Wednesday is Day 6 (which ties in with what agrinnall said previously).

EDIT: I've just checked on the bank's website, and it looks like the end of next Friday, is the last point for the cheque to be reclaimed.