Sent money to wrong bank account number

[Gaygle]

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?

 

[Gaygle]

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?

 

[Gaygle]

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.

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

 

[Gaygle]

You could try signing up for a revolut account and sending £1 with the exact same details and see what happens.

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]

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.

Yeah when I tried to replicate the situation (i opened a TransferWise account and tried to send money to the same erroneous bank account number) it wouldn't let the money even go. It came back almost immediately saying there was a problem with the details and if you forced it to send, it immediately cancelled and refunded the money. With this in mind, I have no idea how the original money has actually gone from the ladies account (which I have verified) and can see that the transaction is marked as "complete" whereas when I tried to replicate it, it went to "pending" then "cancelled".

She said she'll call TransferWise today and find out what's happened to it. Hopefully it'll just be a case of clawing it back. I'm just glad it hasn't gone into someone elses account otherwise it becomes a lot more difficult.

I read that as TransferWives and thought you were being paid £250 to take someones wife off them. I didn't know it was that cheap

I would need at least 100 times that amount - if their husband is selling, there's going to be a reason why!

 

[Gaygle]

It goes to a central suspense account for clearing (if it doesn't exist)

Where does it go after the suspense account? Does it get returned or just sit there forever until it's claimed?

However, like most covered Confirmation Of Payee should help prevent this, but not fully (usually a soft warning - not a block like most suggested)

Yeh it's strange because it stopped me from doing it and pretty much blocked me from sending it - I physically couldn't force it to. But it didn't do anything when she tried to

 

[Gaygle]

He has the cheek to call Monzo stupid when he can’t even give out his own bank account number correctly!

Monzo is stupid. I'm just stupidererer