Bank Transfers - What Happens When They Go Wrong?

THIRTYFIVEMILL

THIRTYFIVEMILL

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I'm not expecting a problem with this but it's an interesting question. I agreed to purchase a lens from Alan @woof woof. As per usual we exchanged PMs and he sent me his bank details. During the transfer process the bank (HSBC) flagged that the details didn't match. I paused the transfer and informed Alan but he was adamant the details were correct so I proceeded with the transfer. Over 24 hours later (from one HSBC account to another) the funds are still not in his account. I called my bank to check and they said the transaction was still going through a security check and was pending.

Now I don't expect there to be a problem with this transfer ultimately and Alan and I will work things out regardless but what happens if the money never shows up? Who is responsible for the loss? The money has left my account, the bank has agreed the details given are the ones used?

Never encountered this before and would be interested to hear if anyone else has gone through this?
 
As my bank, the HSBC, is one of the worlds biggest banks you'd think other big banks would recognise it and each other and transfers would be easy?

Such is life... Nothing is guaranteed to be easy and it's the 5 minute jobs that can turn into a right royal PITA.
 
I recently closed all my Camera Clubs accounts with HSBC as they introduced charges. It actually required interception from the banking Ombudsman to get any action. Last year a member who was paying a Utility Bill inadvertently put the bank details for the camera club in his transfer but realised immediately and asked his bank to stop it but they said that they could not. He contacted me and I confirmed that the amount had arrived but could not reverse it due to the poor software used by HSBC. However, I immediately refunded the amount by transferring the equivalent amount from another account with a different bank. A few days later HSBC removed the sum from our HSBC account despite the member explaining to his bank that all was fine now. The removal of the sum of money from the club account was clearly illegal and I gave HSBC 48 hours to return the sum or I would report them to the fraud squad. They did then return the funds. Over the last couple of years we have received several hundred pounds compensation from HSBC for poor service but it has wasted days of my time. Glad we have finally closed the accounts and dumped them.

Dave
 
Dave Canon said:
I know that but it made the bank jump into action and they paid me compensation.

Dave
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They might have (rightly?) perceived that if the Fraud enquiries you started, you were brushed off......the potential would be you raising the matter with the press.....or maybe Martin Lewis! No good press interest comes from a customer being treated badly.
 
Since the start of 2019, banks have paid a total of almost £500 in compensation for poor service to my Club. The problem is, I believe, lack of staff. They keep closing banks but where do the staff go (redundant?).

Dave
 
THIRTYFIVEMILL said:
I'm not expecting a problem with this but it's an interesting question. I agreed to purchase a lens from Alan @woof woof. As per usual we exchanged PMs and he sent me his bank details. During the transfer process the bank (HSBC) flagged that the details didn't match. I paused the transfer and informed Alan but he was adamant the details were correct so I proceeded with the transfer. Over 24 hours later (from one HSBC account to another) the funds are still not in his account. I called my bank to check and they said the transaction was still going through a security check and was pending.

Now I don't expect there to be a problem with this transfer ultimately and Alan and I will work things out regardless but what happens if the money never shows up? Who is responsible for the loss? The money has left my account, the bank has agreed the details given are the ones used?

Never encountered this before and would be interested to hear if anyone else has gone through this?
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It's usually that the exact name on the account doesn't match what you've entered, often happens with joint accounts or names that are too long to entirely fit within the character limit.
 
When I do a bank transfer(from Santander) I'm not asked to enter the name on the account I'm paying. When I put the sort code and account number in, the bank completes the name of the account holder and asks me if those details are correct.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
When I do a bank transfer(from Santander) I'm not asked to enter the name on the account I'm paying. When I put the sort code and account number in, the bank completes the name of the account holder and asks me if those details are correct.

Dave
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Poor security I am glad I do not use Santander. I now use Barclays for Club banking and frequently have to pay a new person. I sometime find that initially I fail to get a match but try variations such as omitting partner for joint account or omitting middle name/initials. The bank does ask me to confirm the final combination. In one case I was concerned because the bank was in Birmingham but the person lived in Nottingham. In this case I stopped the transfer action and contacted the individual. There had been a error as the account in question had been closed. I imagine it would have taken a lot of effort to recover funds from this closed account.

Dave
 
Dave Canon said:
Poor security I am glad I do not use Santander.
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We use Santander here and have done so for several years. Their security is no worse than any of the other banks that we use and meets the current guidelines for retail banking.
 
HSBC transfer went wrong for me and it took 3 months to recover £1000 they send to wrong person. Eventually offer £45 compensation. Not used transfer since.
 
Tringa said:
When I do a bank transfer(from Santander) I'm not asked to enter the name on the account I'm paying. When I put the sort code and account number in, the bank completes the name of the account holder and asks me if those details are correct.

Dave
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That I believe is the newer/current system but perhaps not all banks are fully compliant (yet?). But in the case of the OP this was an HSBC to HSBC account payment, so why the "checks" kerfuffle :thinking:
 
Box Brownie said:
so why the "checks" kerfuffle :thinking:
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Possibly because it triggered a warning on some level.

They’ve now referred everything to a “specialist” department to do a “payment trace”. Go figure.
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For several years now, banks have been trying to get ahead of the money laundering problem. It's possible that their warning levels are stricter than actually needed but the last thing they want is to be caught out in an organised crime scam.
 
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I just can't understand the reasons for this. One buyer makes a payment and it turns into a time consuming circus and another makes a payment to the same account (mine) which goes through instantly. No blame on the OP here, but banks seem to be a hotbed of incompetence, confusion and inefficiency.

I have my current account at HSBC plus several other accounts at other banks and when transferring money from one to another I sometimes get a message to say that there's no record of the account I want to transfer to and I have to set it up again despite having done so multiple times before. The other banks always blame HSBC but who's really to blame I just don't know.
 
I don't have an HSBC account but use 3 different banks regularly and often transfer money between them without problems, to me that suggests HSBC may be behind the issues related by some here?
 
mj4456 said:
I don't have an HSBC account but use 3 different banks regularly and often transfer money between them without problems, to me that suggests HSBC may be behind the issues related by some here?
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They are well behind. As a club we have to have second signatories for cheques and bank transfers but HSBC cannot provide this on-line though many other banks can which is why we opened our Barclays account. I did not close our HSBC account because of this or their general incompetence but because they started making charges for charities and not for profit societies though HSBC make billions profit. They have come under heavy criticism for this but, even if they changed their minds, we would not move back.

Dave
 
woof woof said:
I just can't understand the reasons for this. One buyer makes a payment and it turns into a time consuming circus and another makes a payment to the same account (mine) which goes through instantly. No blame on the OP here, but banks seem to be a hotbed of incompetence, confusion and inefficiency.
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It's tricky isn't it because on this occasion you know it's legit but if it wasn't then you'd want them to do all kinds of due diligence to notice that it's wrong. The banks must take a lot of the blame though - it is "surprising" that a payment to the wrong account can only be traced if it goes to honest people. If it's criminals then apparently it's gone.

You and Yours had a case the other day of an elderly couple whose account was systematically robbed of literally their life's savings for nearly 2 years totalling around 650 THOUSAND pounds. Neither the bank nor the police thought it worth investigating.
 
We gave our son money so he could put a good deposit down on his first house. When his mortgage checks were being done we had to supply proof of where we got the money, bank statements and letters from solicitors- some of the money was from an inheritance we received.
Bit of a pain to do but understandable
 
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