Bank unable to trace recipient of a standing order

DullGreyGuy

born_again said:

I hope OP is speaking to the bereavement team about this & not someone in the front line call center. 

Their system should show the sort code & account, but that is all. 

I found out to my detriment that Barclays remove your stored payees after 6 months of non-payment as a "security feature". Needed to pay the Mrs some money for something and turned out it had been over 6 months. Could easily give them a prior transaction but their front line team said their system didnt show where the payment had gone to and they had to call through to a second team to get the sort code and account number. 

Wasnt a major problem, just a 5 minute wait on hold whilst they did it, but was really surprised that wasnt something at their fingertips. 

Zanderman

legaleagle5 said:

My late father’s account shows a monthly standing order of a few hundred pounds. We have asked the bank who the recipient is/where the money was going and they simply state that they cannot trace it. This amounts to some £12k+, can it really be the case that this has disappeared into the ether and we have to accept this has vanished? What further checks can I ask this bank (Barclays) to make? Any help much appreciated!

Sorry for your loss.  As others have said it's a bit strange to assume this has vanished 'into the ether'.  It's got to have been for something. Rather than hassling the bank over it it may be worth thinking through what he might have been paying for.  Sorry, you've probably done that already so I may be stating the obvious, but your post does seem to suggest the bank was your first call. I'd be going to them last. It's either a payment to someone or something or a payment to another account of your father's. 

If not to another account of his own (which you can should be able to find out with an account search) then it must be a payment for something.  If to his own account somewhere it will be part of his estate and should be tracked down. But if it's to the gardener, meals on wheels, or his sponsorship of wells in Saharan Africa or whatever, then it's money that's spent and gone. 

wmb194

legaleagle5 said:

My late father’s account shows a monthly standing order of a few hundred pounds. We have asked the bank who the recipient is/where the money was going and they simply state that they cannot trace it. This amounts to some £12k+, can it really be the case that this has disappeared into the ether and we have to accept this has vanished? What further checks can I ask this bank (Barclays) to make? Any help much appreciated!

Do you know the account details? What do the statements show? In addition to the sort code and account number is there a reference? E.g., If it's a string of numbers it could be to a building society savings account. In this case it would be easy to Google the sort code and account number and find the institution.

35har1old

wmb194 said:

legaleagle5 said:

My late father’s account shows a monthly standing order of a few hundred pounds. We have asked the bank who the recipient is/where the money was going and they simply state that they cannot trace it. This amounts to some £12k+, can it really be the case that this has disappeared into the ether and we have to accept this has vanished? What further checks can I ask this bank (Barclays) to make? Any help much appreciated!

Do you know the account details? What do the statements show? In addition to the sort code and account number is there a reference? E.g., If it's a string of numbers it could be to a building society savings account. In this case it would be easy to Google the sort code and account number and find the institution.

You only need the sort code to find the bank details but if its a building society it will possibly show the clearing bank only

Ergates

brianposter said:

Hoenir said:

brianposter said:

It is perfectly reasonable to complain about stupidity by any institution.

Rules and laws have been created for good reason. Taking the time to understand why is no bad thing.

As has already been pointed out, there are no laws which prevent the bank disclosing the information requested to the OP.

Once more - the information the bank hold will not help the OP identify the recipient.  *Either* the recipient is a customer with a different bank, so Barclays will not know who it is.  OR the recipient is a customer of Barclays who cannot divulge that customer's details to the OP.

This is not a law that needs changing because changing it would serve no useful purpose.

Ergates

retiredbanker1 said:

I knew staff members of other banks as they knew me and often (pre mobiles or texts though!) and we would phone each other to check out suspicious transactions or people. I know in this day and age the bank would probably sack me for it but just say that you find the money was going to xyz bank - would you know anybody there that you could ask - pretty please is it possible to let me know who the account belongs to?

If you don't know anybody perhaps walk in to a branch yourself with the death certificate -, will - if there is one and explain. You might get to see a sensible person - who knows.

Not only would the bank immediately fire anyone caught doing that, but they would be liable for prosecution for deliberate GDPR breach.   You might as well ask someone working in a shop to steal from the till for you.

"Hello friend.  I'm not sure who this SO is going to.   Would you break the law and violate the trust of your customers to help me out please?"  I can't imagine such a conversation ending well.

wmb194

35har1old said:

wmb194 said:

legaleagle5 said:

My late father’s account shows a monthly standing order of a few hundred pounds. We have asked the bank who the recipient is/where the money was going and they simply state that they cannot trace it. This amounts to some £12k+, can it really be the case that this has disappeared into the ether and we have to accept this has vanished? What further checks can I ask this bank (Barclays) to make? Any help much appreciated!

Do you know the account details? What do the statements show? In addition to the sort code and account number is there a reference? E.g., If it's a string of numbers it could be to a building society savings account. In this case it would be easy to Google the sort code and account number and find the institution.

You only need the sort code to find the bank details but if its a building society it will possibly show the clearing bank only

What I mean is that if you know the sort code and account number you will be able to determine the building society as they advertise them publicly, it's just the reference that points to an individual account with the BS. As you know, many of them use collection accounts with the likes of Barclays and NatWest.

Another idea might be to use the 'my lost accounts' site to see what it throws up.

DE_612183

op has one post - 5 pages of comments / help / questions and they haven't replied - think this is a lost cause!

DullGreyGuy

DE_612183 said:

op has one post - 5 pages of comments / help / questions and they haven't replied - think this is a lost cause!

Or they've already worked it out and just haven't come back to say. 

born_again

DE_612183 said:

op has one post - 5 pages of comments / help / questions and they haven't replied - think this is a lost cause!

1 visit as well. So until they visit again, no relies. 🤷‍♀️