Money sent to wrong account

Namechanger

colsten said:

Namechanger said:

lisyloo said:

If I am dealing with large amounts I always send a small payment first to verify the details and check with the recipient,
not trying to be clever after the event, just offering a tip.

I would normally but was in a real hurry, was doing an offer on the Grand National and it had to be done by Midday and it was like 11.50 a.m.

If you choose to file a complaint with Santander or Halifax, I would recommend you don't mention that you were in a hurry to place a bet, or that the non-cooperating recipient is a friend of yours.

The recipient is not non-cooperating, she has been into the Halifax and asked them to return the money to me.

naedanger

Namechanger said:

naedanger said:

Namechanger said:

If my friend owes them money that is between them and the Halifax.

Why can't they just return the money to me so they are back to the original position?

They should not be keeping my money to pay somebody else's debt surely ?

Is the Halifax your bank, the recipient's bank or both?

How much is the sum of money, roughly e.g. less than a hundred, a few hundred, more than that?

£250.

I sent it from Santander to the Halifax although I do have an account myself at the Halifax as well, could that possibly work in my favour, me being a customer of theirs ?

OK. I would argue that the Halifax are wrong to refuse to refund the money. You sent the money to the recipient in error and so it was never legally theirs (i.e. wrong recipient's). And because the money was never legally the recipient's, it was wrong for the Halifax to seize it as though it did belong to the recipient. So the Halifax are wrong to try and profit from your mistake by keeping your money as a windfall payment to reduce their bad debt.

However the problem is that the Halifax aren't really your bank and Santander will presumably argue they have done all that can reasonably be expected of them.

In your position, and assuming I couldn't get the money from the friend, I probably would go with complaining to Halifax in their capacity as my bank, albeit for a different account. I would state that I would expect a bank that I deal with to treat me fairly in all regards and therefore I wish to complain to them that they are refusing to refund my money which they received in error. Then explain exactly what happened - it is crucial that you explain the error you made. Then I would explain why I believe they are wrong, or certainly unfair, in refusing to return the money (i.e. basically the argument I have given in the first paragraph of this post).

They should then send you a copy of their complaints procedure. This should explain that if you are unhappy with their final response then you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. (A significant proportion of complaints are found in the customer's favour by FOS, so it is worth taking your complaint to them if you believe it is justified, even if the bank or anyone else says you are wrong.)

Even though that is what I would do, I would not be that confident of success despite believing the Halifax is morally wrong to try and profit at your expense from your genuine error. 

Namechanger

Thanks for your response Naedanger, very helpful.

mgdavid

I would forget the money, put it down to a lesson learned, and move on.

Namechanger

Just received a call from the Halifax complaints dept and they are refusing to return it.

naedanger

Namechanger said:

Just received a call from the Halifax complaints dept and they are refusing to return it.

Are you satisfied with their reason? If not then ask them for (a) a written response that explains their reason for refusing to return you money and (b) a copy of their complaints procedure?

In my view it is better, if you are able, to put your complaint in writing. It saves you having to repeat yourself and a written record makes it easier for someone new to the case to see its history.

kaMelo

I'm not convinced they would even have to consider a complaint, let alone give you permission to take things to the FOS.
Whilst you are a Halifax customer you have no valid complaint about the service they provided to you in the capacity of a customer regarding your own Halifax accounts. 

Your complaint is in the capacity of a non Halifax customer who made a payment to someone else who is a Halifax customer. You cannot complain about someone else's Halifax account nor, I would expect, the way they treated you as a customer because when you made the payment in error you were not doing it as a Halifax customer. 

I would still echo to put a complaint in writing to create a paper trail however I would personally focus more on getting the money from the person you paid in error as I think the complaint will likely just be dismissed.

colsten

kaMelo said:

I'm not convinced they would even have to consider a complaint, let alone give you permission to take things to the FOS.

You don't need permission from any bank to take your grievance to the FOS.

I would agree, though, that the claim stands little chance of succeeding.

kaMelo

colsten said:

kaMelo said:

I'm not convinced they would even have to consider a complaint, let alone give you permission to take things to the FOS.

You don't need permission from any bank to take your grievance to the FOS.

I would agree, though, that the claim stands little chance of succeeding.

As a customer I agree however the complaint is being made from the position of being a non customer, hence why I don't think they even have to consider it.

If a bank has to consider and then pay for the Ombudsman to consider any complaint at all, even from someone they weren't providing a service to then to follow it to a natural conclusion, anyone could complain to any financial institution about anything they don't like, customer or not, and whilst the institution has the costs to bear it's all with impunity for the complainant no matter how vexatious the complaint may be.

naedanger

kaMelo said:

colsten said:

kaMelo said:

I'm not convinced they would even have to consider a complaint, let alone give you permission to take things to the FOS.

You don't need permission from any bank to take your grievance to the FOS.

I would agree, though, that the claim stands little chance of succeeding.

As a customer I agree however the complaint is being made from the position of being a non customer, hence why I don't think they even have to consider it.

If a bank has to consider and then pay for the Ombudsman to consider any complaint at all, even from someone they weren't providing a service to then to follow it to a natural conclusion, anyone could complain to any financial institution about anything they don't like, customer or not, and whilst the institution has the costs to bear it's all with impunity for the complainant no matter how vexatious the complaint may be.

It is, of course, possible for a bank to conclude they are not upholding a complaint because they believe they have no responsibility to the complainant. But they should still send them that conclusion along with a copy of their complaints process. The complainant still needs the option of taking their complaint to FOS for FOS to decide (because it is always possible the bank may have been wrong).

Whether or not the bank has to pay will depend on the case - they don't have to pay for frivilous or vexatious complaints and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have to pay for complaints that are judged by FOS to be outside the firms responsibility.