Wrong Transfer - Help! 21 September 2022 at 12:46PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 29 replies 1.3K views

NualaD40

Hi, I accidentally keyed 1 wrong sort code digit & my money has gone from my Santander account to JP Morgan in Frankfurt. Santander advised they have attempted to recall & the bank won’t respond & therefore have closed the case. On another conversation with them I was advised the beneficiary won’t respond? JP Morgan in Frankfurt have advised they cannot deal with me directly & Santander need to contact them via Swift. Santander said they cannot do anything further.

Is there anything more I can do? Take it to small claims or go direct to Solicitor? Many thanks in advance!

Devongardener

Unfortunately I believe that as the error was yours you are unlikely to be able to claim through the small claims court.   With Santander transfers there are opportunities to check and recheck who you are sending funds to. There is even an account check function that verifies the recipient.    All you can realistically do is keep trying Santander in the hope they will reopen the case.

eskbanker

Surely it's not possible to inadvertently make an international transfer, given that these will entail IBANs, etc, rather than the sort code and account number mechanism used for domestic transfers?  If money was initially sent to a standard UK account and was subsequently routed elsewhere, I'd argue that the initial transfer should be within the scope of the misdirected payment mechanism (under which the receiving UK bank would be obliged to respond) but ultimately if the beneficiary isn't cooperative then there's little that can be done without knowing who they are, and their bank would only disclose that with a court order....

Exodi

eskbanker said:

Surely it's not possible to inadvertently make an international transfer, given that these will entail IBANs, etc, rather than the sort code and account number mechanism used for domestic transfers?

My thoughts also, how do you mistype a sort code on a domestic 'Faster Payments' transfer, and have the money end up in Germany? Payments to Germany would be typically be sent via SEPA with an IBAN Number.

My intention isn't to prove the OP is lying or anything - moreso that the bank hasn't made a mistake here, as I think they stand more chance getting their money bank if it wasn't their mistake.

The_Fat_Controller

Exactly how are SWIFT involved ?

Where were you actually trying to send money to, a UK or foreign account and by what method ?

NualaD40

Thanks for responding everyone. I was trying to send to my new account with Chase, but unfortunately the 1 sort code digit has supposedly sent it to JP Morgan Frankfurt. I found it strange that it would go to an international bank & also th account number was exactly the same. I’m not having any luck with either bank. I am hounding Santander everyday & they just keep saying they can’t do anymore, they can’t legally do another recall? 

NualaD40

The_Fat_Controller said:

Exactly how are SWIFT involved ?

Where were you actually trying to send money to, a UK or foreign account and by what method ?

Thanks it was to a UK Chase account.

eskbanker

How were you sending it (app, online, phone?), what did the Confirmation of Payee check display, and what sort code did you end up using?

NualaD40

I sent it via the app. I can’t be certain unfortunately what the payee check said. It was my sort code apart from 1 digit. The UK Chase branch finally told me it belonged to the Frankfurt bank. 

eskbanker

NualaD40 said:

I sent it via the app. I can’t be certain unfortunately what the payee check said. It was my sort code apart from 1 digit. The UK Chase branch finally told me it belonged to the Frankfurt bank. 

The app should still show what the sort code was - my question was more about running it through one of the many online sort code checkers to ascertain who owns it.  I don't believe that a six digit UK sort code can relate directly to a non-UK bank - was it just Chase (not in the loop directly here) who told you about JPM Frankfurt or did Santander refer to them too?

sheramber

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Frankfurt Branch

Presumably, this bank