Sent money to wrong bank account number

Gaygle

Gaygle

Gaygle

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I have a question if anyone else has gone through it - if you send money to an incorrect bank account number, and more specifically a bank account number that doesn't exist, what happens?

Long story short, someone tried to send me £250 - the sort code was correct but the account number had one digit wrong. It was my fault as it was me who sent the wrong account number (fat fingers).

Now, I've been able to confirm that the bank account number does not exist, but struggling to get anyone in Halifax customer services to give a straight answer on what happens next. Unfortunately the person sent the money from one of these Monzo/Revolut type app based accounts rather than a proper bank account.

Does it just get bounced back/rejected when the money reaches Halifax and they find the account number doesn't exist? Or is there a process?
 
If the account doesnt exist then i assume it just gets rejected but it may take some time. Im not sure how it works with these apps but ive had a transfer rejected on my banking app before. Maybe try and contact the specific apps customer service. They should be able to help.
 
I think there's more checks these days, you need to enter the recipient's name and if the name and account number don't match then the payment will be blocked. I'd guess a similar thing would happen if the details don't exist.

Not sure if every bank does this?

edit: here's some info https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...ing-online-youll-tap-names-EXACTLY-right.html
not quite as foolproof as I thought - apparently a warning pops up if the names don't match but you can continue to send the money anyway.
no mention of what happens if the details dont exist though.
 
Now I get asked for recipients name, what happens if the name mismatches though I got no idea, it always seemed a bit of an odd system, that made it so easy to send money to the wrong place.
 
Unfortunately these new checks only are if you send the money from a proper bank account. Because the money was sent from a stupid Monzo/Revolut type account, it just sent it.

Luckily the account number doesn't exist, otherwise I'm sure it's be much more difficult to get the money back, but still, I'm wondering if someone in the know can tell me what happens next. Does it just get rejected or has the sender got to "apply" to get the money back?
 
It will go towards paying for some bubbly at the shareholders meeting.

Alternatively I don't see how the transaction can be considered completed if there is no receiving account. Assuming it has been sent to a legitimate bank, why wouldn't it then get refunded automatically to the sender if it can't be put into an account?
 
Gaygle said:
Unfortunately these new checks only are if you send the money from a proper bank account. Because the money was sent from a stupid Monzo/Revolut type account, it just sent it.
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Is the person sending you the money trustworthy? Could the transaction have actually been rejected and they are not being entirely honest about it?
You could try signing up for a revolut account and sending £1 with the exact same details and see what happens.
 
touch said:
Is the person sending you the money trustworthy? Could the transaction have actually been rejected and they are not being entirely honest about it?
You could try signing up for a revolut account and sending £1 with the exact same details and see what happens.
Click to expand...

I was the donut who typed the account number and sort code into their phone and they transferred it there and then. I only noticed when I got the confirmation email and noticed one digit of the account number out.

The company was TransferWise or "Wise" as they're known now. Similar to Monzo/Revolut
 
chrcoluk said:
Now I get asked for recipients name, what happens if the name mismatches though I got no idea, it always seemed a bit of an odd system, that made it so easy to send money to the wrong place.
Click to expand...

It asks if their real name is correct. Or it did with a partial match (I didn't know their full name).
 
Monzo are a proper bank which do the name check on transfer, not sure why you're lumping them in with accounts like revolut
 
chrcoluk said:
Now I get asked for recipients name, what happens if the name mismatches though I got no idea, it always seemed a bit of an odd system, that made it so easy to send money to the wrong place.
Click to expand...

HSBC is like that, if the name does not match the account number you just get an error.
 
touch said:
You could try signing up for a revolut account and sending £1 with the exact same details and see what happens.
Click to expand...

I just tried this and the transfer gets rejected pretty much instantly and the money transfer "tracking link" it sends the recipient goes dead straight away.

However, the money she sent me didn't reject and the tracking link is still live saying the transfer was successfully completed? I used the same erroneous details as she did.

I don't get it
 
Gaygle said:
I was the donut who typed the account number and sort code into their phone and they transferred it there and then. I only noticed when I got the confirmation email and noticed one digit of the account number out.

The company was TransferWise or "Wise" as they're known now. Similar to Monzo/Revolut
Click to expand...
Yeah these are basically Western Union of the 21st Century.
 
Hyburnate said:
Yeah these are basically Western Union of the 21st Century.
Click to expand...

I think that is slightly unfair, I've used transferwise (Or Wise) multiple times a month for years moving money between the US and UK. I have nothing other than great things to say about them.
 
OP, if the recipient account number doesn't exist then the sending bank is unable to complete the transfer and this should be flagged automatically and near-instantly (or at least by day end) on your internet banking or mobile app*

* I'm basing this on the NZ/AUS banking infrastructure and setup so this may or may not be particularly useful to you.


Sent from MY ipad
 
When I last worked in banking (3 years ago), if the payment has left your account it will most likely be in a holding account somewhere, most likely your bank.

I don't know if a bigger bank clears payments for revolut / monzo etc but if the person contacts their customer services, they should be able to raise a ticket to trace the payment.
 
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