Sally lost two years' pay after mis-typing a digit during an online transfer. Now she can't get her missing money back
It was a sickening, gut-wrenching moment when, one evening in October 2012, Sally Donaldson checked her bank account and realised she had made the silliest financial mistake of her life.
Two years earlier, hairdresser Sally had organised for her monthly pay, £1,000, to be transferred from her HSBC account to the joint account at Nationwide building society she shares with her husband. But on that October night, the mother of two discovered she had made a simple but calamitous error.
It's a mistake anyone can make. To transfer money online from one account to another, you simply tap in the recipient's name, their sort code and account number. But Sally had incorrectly typed in just one of the eight digits in the account number – and the money was sent to the wrong person.
What makes her story so extraordinary, though, is that she made the mistake in May 2010. Every month since – for more than two years – her pay was going into someone else's Nationwide account. And now, to her horror, Sally is discovering she has almost no chance of getting back a penny of the £26,650 transferred in error.
That sucks, but the bank is right in this situation. She voluntarily mis-typed her account and gave the bank permission to move the funds.
The bank doesn’t owe her a cent for her error.
Here in the US, if money “unexpectedly” shows up in your account it is NOT yours (same for an ATM that unexpectedly spews money at you).
Banking laws are pretty clear — the one who withdrew the money has committed a crime and the bank has to make good on the mistake as well as go after the unintended recipient.
Two years.
I sure as hell would notice I am missing 1,500 a month.
I have no sympathy for her.
Now if she told the bank in two months then it would be a different story.
1 digit wrong.
Back in the early 70’s I first heard about the use of a “check digit” included in identifying numbers, such as account numbers, membership numbers. This is an extra digit which serves as a check on whether the other digits were entered correctly. The number is created through a simple calculation, such that entering one digit wrong, or transposing digits will always produce an error that will be detected by simple program code.
So where were the bankers’ heads when they designed their system of bank accounts?
BTW, this is obviously too difficult for the people in the government to understand, so they have not even thought of incorporating this in the universal personal identifier: the social security number.
In case someone from SSA is able to read, here’s what you have do. Figure out the check digit for all existing SSN’s. Inform everyone of the new number.
Oh, I forgot. To change your computer systems to accomodate the longer personal ID, will cost 10 billion dollars. Never mind.
Only tells us that the security access is too lax for the account. You shouldn’t be able to send it. It says she got two out of three required entries correct. Well, then it shouldn’t have happened. It has to be a 3 out of 3 match or nothing...I think the bank’s system is set up wrong.
If she was a rich and famous person, the bank would be making sure this was cleared up.
While the bank doesn’t owe her, the person who received the money does. That person knew the money wasn’t theirs, and yet they spent it anyway.
Such behavior has earned US citizens a little time in the big house. It’s considered theft.
About 3 years ago, the bank made a typing error when they credited my payment to the electric company. It was a paper check. It should have been $115 and they took out $1150. When I noticed the problem, it took me 3 months of calls to get my money back and my balance straight. First of all the electric company gave everybody a hard time about giving back their windfall. Next the bank socked me for several overdrafts resulting from not having the funds. In all it took 3 or 4 months.
If the names don't match, the transaction should have been refused. From day one.
Hence why you give a voided deposit slip or check to do direct drafts.
That said I have never been on my account at my bank’s website or an ATM and asked to enter an account number, that is just BS. It is either already verified and listed in my “accounts” section.
Sounds fishy to me.
Okay. If she didn’t check her account for two years she’s stupid.
But going by what’s in the story, she should be able to sue the bejeebus out of the bank.
I stopped doing all of my automatic bill payments...yes it’s a little more work to enter in each one individually, but that’s the best way to stay on top of where your money is going.
I once did my kid’s taxes by hand.
A few weeks later I got a form letter from the state. It said I had made a mistake....and the refund should not be $34....instead it should be $34,000 (I have terrible handwriting).
The letter said we would get a check for $34k soon. It never came...and neither did the $34 check :(.
This smells like a scam to me.
It’s pretty ridiculous to complain 2 years later.
It took her two years to figure out the money was missing? Whoa! I thought my ex was sloppy with the banking....
Lack of proper internal controls on the bank's part contributed to this error. There should be no way this occurred without confirmation from the bank as to why the name, sort code, and account number wouldn't have matched up properly. There should have been an instantaneous on-screen error message to prevent this.
That being said, to not even check this account for two years is stupid.