Wrong bank details given - recover money

avk64

Hi,

I am writing on behalf of a friend. He has been awarded PiP and gave the wrong bank details. His backdated payment has gone to another account. Money since then is coming in as should be now.

How this happened he is unsure but has had the voice recording sent confirming it was him who did it. He doesn't recognise the account number or sort code and has no idea how he came up with that.

So we know the mistake is his. The question is how can he recover it, if at all. DWP? Bank? He knows the sort code and account number of where it went to. Will DWP help in recovering? Can he go to the bank in question to inquire about it? Police? Obviously someone has it and hasn't returned it.

Appreciate any help on how to proceed with this.

Regards,
A

Silvertabby

Hopefully, the sort code and bank account number won't be an actual account, so your friend's money may just be stuck in a bank holding account.

When this happened with the LGPS, the first thing we did was to try to recall the money. If it was indeed in a holding account, then it worked - although it does take time. Has your friend asked DWP to try this?

The problem will be if the account is indeed 'live'. As far as DWP are concerned, they have done nothing wrong - they paid the money into the bank account specified by your friend. Again, the police won't be able to help for the same reason.

If the recall doesn't work, then your friend should speak to his bank and explain what has happened and ask them for advice/help.

sportsarb

Once the money is in an account the DWP can’t do anything to recover it. It’s between the bank and the account holder to voluntarily return it. I believe some banks are more helpful than others.

If the bank account doesn’t exist, then DWP have to wait for the bank to bounce it back.

No crime has been committed so contacting the police would seem pointless.

How long has it been since the payment was issued?

avk64

Thanks for the speedy replies.
I think DWP have tried. It is going back to December now I think. It took a number of months to finally realise that he provided incorrect details.

I will mention to speak to both DWP again and his own bank for advice too.

Can he go to the bank in question and enquire? The sort code is a Halifax branch. Or can he only ask his own bank/DWP?

Would the person not have a responsibility to return the money at all?

poppy12345

avk64 wrote: »

Would the person not have a responsibility to return the money at all?

No. There are some very dishonest people. Your friend should have made sure they gave the correct bank details.



Are you saying that it was more than 1 payment that was sent to the wrong bank account?

sportsarb

avk64 wrote: »

Thanks for the speedy replies.
I think DWP have tried. It is going back to December now I think. It took a number of months to finally realise that he provided incorrect details.

I will mention to speak to both DWP again and his own bank for advice too.

Can he go to the bank in question and enquire? The sort code is a Halifax branch. Or can he only ask his own bank/DWP?

Would the person not have a responsibility to return the money at all?

I don’t think the bank will really be able to tell your friend anything. I doubt they’ll even be willing to say if an account exists.

I’m not sure there is any point contacting the DWP again either unless they’ve said they are still investigating anything. If they say it’s credited to another persons account, that’s usually it, they won’t pay the money again.

Silvertabby

It does sound like the money has gone to A N Others account. Sadly, this person seems to have decided to keep it rather than do the decent thing and ask his/her bank to return the payment. Or they too could have been expecting a payment from DWP and don't realise there has been a mistake.

There's very little, if anything at all, that your friend can do now other than put this loss down to experience.

avk64

No it's just the one payment that covered the backdated sum and it was quite large. Okay, I appreciate the help and advice from both of you. I'll let him know.

tboo

Try this


https://www.sortcodes.co.uk/


we use it at work to verify the bank accounts given

tomtom256

avk64 wrote: »

Would the person not have a responsibility to return the money at all?

Technically its fraud, retaining a wrongful credit, but getting anyone to look into it would be hard.