Failed recall

Charpar2013

This is a long one so I apologise.

We have basically paid our rent money into the wrong account (banking details supplied by housing association, I believe not be ours or banks error with bank details). So since Oct 2018 they have not received our rent. Mid Feb they contact us to tell us with we are nearly £4000 in arrears. I’ve contacted my bank and sent proof we have been paying etc, landlords then agreed to no further action whilst my bank put a recall into the receiving bank. The receiving bank have not heard from their account holder and so are unable to process a recall. My bank are now unable to do anything, I can not contact the receiving bank as I’m not a customer of theirs, the financial ombudsman can’t do anything for me in getting my money back as I’m not a customer of the receiving bank, the CAB don’t know what more I can do but are looking into things and will hopefully be in contact at some point next week should they be able to find any other avenue for me.

Has anyone been in this situation in regards to a failed recall? Does anyone have any knowledge on where I go next? Any advise would be greatly received.

Thanks
Charmaine

agrinnall

Note that there are already some replies, particularly about the rent side of the issue, on the OP's orginal thread on the Housing board.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5983012/rent-arrears-and-bank-failed-recall


We suggested a repost on here to address the question of getting the money back.

eskbanker

This is essentially the same scenario as this recent thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5981019/money-sent-to-3rd-party-wrong-account

As with that thread, if you're confident that it's not your mistake and that you were provided with inaccurate payment details by the housing association, then they should accept the financial consequences of this.

The alternative is to get hold of the recipient's details in order to take court action against them to recover the money. Getting the details isn't straightforward or cheap, and once you have them then recovery action isn't guaranteed to succeed, so it'll make things much easier if you can demonstrate that it wasn't your mistake....

[Deleted User]

Do you have proof that the housing gave you the wrong details?if so I'd be making a huge fuss with them and asking them to credit your account and forgetting the recall.

If no evidence it's just your word against theirs.

Charpar2013

No they record all calls but only for 90 days and these have been exceeded.

Back when I was first contacted about the arrears in February, the housing association had a message on their automated call options advising tenants that the sort code details for standing order payees (us) given out recently had been incorrect. I have a this in writing from a Clarion two but he advises the time frame with the error does not fit around the time I was given the details.

I hope that makes sense

Charpar2013

The problem is I have no proof that they have me the incorrect details. The call was recorder but they only hold recordings for 90 day and we are beyond that now.

Charpar2013

No I don’t but they did send out information with the wrong sort code (which is what was wrong with our details) and I’m now trying to find what the sort code was to see if it matches the incorrect one I was given

18cc

If you can show that they gave out the wrong sort code then you will be in a strong position because of course in the end all the housing association can do is say you're behind on your rent and take you to court to evict you

at this point you will tell the court that you paid according to the housing association instructionsand it wasn't your fault they gave you the wrong sort code

If you can get any proof that the housing association gave out any One banking details at any time it will strengthen your position and of course the judge will definitely listen to your account of the answering machine message housing association will have to confirm or deny that underoath at the court

eskbanker

Surely a housing association isn't only issuing payment instructions verbally by phone? On starting a tenancy there must be mountains of paperwork issued, and I'd expect bank details for rentals to be published on their website too....

Charpar2013

Surely a housing association isn't only issuing payment instructions verbally by phone? On starting a tenancy there must be mountains of paperwork issued, and I'd expect bank details for rentals to be published on their website too....

One of their advises told me that the information is t printed and you have to call to get their details

Terry_Towelling

Something that may help to indicate who has made the error here is to compare, side-by-side, the correct sort code and the one you have been using. I am assuming the account number is correct - please say if that is incorrect too. I accept this is only going to be indicative of the error source, rather than definitive, but it may strengthen your case.

If the two sort codes are totally different, the chances may be you were given an incorrect code - we already know, for example, that it is a different bank, so the first two digits will probably be different. If they are similar, with perhaps only the first couple of digits transposed (e.g. '20' instead of '02'), then it will be easier for the Housing Association to say you misheard them on the phone or incorrectly recorded the details.

Like I say this is not definitive, but a vastly different sort code value may make your arguing position stronger. One other potential strengthener for you is their contention that they will only issue their banking details verbally. That sounds very odd and is more likely to lead to errors of this nature. If that is their position, they may have to accept that some of the blame will always have to rest with them.

And finally, if they have been giving out the wrong details due to an administrative error on their part, you surely can't be the only one to be affected. You might also suggest they should have spotted the error more quickly and thereby minimised its effect.