Balance transfer misdirected to another account £4k - please help

sarahern

I currently have an investigation ongoing with the ombudsman. The summary of my complaint is a balance transfer was submitted twice when setting up a credit card account with Sainsburys. The money was to be transferred from my barclaycard account in the sum of £4048. This was inputted at the time of registering for the sainsburys credit card and again upon account activation as it wasn't visible on the account and was showing as 00.00. I assumed it wanted me to input it again. Due to an alleged error inputting the bank account details, the money was sent to the wrong account. The Ombudsman have now confirmed they have no jurisdiction in clawing back this money that has been incorrectly paid into another Barclaycard account. They have advised I need to contact action fraud / police to see if you can assist with retrieving the funds. Alternative is small claims court. I have contacted action fraud but everything takes time. This is a case of unjust enrichment. I had 2 complaints open one with Sainsburys and one with Barclays. Both banks have sent their final responses and tell me they cannot assist in locating the funds. I therefore contacted the ombudsman but i feel i am getting nowhere. I have spent hours trying to resolve this since January. I am extremely stressed and anxious. I am almost 26 weeks pregnant. I was told by Barclaycard to go back to Sainsburys and ask where money had been sent to. I advised I knew Sainsburys could not give me this info as it relates to someone elses account. Barclaycard said they couldn’t discuss this direct with Sainsburys due to GDPR Sainsburys could not give me the information. They say Barclaycard have the info. The ombudsman are able to investigate the conduct of the banks but not assist with locating the funds or retrieving the money. I am suffering financial hardship still as I continue to pay double minimum payments as i am told the £4048 debt lies with me. I am stressed and upset. Can anyone kindly assist? Many thanks

eskbanker

A tricky situation but it does indeed sound like a matter for a court rather than the ombudsman service, who can only adjudicate on whether a financial institution has acted reasonably and fairly, rather than resolving wider disputes.  While it probably is unjust enrichment if the recipient of the money is refusing to cooperate, your issue is ascertaining who that is, as neither institution is allowed to share that info with you without a court order mandating its disclosure.

However, if Sainsbury's are asserting that it was you who made the mistake of supplying incorrect account details, do you have any evidence to contradict this?

sarahern

Thanks for your help. I am wondering if i should instigate court proceedings now or attempt a letter of claim in the first instance or indeed wait until action fraud / ombudsman have responded. Conscious time is of the essence too. Its been 8 months!
It appears neither bank has even contacted the recipient to attempt to retrieve the funds. I have since asked them to and they wont do anything whilst ombudsman is investigatng. There is no evidence unfortuntley as i just inputted it and it is sainsburus who say it was automated and there was a typo. However on one occasion i was told 1 digit was incorrect and on another i was told 4 digits were incorrect. I wonder if its possible i was intercepted by some form of scam?
I am so upset by it all and feel ive nowhere to turn.

born_again

Have sainsburys tried to reclaim/recall the funds back from Barclays? Which should be the 1st action tried.

TBH, unless you are in the Met police area. I would go to local police, they may be more proactive. But could well say it is a civil matter.

sarahern

Thank you - yes sainsburys attempted a balance transfer recall but it was unsuccessful as the recipient has the funds and did a credit balance refund to his own account. Action Fraud is part of the police. Would you say contact local police aswell? I am thinking they will say civil matter to be pursued via the courts. Just wondering if i should start the small claims process now. 

eskbanker

sarahern said:

Just wondering if i should start the small claims process now. 

Who would you plan to take action against?

Neither institution has done anything wrong, and you don't know (and can't easily find out) who has the money?

sarahern

I suspect it would be sainsburys as they have sent the money and they have the details of the recipient so would hopefully be ordered to disclose name of the recipient. Then the recipient would be added as a respondent to the applifation. I would also question why sainsburys dont have systems in place ie payee confirmation to prevent this from happening. How can it be right for a person to pocket £4048 and no one ever contact them for it to be retrieved. I am unable to contact as the info cannot be shared with me. Now i face a 4048k debt due to an alleged typo. 

The issue im finding is no one is putting themselves in my shoes! 

eskbanker

But Sainsbury's (a) simply enacted your instructions and (b) won't know the identity of the recipient anyway, just an account number, so I don't see how a valid small claims action could be constructed against them?

sarahern

Yes however both banks are telling me they each have the details of the recipient. They are a barclaycard customer. Barclays confirmed this to Sainsburys. The complaint response from Sainsburys redcats their details. All it would mean is a conversation between the 2. At one point i was told the other bank was ‘telling fibs’ Sainsburys allegedly enacted my instructions. I cannot be sure of this. But this is what they tell me. 

[Deleted User]

Taking court action is going to be very difficult, it should be a police matter than the recipient has the money and knowingly took it

Action Fraud aren't going to do anything more than give you a reference number

eskbanker

sarahern said:

Yes however both banks are telling me they each have the details of the recipient. They are a barclaycard customer. Barclays confirmed this to Sainsburys. The complaint response from Sainsburys redcats their details. All it would mean is a conversation between the 2. At one point i was told the other bank was ‘telling fibs’ Sainsburys allegedly enacted my instructions. I cannot be sure of this. But this is what they tell me. 

I can't see why Barclaycard would disclose the details of their customer to Sainsbury's but even if they have (or do in future), that doesn't mean that Sainsbury's are permitted to divulge those details to you, and hence the redacting.