Our savings were paid to a stranger . . . over 14 years
P.G. writes: In 2003 we opened savings accounts at Nationwide Building Society for our two sons. My wife set up a standing order from her Lloyds account to pay £15 monthly into each Nationwide account. When we looked at our sons’ accounts last year, only one had received the monthly payments. One Nationwide account had eight digits while the other had nine. Nationwide initially said it was not possible to pay into an eight-digit account but after numerous calls staff changed their mind. Lloyds says it no longer has records from 2003 and considers the matter closed while Nationwide says it has failed to retrieve our son’s money from the holder of the eight-digit account. No one seems able to help. EVER since banks and building societies began making customers responsible for supplying sort codes and account numbers, while at the same time ignoring the name of the person who was supposed to be on the receiving end of any cash transfer, there has been an upsurge in the number of customers whose cash simply vanishes into the system.
The tiniest error means money goes to the wrong account. Everything then depends on the honesty of the accidental recipient. If they help themselves to the cash, the banks refuse to identify the thief because that would breach their privacy. It takes a court order to overcome this with no guarantee that the thief will be traced and will not have spent every penny.
In 2003 your wife slipped up and incorrectly typed an eight-digit Nationwide number to receive £15 a month. This did not match any account as the prefix number was wrong. Nationwide has been honest and admitted it should have queried this or sent the money back to Lloyds.
Instead, someone at the society tried to be helpful and corrected the account number to what they thought was right. But this meant that every month your wife has been sending £15 to a stranger – and that person has withdrawn the cash and disappeared. This leaves you with one son enjoying a nest egg while the other has nothing. At least this would be the case except that Nationwide has now put things right.
The society told me: ‘We have accepted we should have queried the different prefix or rejected the payment. As such, we will refund £2,565 – 171 monthly payments of £15’. Nationwide is also adding £200 to make up for what happened. Lloyds Bank could also have done more. It told me: ‘We could have been more proactive in contacting Nationwide on her behalf in an attempt to recover the funds paid.’
So Lloyds will also be offering £200. In the end, a very good result for your son.