Money paid into wrong bank account

[SMP]

When my daughter and her friend moved into their flat they set up a Standing Order from the friends account to the landlords Santander account for the rent. Unfortunately they got one of the digits in the landlords account number wrong and 3 months rent went into someone elses account.
The landlord didn't tell them he hadn't received the rent until the 3rd payment had gone out. They contacted both the friends bank and Santander. Santander said they would sort it out but are now saying the person whose account it went into hasn't got the money to give it back and as it was their mistake giving the wrong account number they don't qualify for an "unauthorised transaction" refund. Does this sound right? We talking £1800, which is a lot of money.
My daughter did ask do they not check the name against the account number but it's all computerised, using just the account number.
My daughter is also not sure if her flatmate is telling the truth about not having got the money back.

Thanks
SMP

[New Judge]

Your daughter is in an unfortunate position.

Santander will not discuss the matter with her or give her any information about the transactions (including whether they have refunded any money or not) because she is not the account holder.

Your daughter's friend will have to pursue this and if she has genuinely not received a refund she may have to take action against the person who received the money as a result of her error. This itself may prove tricky as she may have difficulty establishing that person's details.

[factor-fiction]

Yes, whilst the person who received the money must have known the money wasn't theirs, it's difficult to see what can be done. Santander can only ask politely for the money from their account holder- they can't simply refund it as they don't have sufficient evidence or the account holder's permission, and the custmer has probably moved the money anyway. And your daughter can't pursue it directly with the accidental beneficiary as Santander are bound by customer confidentiality/data protection and so can't pass on their details to you

[PurplePolkadot]

what shocks me is that the landlord waited so long, mine would have been banging the door down at the first opportunity lol

[ubasses]

I am afraid in this case the remitting bank sent out payments in accdordance with a standing order set up by the payee and the receiving bank accepted it into an account with that number. So there is no Bank error. There would be a case had the standing order instruction been completed correctly and been set up incorrectly by the Bank. The next stage would be to give Santander a letter and ask them to forward it to the account holder requesting return of the funds. If you do not receive any staisfaction send another advising them that you will be reporting the theft of the money to the police who will contact Santander for their details. It will not usually be high priority though.Only if the recipient can prove that they were expecting funds of the same or similar amount and why would they win any case. Keep badgering Santander to speak to their customer as well to get authority to reclaim the funds. Good luck.
If you have any doubts about the flatmate ask her to get a copy of the standing order from her bank, and also ask her if they could both look at her account regularly to see if the money has been returned. Her reactions should tell you a lot.

[factor-fiction]

Yes, ubasses' answer is more comprehensive than mine. Asking the bank to forward a letter is the best way forward, although I doubt it will achieve anything.
I doubt the police will be interested.
I wonder if there is merit in making a civil claim using the legal process- however as you don't know the other party's name and address that may be difficult unless Santander forward legal documents. We need a civil law expert such as Barmaid

[SMP]

Thanks everyone. My daughter has asked her flatmate to see her account but the flatmate won't let her see it. There is no doubt the money went to the wrong person but the flatmate keeps coming up with reasons it hasn't gone back into her account ie the bank says it will go in 3 days or it will go in but takes x number of days to clear etc. Funnily enough the flatmate has offered to pay the landlord the £1800 herself. My daughter pays her share of the rent and bills directly into her flatmates account. I think there is something funny going on, i think the money has been paid back but flatmate has spent it. I think I'll tell my daughter to say she is going to speak to the police or a solicitor about it and see what response se gets.

[PurplePolkadot]

how awful when a friend/flatmate does this, i feel for your daughter, apart from the money situation, if her friend really has done what you suspect, its so hurtful. If the continue to share the flat/bills etc can your daughter now set up her share of payments direct from her own account, perhaps they should open a joint a/c (separate from their own individual personal a/c's) and use it as a bill account, pay in their own share individually on a d/d and have a d/d set up to pay rent/bills from that account, they can both keep track of it as it will joint a/c.

[evil__sheep]

personally, i think your daughter is in a good position.
If her duty regharding rent is to pay her share to the flatmate, she has discharged this duty and can't be expected to pay any more. If there truly is a £1800 debt, it is in the flatmates name (if she is the one who pays the money and is named on the lease) and nothing to do with your daughter

[ubasses]

I think your daughter announcing that this has gone on long enough and she will be going to report it to the police Monday morning as it is theft will get a reaction from the flatmate if she is not being totally honest. When this is sorted if they are going to continue to share I think purple polkadot is right, insist on a joint account, equal amounts paid in by standing order each month and all bills paid by standing order or direct debit and no cheque to be issued. Your daughter can check online then that her flatmates payments go in when they should and nothing untoward goes out. If it is any consolation in 35 years of banking I can count on 1 hand the number of instances of misdirected payments and they were all resolved and only 1 took months rather than weeks.

[joko]

who is responsible for the wrong digit? the flatmate, landlord or your daughter?
if the landlords then i would say itd be somewhat up to him to pursue it...as you have acted in good faith...

does the fm know the landlord? could they have cooked this up together somehow?

[Eve]

Could the flatmate be having serious financial problems (or something else on her bank account) she doesn't want your daughter to know about? Something that would be obvious should your daughter see her account.

It might be interesting to check the status of the bills as well (depending on whose name they are in - if just the friend's then might be difficult) to check if they have been set up and are being paid.

Whose name(s) is the tenancy agreement in, one or both names?

[twix123]

From my 40 odd years banking experience, a one digit error in the account number should cause the payments to be rejected at the recipients end as it would not pass the electronic checks for account number validity. Therefore the funds should have been held in a 'suspense' account at Santander until the correct account was traced, or have been returned to the paying bank!

[PurplePolkadot]

Twix? what if there was a genuine account with the number which was entered (albeit inncorrectly) given that SMP's daughter was told by the bank that as the system is computerised there is no name check involved in the transaction.

[factor-fiction]

I thought I understood this thread initially but now I'm confused. I'm no longer sure what the problem is. Your daughter has paid her share of the bills to the flatmate. The flatmate set up the rent S/O payment incorrectly and claims she hasn't got the £1800 back but has nevertheless offered to pay the landlord the £1800 out of her own money.

I don't see a problem from your daughter's point of view. I don't understand why there is any suggestion of involving the police.

[SMP]

Thanks all for your answers.

Factor 30, sorry my wording of the question a bit confusing. Money did go into wrong account but flatmate had been hiding mail and although all other bills are being paid there was a few problems a couple of months ago. Flatmate not being very forthcoming with what exactly Santander have said or are supposed to be doing. She says she doesn't tell my daughter because she doesn't want her to worry. Daughter says she seems a bit to blase about the whole thing.
Daughter gone home today so watch this space.

[tinkerbell23]

Threaten with the ombudsman! I used to work with complaints when they were abbey national and they hate that! 1800 is alot to us....but to them it isnt and they will eventually write it off...they can write to the account holdler twice, third time it goes to legal department.......in meantime they can refund your daughters flatmate! Ive seen this 100s of time x

[SMP]

Thanks Tinkerbell. Would that apply if it was my daughter and her flatmates mistake in the first place, putting a wrong digit in the account number on the S/O?It was a genuine error, they had never had to set up a S/O before. I'm sure this isn't an uncommon problem.

[boxtops]

I think that if it was me, I'd be thinking twice about sharing a flat with someone who conceals mail and isn't totally up front about shared finances.

[SMP]

She is Boxtops, but the tenancy is not up until Feb 2012.

[PurplePolkadot]

lets hope after having gone home today she can shed some light on it all, i hope she is considering setting up a separate account for them both to put money in and the d/d for bills and rent to be taken from, at least then as a joint a/c separate from their own personal accounts, she can keep an eye on things whilst this arrangement continues....