Wages to wrong bank account

stressistheword

Some advice would be great appreciated.
My son started a new job and when entering his bank details for wages he put the wrong bank account number in error. So when he was ‘paid’ for the first time six weeks ago the money didn’t go in his account, I saw the error and told his work what they needed to do (file a cpr between bank accounts). When he was paid again two weeks ago they hadn’t updated his bank details and the same happened again but they admitted their error and paid him those second load of wages the same day.
The first payment of £1700 is still outstanding and their response is that it has been paid into someone else’s account and they haven’t returned the money.
What would people advise we do? Obviously being a new job we don’t want to annoy people by hassling for the money but he really needs it.

MikeJXE

The company obviously know what account is was paid into and should get it back 

Hoenir

MikeJXE said:

The company obviously know what account is was paid into and should get it back 

Only the account number. Not whose account it is. 

MikeJXE

They won’t know the name unless it is the same as your sons 

I’m surprised it has gone anywhere 

Usually if an account number doesn’t match a name it’s rejected 

Are you sure it has gone out of the company bank ?

anniecave

The company will have to file a request with their bank. That goes to the other bank for them to request for the account holder to agree for the money to be repaid.  If the account is active and the account holder is honest then it's straightforward as the account holder simply agrees for the funds to be returned. However if for example the account holder doesn't respond to the request, doesn't receive the request due to out of date contact details etc or doesn't engage with the process then that's when there's a problem.  In that case there's not going to be anything that the company that paid the money can do. It's not their mistake. 

stressistheword

thanks all, according to his work they don’t check account names. My thinking is they will definitely chase the money where it was their error so they should make an effort to chase the first payment. Does anyone think there’s something we can do or just accept the money is gone?

elsien

If it has genuinely gone into someone else’s account, and as  it was your son who made the initial error, the company may be limited in what they can do. 

Yes, they can make the request to have the money back, but that tends to require the cooperation of whoever it’s gone to. 

Your son just needs to keep pushing them to make sure that they have done everything that they can to retrieve it. 

MikeJXE

stressistheword said:

thanks all, according to his work they don’t check account names. My thinking is they will definitely chase the money where it was their error so they should make an effort to chase the first payment. Does anyone think there’s something we can do or just accept the money is gone?

The bank usually checks the name matches the account, did your son give the correct sort code ?

 That should tell you which bank 

Don’t give up 

stressistheword

He gave the sort code for his Monzo but account number for a chase account so we know which bank the money went to.
according to google keeping money that isn’t legally yours is an offence, just wished there was a way we could deal with this ourselves without having to rely on his employer 

Hoenir

The employer is powerless to do anything.  All you can do is hope that the money is eventually returned. Possibly that account number doesn't exist and the monies are still sitting in a suspense account. 

MikeJXE

stressistheword said:

He gave the sort code for his Monzo but account number for a chase account so we know which bank the money went to.
according to google keeping money that isn’t legally yours is an offence, just wished there was a way we could deal with this ourselves without having to rely on his employer 

Therefore it went to Monza with the same account number as your sons chase account number

Maybe thats the people to talk to