Urgent bank advice needed

[Deleted member 37751]

Buyer came to pick my car up this morning at 11am and did a bank transfer (CHAPS) before he set off to mine at 9am, so it'd save him two hours of waiting at mine while it cleared.

Buyer arrives at mine and we look at his bank transfer and I notice he has mis-spelt my surname and he says he will ring the branch where he did the transfer. I then have a look on my Yorkshire Bank account app on my phone and it says that it's showing in my account, so I then say that if it's showing in my account the mis-spelt name mustn't have mattered.

Buyer drives off into the sunset very happy with his new Audi...

In an unrelated case, I check my account to see if a seperate transaction has taken place and notice that my account is MINUS the payment for the car.

I then speak to the proverbial call centre dude who informs me that it's nothing to do with them, you're on your own...

I get in touch with the buyer who is quite pragmatic about the situation and goes to his bank to see what's happening. His bank then says that the money hasn't been returned just yet so there's nothing they can do. I'm 100% confident in the buyer sorting this and re-sending the money, but where would I stand if this all had gone wrong? My bank has been no help at all in this matter "there's nothing we can do sir".

I argued that this sort of thing is wide open to abuse and they couldn't respond to that.

For all my life I've only ever dealt in cash when dealing with cars and the first time I take a bank transfer, this is the result. From now on I'm going to go back to cash and if they want to try me for money laundering they can go a **** themselves!

 

[trapperjohn]

Hope its sorted soon Lee. Keep us informed.

CHEERS.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Chaps and other transfers can be refunded without anything you can do. Getting the name of the account wrong is one reason - the receiving bank will initially pay in on account number etc, but if all the details don't match, they will reverse it (this may be irritating but it's better than the alternative of the wrong payee getting the money).

Hope it is all sorted correctly, don't send off the V5 just yet! I suspect it's a minor mix up, but something learned, it is remarkable in this day and age that money transfers are so antediluvian.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Chaps and other transfers can be refunded without anything you can do. Getting the name of the account wrong is one reason.

My main point is why it should show in my account at all?

Surely this is wide open to abuse?

All you have to do is make a bank transfer in the morning, mis-spell the name, money shows as being in the account, you drive off (even worse it could be something untraceable) and you won't know until the afternoon when the buyer is long gone. If the money shows in the account, there should be no way of reversing it.

 

[Piff]

Ive had money disappear in the CHAPS system for 7 to 14 days (twice) Each time the transactions have been between genuine parties.

First transfer went into a Santander account which I had asked them to keep open until a new account was properly established. Santander closed the old account
It took 7 to 14 days for the money to be returned to the sender so that they could arrange payment to the new account.

Second time I sent money to a closed account. My bank swore blind that the money had been accepted. The other party claimed not to have received the money.
Again 7 to 14 days later the money re-appeared in my account. The other parties bank had sent it back to my account via a posted cheque

No long term harm but banks just love having your money in their system for as long as they can

 

[Meldrew2]

It will show in your account when the instruction is received by the bank - and it will then be checked and deleted if an error is found.

Just like if you "bounce" a direct debit it shows the money going out then back in.

 

[brucemillar]

It will show in your account when the instruction is received by the bank - and it will then be checked and deleted if an error is found.

Just like if you "bounce" a direct debit it shows the money going out then back in.

Lee. This is correct. The issuing bank should re-fly the payment with the correct name. They may need a prod from your buyer to keep them moving.

As said above hold onto the V5 etc. If it is CHAPS they should still be able to clear it tonight.

 

[camerafodder]

let's hope it just a genuine mistake. It sounds like it.

 

[IanA2]

What a bugger, I'm sure it will turn out ok though.

 

[camerafodder]

If not you can always send 'the boys' round, all 66,742 of us!

 

[Deleted member 37751]

If not you can always send 'the boys' round, all 66,742 of us!

The buyer is also amazed at the whole episode, he's another one that normally pays cash for everything.

He says that he'll never do another bank transfer again and neither will I!

 

[wemorgan]

If not you can always send 'the boys' round, all 66,742 of us!

Count me out please, as this is what I look like

 

[markjay]

Hope you get it sorted soon. Buyer sounds like genuine bloke. I had money disappear in the bowls of the bank clearing system... but it always turns up, eventually. Good luck.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Count me out please, as this is what I look like

You've toned up a lot since last we met, Will!

 

[jaymanek]

Barclays have explicitly told me that if I can see the payment on screen then its non reversible as I have had a similar experience some time back when I was scammed out of thousands.

Just remain calm with the buyer, you will need his help to sort.

 

[Peter DLM]

I've had a few Fast Pay transactions that pop in and then out of the account for seemingly no reason. I wouldn't sweat it, it's probably on the way back in already.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Barclays have explicitly told me that if I can see the payment on screen then its non reversible as I have had a similar experience some time back when I was scammed out of thousands.

This proves that it can happen, I suppose I'm lucky that the buyer is a straight bloke.

 

[scillyisles]

CHAPS payments are non reversible payments (non reversible from a CHAPS perspective) CHAPS is a same day sterling RTGS payment system operated by the Bank of England. Once your bank has received the CHAPS payments then they have received the funds as a real time transfer has occurred over the banks settlement account held at the Bank of England. Each CHAPs settlement bank has an RTGS settlement account at the Bank of England.
Typically, name is not all that significant in either CHAPS payments or Faster Payments - the key parts are sort code and account number. This is because these payments are automated and checking names fully is not easy to totally automate. This explains why the funds appeared in SPX's account. What then happened is that someone at SPX's bank reversed the funds out of his account and into the banks suspense CHAPS account due to spotting that the name did not match/was incorrect.
As I stated earlier, the key identifiers are sort code and account number and if the discrepancy in name is small then I think SPX's bank has been somewhat overzealous.

 

[jonthetourist]

Hope you get it sorted soon. Buyer sounds like genuine bloke. I had money disappear in the bowls of the bank clearing system... but it always turns up, eventually. Good luck.

If only

I once had a large personal cheque (larger than a car). The bank suggested special clearance for an extra £10 to get it into my account and earning interest sooner (banks can be very nice to you when you go in with a big cheque). Never saw the money again. Turns out special clearance involved them putting it in an envelope addressed to the issuing bank with a first class stamp on it

I had to go back to the issuer and sheepishly ask for another large cheque

Jon

 

[cinek]

I had similar, but not the same case last month.

Paid in a cheque into TSB branch, after been told they can still transfer it into my Lloyds account.
Week later, no money showed up in my account, not even as uncleared funds. I knew the cheque was good and had cover. Phoned up Lloyds and was told it is TSB I have to speak to.
So I went to my local branch, spoke to a manager, he was able to confirm the cheque was paid, but due to an error, wasn't transferred to my account.

I was also told that the monies transfer, whether by cheque or CHAPS, can take 24-48h to show up. In some cases, even when it shows as cleared funds, most banks reserve the right to withdraw/stop the transaction up to six working days.
Apparently it is a common precedent in business banking which can also be applied to personal accounts.

Looks that in your case its an error and it will be rectified soon enough.
Not sure who you are banking with, but I just found out today that barclays had some major security issues and as a result they are withdrawing their logging devices for business banking and replacing it with new one. That is responsible for some funds transfer delays.