Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

[APHerbert]

Back in August I asked Natwest to transfer £7,250 to a friends Barclays account (in payment for a purchase). I had the correct Name and initials and a/c no. but got the branch and sort code wrong (I guessed the branch, the cashier looked up the sortcode), the transfer was sent to the a/c no. at the wrong branch.
When I asked the bank to repay the money, they contacted Barclays, who contacted the recipient, who has declined to refund the money.
Nat west have declined to repay the money(My fault for giving wrong branch),
The police say I should pursue Natwest or the recipient, not their problem, The Ombudsman has not responded.
I launched a small claim and cobbetts are acting but I have now reached the costly stage of £600 listing fee and running a risk of costs against me if I lose.
Do I have a case? Is their precedent? Or should I bale out now and pursue a case against Barclys for dislosure of recipient then an action against someone who may be a man of straw?
I don't mind being David, but am I a fool?

[jumper999]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Do you know who the recipient is as I would have thought it was against them who you should issue a claim against?

[Amethyst]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

The recipient of the money would be guilty of theft by refusing to return the money credited to his account in error.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Can I spend that mysterious windfall?

Natwest would be tied under Data Protection regarding telling you who the recipient of the money was.

What was your POC and what defence have Cobbets entered against you ?

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

The recipient of the money would be guilty of theft by refusing to return the money credited to his account in error.

Ame this is what I thought but abstained from posting in case I was wrong, anyway as it is considered theft the police should be dealing with this as it is no longer a civil matter.

Theft is a crime I would go back to the police and insist they look into it.

The police would also have the power to find out who the recipient of your funds is and prosecute for theft at no cost to you.

[Caspar]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Agree with the above. Surely the person who received the money has got to give it back. The following link could hardly be clearer for you:

Can you Keep Money Accidentally Paid into your Bank Account?

[leclerc]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Am not sure of the liability of natwest entirely. Why the cashier looked up the branch sort code, I have no idea but it is very rare to get the name and the account number/sort code wrong but right if that makes sense. It's very unusual.
One thing that I don't get is what have natwest supplied to you?
Have you asked them to trace the account number/sort code and name? If it is not the correct name, can they supply you with that name?

[TUTTSI]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Put in a complaint to the CEO at NW about this.

It happened to me once and it took forever to get the money back as it was sitting in a suspence account at the other bank. The other person gave me the wrong bank number and that took over a month to get back.

Someone just cannot keep the money it does not belong to them, sureley their name is not the same name as the person you sent the money too.

Am not sure of the liability of natwest entirely. Why the cashier looked up the branch sort code, I have no idea but it is very rare to get the name and the account number/sort code wrong but right if that makes sense. It's very unusual.
One thing that I don't get is what have natwest supplied to you?
Have you asked them to trace the account number/sort code and name? If it is not the correct name, can they supply you with that name?

[leclerc]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Put in a complaint to the CEO at NW about this.

It happened to me once and it took forever to get the money back as it was sitting in a suspence account at the other bank. The other person gave me the wrong bank number and that took over a month to get back.

Someone just cannot keep the money it does not belong to them, sureley their name is not the same name as the person you sent the money too.

If it was in a suspense account then they would have returned it. Barclays have already stated that the person it went to refuses to hand it over. You cannot debit the account in full unless they are in credit since they may have spent some of the funds.
I think the OP will have to sue the person who was the recipient of the funds but NatWest can help and so can Barclays by providing information. I would perhaps contact the police as it would be theft.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

This is the point I was picking up on both banks maybe tied in relation to releasing infomation as per the DPA but the police are not they can investigate and force the bank to release any info that will help there investigation.

[APHerbert]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Thanks Guys,
Natwest say my fault as 'faster Payments' pays on a/c no. and sort code alone, but I was not told it was such a payment, my receipt does not say so and has recipients name on it.
Cobbetts says my fault as I provided wrong information (sort code), Barclays says they have no authority to reclaim money from their clients bank a/c, Lawyer says I have no case against Barclays direct. Police not very interested and advised me to talk to Natwest, I could take proceedings against Barclays to provide me with recipients details? Is it worth continuing against NatWest?
Thanks for help and support.

[jumper999]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

I personally would have thought the guy who gave the wrong sort code should be held responsible along with the guy who has had a windfall of your money.

The bank he works for should also be liable as he was thier employess and they should yake responsibility for this Cxxx up. That is just my opinion but it was very negligent of this guy to enter a sort code that has cost you dearly and how charming it is that no-one icluding the police are willing to help out in situations like this.

That story with that lady getting £135k in her bank by mistake made it to the papers and is facing prosecution.........guess they don't think £7,500K is a lot in their eyes.

The FSA fined Natwest recently, read the story below and I am not surprised........maybe you should put a bit more pressure on Natwest as they have not received very good press lately and judging by what they have done to you serves them bloody right too.

Read this about Natwest

FSA fines RBS and NatWest £2.8m for poor complaint handling

Maybe you should write a strong worded letter to Natwest and ask them to rectify the mistake of their employee and if they do not agree then make a complaint to the FSA and inform them in detail of what has happened and what Natwest have done. Well that is what I would do........you got nothing to lose have you. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong and the advice I have given is incorrect.
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Margaret Cole, the FSA’s managing director of enforcement and financial crime said:
“We expect firms to treat customers fairly and that consumers can be confident that their complaints will be dealt with properly. The failure of these two high street banks to deal adequately with complaints put consumers at unacceptable risk and the fine of £2.8m reflects this.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

I still think you should take your complaint to the CEO of both Banks and then if they will not help the press.

The person who received this money knew it did not belong to them so if they have spent it they have done so fraudulently

[Guest]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

This is money paid under a mistake of fact and is recoverable in full, along with costs and interest.

Furthermore, any negligence on your part, regardless of what both Cobbets and NatWest have told you, is not sufficient to defeat a recovery, see Kelly v. Solari (1841). See also Barclays Bank v Simms & Cooke [1980] for more information and more recently, Kleinwort Benson v Lincoln City Council (1999) clarifies the position further and money paid under mistake either of fact or of law may, in principle, be recovered.

Do as Amethyst has suggested and post up your PoC and the defence you received from Cobbetts.

[APHerbert]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Thank you for your very helpfull response and reference to other cases.
I have uploaded my claim and the defence, please respect the confidential nature of this matter, thanks.
I now face a hearing for summary dismissal of the case on February 7th at which Cobbetts will argue that my case should be dismissed on the grounds that i have no case agains Natwest and will fail anyway!
So what next?
I am not afraid of taking them on, but do I have a fool for a client?
Thanks again to all for helpful comments.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lost £7,250 in NW transfer to Barclays

Thanks for posting that.

I agree that there is no case against Natwest and the claim should be withdrawn, you should get agreement from Natwest/Cobbets that you can do this without incurring costs. Of course you will lose your original court fee paid.

I think you jumped in a little bit quick on this and you should be pursuing Barclays and/or their customer. I'm not sure but I think you can obtain an order against barclays to disclose the customer details who received the money and then you have to pursue the recipient for return of the money.

One issue which may be worth looking at is with the faster payments system is the name matched with the account number/sort code when a transfer is made at their end - should it have been rejected as the name didn't match ?

What contact have you had with the ombudsman ? Have you been through the banks complaints procedure in full (barclays) ?