MartynGT4 Posted February 27, 2015 Report Share Posted February 27, 2015 Why do some people feel that the banks or credit card companies should play a role in this? If you posted some money to somebody and the postman delivered it correctly but you had addressed it incorrectly would you try to blame the postman? Of course not. Actually banks and financial organisations do have some responsibility in this because banking systems expect end users to make money transfers using nothing more than account and bank branch identifiers (account number and sort code), they provide absolutely no mechanism to validate that the funds will be sent to the correct recipient. For example, if you log into your online bank and try to send money to J.Bloggs by supplying the sort code and account number, the website may ask you to provide the recipient name but it does not check it is correct. At no point in the process will the website say "The sort code and account number you have provided are for Mr J Bloggs account, are you sure you want to send money to this person?". The account number and sort code number combination can be validated, using a combination of sort code lookup and check digit validation, and they do, but they do not validate that the name provided matches the account and sort code you have provided. This is true of online transactions and also paper based (bank giro credit) where the funds are going to a different financial organisation to your own. This type of validation would be perfectly possible, technically it's not particularly difficult at all, but the industry doesn't have an appetite for doing anything about it. When you send a letter in the post you have to address the envelope in plain English so it's pretty clear where the letter will be sent, point being that it's a lot easier and safer to address a letter correctly than it is to identify a bank account holder using nothing more than identifiers supplied by the intended recipient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted February 27, 2015 Report Share Posted February 27, 2015 I once had a call from my bank to say they had been advised by a client that he'd paid £3k into my account by mistake and would I be so kind as to grant permission for it to be grabbed back. No problem of course, the money wasn't mine so away it went. Another time I noticed a sum had been deposited into my account, then debited out and re-credited minus £50 ! It took me ages to find out that the payee had paid in cash and the bank having noticed their till was £50 short at the days end had concluded that it probably meant my payee had short changed them so they had raided my account to make their books balance. Well I can assure you they heard every decibel I subsequently threw at them, they of course rectified their own theft and gave me £50 as a good will gesture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philscreens Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 We stayed in an hotel in the centre of Stevenage late last year, the money was taken out of our account twice. Despite regular phone calls e mails all made by us (manager /accounts blah blah werent available) it has taken till last week to be refunded even then it was done by our banks fraud dept Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SO3isme Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 This happened to me once. I used money claim online and got a judgement against the company. As luck would have it, they couldn't afford to have the CCJ against them and paid up plus our costs. Unfortunately, it doesn't work every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Not quite the same story but stayed in a hotel this weekend in Amsterdam. Come the time to checkout I found two City Tours at 39 Euros each had been charged to our room. We hadn't booked or used them but its lucky I checked the bill. The hotel immediately took them off but its lucky I checked the bill. At 6.30 in the morning it would have been easy to miss it, Im sure it was an error but these days you have to double check everything. A big credit card scam is to take a small amount falsely from lots of accounts on the basis most people can be bothered to query a transaction for 5.99 that they don't remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuta Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 A little light reading... http://www.money.co.uk/article/1005023-can-you-keep-money-accidentally-paid-into-your-bank-account.htm http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manual/dishonestly_retaining_a_wrongful_credit/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
point and shoot Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) civil proceedings only. Not theft as the money was not dishonestly appropriated, Edited March 2, 2015 by point and shoot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuta Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 civil proceedings only. Not theft as the money was not dishonestly appropriated, It's contrary to the Theft Act 1968... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
point and shoot Posted March 3, 2015 Report Share Posted March 3, 2015 as I said - not DISHONESTLY appropriated. "A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it." Given in error, not dishonestly appropriated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted March 3, 2015 Report Share Posted March 3, 2015 (edited) Its dishonesty once the person realises the mistake has been made if they don't take reasonable steps to rectify the error. Edited March 3, 2015 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted March 3, 2015 Report Share Posted March 3, 2015 Its dishonesty once the person realises the mistake has been made if they don't take reasonable steps to rectify the error. I agree. Last week I had to call Admiral to complain that I was not happy with their renewing my insurance on the strength of my not having replied to a reminder e-mail. They in turn said they were within their rights because I had agreed to their terms and conditions the previous year ! Nocando said I because I never gave you permission to retain my card details.............anyways I cancelled, got refunded (so they said) via the same card minus £25 cancellation charge. Called their customer service line and opened a formal complaint requesting refund of said charge, lady called back a day later, apologised and said despite being technically bound they would refund the £25 as well. She then at my request destroyed records of my card. A few days later I have received a cheque for the full amount as well ! If and when my card statement comes through showing refund has already taken place, I would be dishonest in cashing in the cheque as well even though I'm sure they will neither realise their mistake nor have a reasonable chance of retrieving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.