Switched over 3 years ago, what happens to attempted payments in?

Sea_Shell

I understand that any payments in will be redirected for the first 3 years following a switch.

What happens after that window expires?

Would money just eventually bounce back or disappear into the ether?

What if you'd switched again, also over 3 years ago?

I have a paper trail, will the banks?

I'm waiting to hear back from Scottish Friendly, but would be good to know what's likely to happen.

Account closed, paid from an old (switched) account, which I misremembered, and they've said they'll pay the original account 

DullGreyGuy

Traditionally it would go into a suspense account and the bank would try to work out where it should have gone. More commonly these days the bank bounces the payment back. 

If the original payment went by BACS rather than FasterPay then the return payment is done by the same so its 2-3 working days getting there and the same again on the way back

Olinda99

unless of ourse the account no had been recycled and allocated to someone else.

eskbanker

Sea_Shell said:

I understand that any payments in will be redirected for the first 3 years following a switch.

What happens after that window expires?

Redirections continue indefinitely until there's a 13 month period without one - was this a one-off or have such payments been happening during that time?

Sea_Shell

eskbanker said:

Sea_Shell said:

I understand that any payments in will be redirected for the first 3 years following a switch.

What happens after that window expires?

Redirections continue indefinitely until there's a 13 month period without one - was this a one-off or have such payments been happening during that time?

It was an ISA that we opened in 2016, made two (minimum) payments, then stopped.  Purely for a cashback offer 😉

We had to keep it for at least 5 years to avoid penalty, but we thought we'd cash in now for tidyness.

I honestly thought we'd set up the DD from our main joint account, that we've had for years, but apparently I didn't.

We were chasing switches at that time, and needed DDs spread around.  I lost track☹️

Sea_Shell

Olinda99 said:

unless of ourse the account no had been recycled and allocated to someone else.

Don't they do a name check?

Would a mismatch not get flagged?

eskbanker

Sea_Shell said:

eskbanker said:

Sea_Shell said:

I understand that any payments in will be redirected for the first 3 years following a switch.

What happens after that window expires?

Redirections continue indefinitely until there's a 13 month period without one - was this a one-off or have such payments been happening during that time?

It was an ISA that we opened in 2016, made two (minimum) payments, then stopped.  Purely for a cashback offer 😉

We had to keep it for at least 5 years to avoid penalty, but we thought we'd cash in now for tidyness.

I honestly thought we'd set up the DD from our main joint account, that we've had for years, but apparently I didn't.

We were chasing switches at that time, and needed DDs spread around.  I lost track☹️

A direct debit mandate would presumably have lapsed anyway, under dormancy provisions (was it listed in the switch process?), but if the ISA provider had details of your old current account and tried sending money directly then it'll only redirect automatically if there have been other redirections within the past 13 months.

Sea_Shell said:

Olinda99 said:

unless of ourse the account no had been recycled and allocated to someone else.

Don't they do a name check?

Would a mismatch not get flagged?

I don't believe that Confirmation of Payee would apply to such transactions.

Sea_Shell

eskbanker said:

Sea_Shell said:

eskbanker said:

Sea_Shell said:

I understand that any payments in will be redirected for the first 3 years following a switch.

What happens after that window expires?

Redirections continue indefinitely until there's a 13 month period without one - was this a one-off or have such payments been happening during that time?

It was an ISA that we opened in 2016, made two (minimum) payments, then stopped.  Purely for a cashback offer 😉

We had to keep it for at least 5 years to avoid penalty, but we thought we'd cash in now for tidyness.

I honestly thought we'd set up the DD from our main joint account, that we've had for years, but apparently I didn't.

We were chasing switches at that time, and needed DDs spread around.  I lost track☹️

A direct debit mandate would presumably have lapsed anyway, under dormancy provisions (was it listed in the switch process?), but if the ISA provider had details of your old current account and tried sending money directly then it'll only redirect automatically if there have been other redirections within the past 13 months.

Sea_Shell said:

Olinda99 said:

unless of ourse the account no had been recycled and allocated to someone else.

Don't they do a name check?

Would a mismatch not get flagged?

I don't believe that Confirmation of Payee would apply to such transactions.

Good job it's only £122.

Am I likely to ever see it again? ☹️

I've raised a query with SF, so will wait and see what they say.


At least DH can now contact SF and make alternative arrangements before closing his account.

eskbanker

Sea_Shell said:
Good job it's only £122.

Am I likely to ever see it again? ☹️

I've raised a query with SF, so will wait and see what they say.

At least DH can now contact SF and make alternative arrangements before closing his account.

Unless the current account number has been recycled, you will see the money again - it's yours and neither the sender nor the recipient bank are entitled to keep it, so the only fly in the ointment would be if the money went to the new owner of an account with the same number and they chose not to cooperate with returning it.  It might take a while, but persist unless you're happy to write it off....

Sea_Shell

Is there a way to check to see if an account number is active?

Try and set up a payee to it, called Joe Blogs?

Will it just say mismatch, or will it say account doesn't exist?



Actually, not sure I have the full number, just the last 4 digits on correspondence.

eskbanker

Sea_Shell said:

Is there a way to check to see if an account number is active?

Try and set up a payee to it, called Joe Blogs?

Will it just say mismatch, or will it say account doesn't exist?



Actually, not sure I have the full number, just the last 4 digits on correspondence.

Academic if you don't have the full account number, but AIUI the recipient bank does return different messages for 'mismatch name' and 'account doesn't exist' under CoP, so if those are treated separately by the sending bank too then it ought to be possible to determine whether or not an account exists.