Not upheld: payment sent to wrong recipient / user error complaint against Monzo Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that payments totalling £160 sent from his Monzo account were sent to the wrong person. Mr S intended to pay his father but the funds were sent to a third party with the same name. Mr S used Monzo's online banking to set up the payments, entering the sort code, account number, and payee name, which were verified by Monzo's Confirmation of Payee (CoP) process. The ombudsman found that Monzo correctly followed Mr S's instructions and that the CoP process confirmed the account details matched the name Mr S provided, with no way for Monzo to know he intended to pay a different person with the same name. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Monzo correctly followed Mr S's payment instructions by processing the payment to the sort code and account number he provided. The CoP process confirmed the account details matched the name Mr S entered, and there was no reasonable way for Monzo to know that Mr S intended to pay a different person with the same name. The ombudsman was satisfied that Monzo's systems reasonably approved both payments based on the matching CoP check results. Monzo made reasonable attempts to recover the funds but was unable to do so as the recipient's bank did not provide consent.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website