Wrong sort-code

cifpower

I sold something on e-bay and the seller was transferring the money (£119) to my bank account. My sort code is 40-63-01 but on the e-mail I wrote 40-63-04. The account number is correct. I was wondering why it has not arrived since 27th May. How long will it take to find the money do you think? It could be in my bank's holding account but I doubt it due to the sort code.

davidcampbell

one of 3 things will happen


1) if the sortcode and account number quoted does actually exist and belong to someone somewhere it will havebeen credited to that persons account. you will then have to get the sender to ask his bank to put trace on it so they can determine who has it and retrieve it from their account


2) if that sortcode and account number combination doesnt exist then it will have hit a holding accounbt somewhere. the bank who owns sortcode 40-63-04 will then most likely have held it for a day or two before sending it back to where it came from. you would then be looking at probably thursday 2nd june for it to reach holding account..... lets say its held for 2 days and then will be sent back to where it started and arrive 3 working days later. should be back in original account by this friday (10th)


3) last option is if sortcode 40-63-04 is owned by your bank as well then they realise what the mistake is based on the fact that (presumably) your name is on the reference and can redirect it into your account for you. (this one is the most unlikely option imo though)


best bet is probably to ask your bank if they own sortcode 40-63-04 as well 40-63-01 and explain whats happened. if they do they should be able to tell you what they do with payments that reach them but have wrong sortcode. if they can redirect it, great. if not they can tell you how long they hold it and you can therefore tell sender when to expect it back in hsi account.

alternatively if your bank say they dont own that sortcode see if they can tell you if anyone does ..... (not sure if there is a sortcode checker online anywhere?) ... then ask sender to ask his bank to do a trace. some banks though will refuse to do this until around 10 working days has passed because after 10 working days roughly the payment should be back with original sender anyway (if option 2 from above is happening)



its very early and im knackered :eek: but hope that makes sense

DC

cifpower

I have checked online for a sort code verifier and found one which has a free trial. My bank only has 2 sort codes - 1 for accounts and 1 for returned cheques. 40-30-04 could not be fixed to any bank. Why would his bank send the money to that sort code if it did not exist? I sent a secure message to my bank at 4am but I will ring them when they open at 8am.

cifpower

Well my bank got back to me. The sort code belongs to Habinsons Bank and they have sent the money back to the originator.

empfun

cifpower wrote:

I sold something on e-bay and the seller was transferring the money (£119) to my bank account. My sort code is 40-63-01 but on the e-mail I wrote 40-63-04. The account number is correct. I was wondering why it has not arrived since 27th May. How long will it take to find the money do you think? It could be in my bank's holding account but I doubt it due to the sort code.

Nice to know your money was recovered cifpower. But it's a funny I don't believe I've ever bought something from myself before and paid for it. ;p

davidcampbell

cifpower wrote:

Why would his bank send the money to that sort code if it did not exist?

just an error. in my job i could access a sortcode checker when setting up payments but will generally just assume customer has got the correct details - or else they shouldnt be doing it!

if a customer did give me wrong number though my system doesnt tell me ... it will still accept the instruction. would imagine its the same for most banks

DC

cifpower

Ah well. He has received the money back and has not paid me via PayPal. Have him a £19 discount for goodwill. All's well that ends well.