Halifax returns ‘missing’ £400 soon after transfer error
A single reader mistakenly sent £400 to the incorrect bank account, and Halifax delayed returning the cash 
Photograph: Finnbarr Webster / Alamy
Three weeks in the past I transferred £400 by BACS in error from my account with a single financial institution to an outdated and closed account of mine at the Halifax. Realising my error, I telephoned my bank, which mentioned that I must communicate to Halifax.
I known as the Halifax 3 instances over the weekend and was assured the income would bounce back. It did not.
I am a pensioner and deal with quite nicely on a constrained earnings but are not able to afford to lose £400.
I hope you can assist to recover me this funds from the Halifax.
KB, Suffolk
You had taken the income out of your Isa to cover a bill. Then, mistakenly, you sent it to an old account of yours that was now closed. You went to the branch 16 miles away three occasions in an effort to resolve this. Then you have been recommended it would get at least 33 days to return the misdirected sum.
One possible complication is that the previous Halifax account had been in your earlier name.
When you complained you were told that Halifax has up to eight weeks to respond to you. The individual you spoke to refused to allow you to communicate to a senior manager. By this point, you say you felt really bullied by Halifax. My involvement led to a change in tone by the bank.
It has now swiftly sent a cheque to cover the payment. It also paid £49.80 for your travel expenditures, including parking, and £25 to apologise for the time taken in excess of this and curiosity utilized on the account you had meant the money to go to.
Sending funds to a wrong account virtually invariably requires far more trouble than a client expects. Stay away from being distracted or hurried for the duration of this kind of a transaction.
As I create, the Payments Council is preparing to situation new suggestions beneath a code of best practice for the banking institutions and developing societies that indicator up to it.
It will cover problems this kind of as the one you seasoned and set out acceptable timescales.
It will also contain the process for attempting to recover cash that has been paid into a incorrect account of somebody who will not agree to it getting launched back to the rightful proprietor.
Nevertheless, it will not offer cast-iron ensures. Just receiving a digit incorrect when sending cash can lead to any quantity of problems if the money go into the account of somebody with the rather dubious “finder’s keepers” ethic.
Above the many years I have urged the Payments Council to function on this problem.
– Go through more on this: New financial institution code on reclaiming incorrect payments
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