if connected

Interesting piece in yesterday’s Sunday Times (can’t see it on their website). According to them, banks that ask for the account holder’s name, alongside the account number and sort code, don’t use it when making the transfer.

Worse, if a person transfer money into the wrong account inadvertently by typing the wrong sort code or account number, but does enter the correct person’s name… UK banks will continue to complete the transfer, even though the recipient’s account name does not match.

Consumers in this situation have no recourse to their bank, under current law, but would have to sue the recipient to return the cash.

While I was setting up this blog, my visa card was refused on a critical purchase. The bank helpline had shut 30m earlier.

The bank’s fraud system had intervened as there’d been a series of transactions in a short space of time. Of course there had! I’d just been issued with a new card number, so I was updating my many regular payments. The payees were mostly ones that had been on my previous months’ bill, and the one before that…

Would be great to see a list of card providers that offer all the time full customer service (not just for reporting thefts).