# I accidentally gave wrong a/c no...will I get money back?



## Tigerboon (28 Apr 2019)

I am totally in the wrong in this situation: basically when filling in our 2018 medical expenses tax refund form a few weeks ago I put in the wrong bank account number. All I can say is that my best friend's brother had just died and I think I was in shock. I have since copped that I made a few other uncharacteristic mistakes that week as well. But anyway, this one: we should have got back nearly €700 in our tax refund, by the time I copped I had sent the wrong number the money had already been transferred to someone else's account! I got on to the tax office, and I have to say apart from the long phone wait with options etc, when I did get to speak to a lassie she was lovely, advised me to get on to my bank, tell them I knew the a/c number the money had gone to, get them to act, etc. So I did that, another long call between options and waiting and finally speaking to a human, but he was short and brutal: not a thing my bank could do as I had given the wrong info, plus with GDPR regulations there's no way I should even know the a/c number the money is gone to (I had made a copy of my tax submission!) and the only bank that could help was the taxman's bank who sent the money and should be able to make a recall on it. 

So got back to the taxman's office, spoke to another lovely girl, she rang me back the next day (last Friday) to say she had sent my scenario on to the Collector General's Department and hopefully they can help me and will be in touch. It it a substantial amount to our family so if I have lost it through such a stupid mistake I will be inconsolable.  So please god it will work out, but just wondering if anyone has any experience of anything similar or made a mistake like this or how has it worked out? I am just hoping someone else will have done this and it got resolved.


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## RedOnion (28 Apr 2019)

Hi,
Your bank was correct, there's nothing they can do for you directly as you didn't make the transfer. Only Revenue can try to get this done.
Your best hope is that the account number you provided isn't actually a valid account number and the money will eventually be bounced back and identified by Revenue.
Failing that, it's a long process. The bank that received the money have to contact the customer that received it, and get permission to return the money.


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## Monbretia (28 Apr 2019)

I have done this, put the wrong sort code and unfortunately the combination of the wrong sort code and my account number was valid in another branch.  The bank couldn't do anything but offer to write to that customer to advise them of the mistake, they couldn't debit the account without that customer's permission.   Luckily the customer was honest and authorised the debit.

If you're lucky and it's not a valid number it will eventually be returned to sending account.


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## llgon (28 Apr 2019)

I'm surprised to read that if money is transferred to an account due to an error it cannot be retrieved without that account holder's permission.


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## Saavy99 (28 Apr 2019)

I just hope for your sake the money doesn't end up in some work shy individuals account

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/51k-lodged-to-wrong-bank-account-440828.html

OP it happened to me years ago, a similiar amount but the money was held in some holding account and I got it back, failing that and the recipient who received  the money is refusing to return it, you can go legal with it to try and get it returned.


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## Tigerboon (28 Apr 2019)

Thanks everyone. You're giving me hope that maybe it wasn't a valid account number and maybe it will bounce back, I had thought that that would happen immediately if that was the case. Fingers crossed it will work out. I will let you know what happens!


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## Monbretia (28 Apr 2019)

No, it's not an immediate bounce back, it goes into some sort of holding account and eventually gets redirected back so can take a while.

If you have the sort code and account number you did use then if you put them into an IBAN generator online would that give you an IBAN if it was an incorrect combination?  I don't know the answer, I'm just wondering if it would.

I know when I made my mistake I thought all account numbers were individual, I did not know they were duplicated in many branches so sort code was vital.  It turned out there were something like 7 account numbers with the same number as mine in that bank's system so sort code was essential to get to the right one.  I had accounts under a couple of different sort codes online so just put the wrong one with the correct account number and off it went to one of those 7 other accounts!


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## RedOnion (28 Apr 2019)

Monbretia said:


> No, it's not an immediate bounce back, it goes into some sort of holding account and eventually gets redirected back


With SEPA payments, it's almost always an immediate bounce back if the account doesn't exist. But that doesn't mean Revenue will be able to immediately identify it.



Monbretia said:


> If you have the sort code and account number you did use then if you put them into an IBAN generator online would that give you an IBAN if it was an incorrect combination? I don't know the answer, I'm just wondering if it would.


It's just an algorithm. All you'll find out is if the check-sum digit is valid or not, but even if it's valid, you won't know if the account actually exists.


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## Saavy99 (28 Apr 2019)

For the benefit of everyone reading this thread, it's all about individual responsibility nowadays with all this online banking, once upon a time the bank teller at the desk transferred the money for us and if they made an error, we were refunded, now we are on your own. After I misplaced my funds going back 6 or 7 years ago, a friend suggested that in future whenever I am transfering money online  and after inputting payee details, send them just €1 and don't send them another cent until they have confirmed they have received the euro, this method has worked well for me since!


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## NoRegretsCoyote (28 Apr 2019)

@Tigerboon 

Did you:

a) give them someone else's account number that you already knew?
b) make a typo?

If it's b) it might be a non-existent a/c number and it will be rejected and credited back to Revenue.

My advice is not to waste time on phone calls but write them a very clear letter. It'll take quite some time to rectify though.


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## DeeKie (29 Apr 2019)

Write a letter to the Revenue and to your bank. That’s what I would do.


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## Marsha25 (30 Apr 2019)

If you had put your own banks sort code on the form and an incorrect account number then it may be in a holding account.  I worked in the bank a few years back and we would get a report each morning with such errors.  Things have probably changed since, and these reports may not be sorted at branch level now.  However, if the account number you gave is an actual real account then you could be in trouble. Even when making an online transfer now on my business account, there is a message each time warning to have correct details as it's so difficult to retrieve money transferred into a wrong account.


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## Tigerboon (25 Jul 2019)

Hi all, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, Revenue sent me back the money soon afterwards! It must have gone to a non-existant account as someone said, then got sent back to Revenue and back to me, thank god! A lesson learned anyway! Thanks for all the advice.


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## HelenQ (25 Jul 2019)

Tigerboon said:


> Hi all, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, Revenue sent me back the money soon afterwards! It must have gone to a non-existant account as someone said, then got sent back to Revenue and back to me, thank god! A lesson learned anyway! Thanks for all the advice.




Ah brilliant Tigerboon - delighted for you.


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## Saavy99 (25 Jul 2019)

Ah great!!


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