How To Trace An Unrecognised Payment into my Current Account

norm27

Hello. I've just received a £30 payment into my Virgin Money current account labelled "Prize Payment". I do not recognise this so I thought it might be the start of some sort of scam. I contacted the bank via Live Chat but they told me they have no further information about the sender and cannot disclose anything anyway owing to the Data Protection regulations. They offered to reverse the transaction, to which I agreed as I don't want to start any financial relationship with someone I don't know. I hope it is some sort of mistaken payment and that that's now the end of it. It does, however, seem strange that a bank can't or won't tell you who paid money into your account, surely there must be some sort of sender's ID attached to the transaction and is a case like this really a Data Protection issue? I know it's only a small amount of money but it has started to bug me as a matter of principle and I do feel I should be able to know who has obtained my account sort code and number and paid money in. Do you know if I have any rights or processes available to get this information? Any comments please?

Thankyou for any help you can give.

greyteam1959

Silly thing to do reversing the transaction before you have identified the source of the £30.

Catplan

I had a £60 cash payment appear in an account recently, I thought that’s strange, expecting it to be reversed in a day or so….. a week or so later letter arrives saying I’d been paid £60 compensation in relation to a complaint I’d raised. That was the only correspondence I received on the matter. For the ten minutes it took to raise the complaint, i just accepted the £60 and shut up about it.

norm27

Thanks Greyteam. Given that the bank said they couldn't/wouldn't identify the source and that it was them who suggested reversing it it seemed the best thing to do as it meant that I could get rid of any future risk. And at £30 it wasn't worth keeping it and possibly having future hassle. I feel happier now it's not in my account.

norm27

PS And I know for definite I have not entered into any Prize competitions so it is an unsolicited payment.

phillw

norm27 said:

Hello. I've just received a £30 payment into my Virgin Money current account labelled "Prize Payment".

Do you do the national lottery with a direct debit from virgin money?

norm27

Yes I do the Wednesday lottery by weekly direct debit but haven't ever won anything other than a few lucky dips for 2 numbers. Never won any cash so can't see where £30 would have come from.

Keep_pedalling

norm27 said:

Yes I do the Wednesday lottery by weekly direct debit but haven't ever won anything other than a few lucky dips for 2 numbers. Never won any cash so can't see where £30 would have come from.

Prize Payment 3 is the reference used by The National Lottery if you get 3 balls, are you sure you have not had a win?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Lotto results Wed 26/07, £30 for 3 numbers.

norm27

Oh what a plonker I've been. I've just checked the Lotto again and yes I've got 3 balls. When I checked last time I thought I only had 2. What's strange is that I never got an email from them telling me I'd won or else I would obviously have recognised the £30 straight away. Unless it's going to come later. Anyway, never mind, it's all cleared up now and at least it's not a scam. It still doesn't answer the question why Virgin Money couldn't have just told me it was from the National Lottery and saved all the hassle. According to that policy a customer can never query an unrecognised transaction.

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone and I'm sorry to have bothered you, I've learned my lesson and will definitely double check when I get all 7 balls in the Lottery.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

the £30 might get bounced back to you in a few days.