Untraceable money into our account, bank not interested

[Twattergy]

We've received random.credits into our joint bank ac over past 3 or so months. Reference is jist numbers/letters. Bank can't tell us where the money is coming from.and doesn't seem bothered when we ask them to investigate. It totals c 2000 now. We put it to one side because we are aware it may need paying back. Any advice on getting bank to escalate this?

Call the fraud department of the bank.

And the problem is?

Financial ombudsman?

We tried 're fraud part of bank but they don't classify it as that. Really hard to get them to take action. Imagine if you were mistakenly paying out into the wrong account, the recipient flags it to the bank, and the bank refuses to let the payer know. You'd want to know. I know it is the payers job to check the payee details but still....

Is the reference a national insurance number?

They must know which bank it’s come from even if they don’t know the payer.

Is it paid in at the same time each month? It sounds like it could be the reference from an NS&I income bond payment.

It's not at same time each month and diff random amounts each time. I dont think it is an NI number will double check..and will also double check on NS&I.

The bank will have a Money Laundering Reporting Officer.

Any premium bonds?

@goingtogetthekids

And the problem is?

Really

I'd be taking that to the police.

It's possible some bank employee is using your account as cover for some fraudulent activity, such as money laundering.

One day you might find your entire account empty and overdrawn.

@Twattergy

We tried 're fraud part of bank but they don't classify it as that. Really hard to get them to take action. Imagine if you were mistakenly paying out into the wrong account, the recipient flags it to the bank, and the bank refuses to let the payer know. You'd want to know. I know it is the payers job to check the payee details but still....

Something changed recently so that if the account number/sort code didn't match the payee name you wrote down in the transfer, they won't send the money. So there's either someone with your name and similar bank details or the other way round, or there's something weirder than just the wrong person getting paid.

Definitely don't stop pushing this. It's worrying that the money cannot be traced.

I don't think this is the first thing you should do but as a lost resort, try your MP. I once had Barclays issue me with the wrong IBAN number for my business account (WTF) which meant my client paid into an account that wasn't mine. I couldn't get them to do anything about it so contacted my MP (who I can't actually stand but who is very effective) and they resolved it within a week. I don't think MPs should really have to be spending their time on stuff like this but as a last resort it might be worth trying. MPs have more clout than people think.

Oh my - that's where it has gone. I was wondering what happened.

@Twattergy I will pm you my bank account details and if you could just send it on..... many thanks

It won't be from NS&I unless you have a lot of savings (like £1M) with them. I kept seeing the random credits from my income bond before I closed it, and it was pennies.

If someone is sending the money to your account by mistake, then you'd have thought it would have been missed by now - unless they think they're sending money to one of their own savings accounts but not checking it's getting there?

Do the reference numbers give any clue as to whether its from and intended for the same person or different? You don't have a well meaning relative helping you out by sending you money do you? But then they wouldn't know your account details. Nothing from either of your employers? New way of paying work expenses?

Financial Ombudsman is probably the way to go if you don't get a resolution from the bank. In the meantime, it might earn enough interest to buy a few penny chews.

My DC NS&I investments are expiring and they get paid into my bank account with a long jumbled collection of letters and numbers.

But l also receive an email and letter warning me of this

I’d start banking somewhere else. Once you have all the direct debits changed over (do this manually, don’t use a transfer service otherwise your rogue payments may also be forwarded).

Then I’d close the account and take all the money including the rogue money. I’d not spend the rogue money, but having reported it to the bank (keep a record of this), I might spend it in 10 years’ time.

Poor service by the bank. They just don’t care that either someone is doing something dodgy or someone is mistakenly paying money to a random account. The only way to get out of the situation entirely is to close the account.

Did you ever figure it out OP?