Problem with Undercover Tourist and need advise please...

[TCRAIG]

These two things contradict each other. If the bank acknowledged it was an electronic transfer how can they turn around and say they don't have the capabilities nor if they did would they accept an electronic transfer from a closed account? That would come across that the bank would have the information that a transfer was attempted but stopped on their end because the account the funds were intended for was closed. Have they stated this? It would point to attempts on UT's side of getting your daughter the money.


Couple of things come to mind that perhaps they did send a physical check but it was to her old address and either they had to stop the check on their end or it came back to them as the person no longer lives at that address. That can cause delays.

IF indeed they actually sent a physical check I did want to mention in my metro they are having a big big big problem with checks being taken out of USPS mail drop boxes and the checks being washed (names or other information changed on the check where someone else is cashing it out) so much so that they are telling people to not use the mail drop boxes after hours, the last collection of the day and to just use the mail box directly attached to the post office as well as police patrolling post offices (which seems to have helped quite a lot), but ultimately sending paper checks is not advisable at the moment in my area. So far they've been able to state more than $2million in my county alone has been fraudulently stolen from people by means of washing and in a very short time period.

It is possible for a business to electronically request a physical check be sent out (the bank sends the check on behalf of the customer rather than the customer doing the check themselves) but I'm assuming you mean they requested a electronic transfer from their account directly into her account.

Yes - UT should be able to issue a paper check and mail it via their bank…it’ll more than likely incur a bank fee however.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes - UT should be able to issue a paper check and mail it via their bank…it’ll more than likely incur a bank fee however.

Right but the question is the account the daughter has is closed and the daughter has no business with the bank any longer. This is the key point that makes the whole situation the actual problem (aside from if the address used was correct). So while UT can easily cut the daughter a check, the cashing of the check and the funds are up to the bank's policy, this goes the same for electronic exchanges, it's a bank policy on accounts. This situation happens to other people and presents the quandary people can find themselves in when using bank accounts that are closed or a card in which a new card number has been issued.

 

[lanejudy]

So while UT can easily cut the daughter a check, the cashing of the check and the funds are up to the bank's policy

Only if it’s electronic. It sounds like the PP is saying a physical check. Then the daughter can cash it at her new bank.

However I agree with you that it seems to be undetermined whether UT still has the funds or if the old bank somehow accepted the EFT.

 

[TCRAIG]

Right but the question is the account the daughter has is closed and the daughter has no business with the bank any longer. This is the key point that makes the whole situation the actual problem (aside from if the address used was correct). So while UT can easily cut the daughter a check, the cashing of the check and the funds are up to the bank's policy, this goes the same for electronic exchanges, it's a bank policy on accounts. This situation happens to other people and presents the quandary people can find themselves in when using bank accounts that are closed or a card in which a new card number has been issued.

It’s UT’s bank (sender) that needs to cut and mail the check - not the bank that was the OP’s daughter’s closed account (receiving). They (UT) needs their bank to issue and mail a paper ‘bill pay’ check rather than an ACH refund. The funds were returned to the sender bank due to the closed acct status of the reciever bank.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It’s UT’s bank (sender) that needs to cut and mail the check - not the bank that was the OP’s daughter’s closed account (receiving). They (UT) needs their bank to issue and mail a paper ‘bill pay’ check rather than an ACH refund. The funds were returned to the sender bank due to the closed acct status of the reciever bank.

To the bolded- that's what some of us are trying to figure out because it's not clear that the daughter's bank doesn't have the money somewhere. The process varies by bank. The daughter would need to know how her bank and account would be handled in this situation. There are banks that do reject the refund BUT also hold onto the funds on their end and the prior account holder has the onus to get the money in the ways the bank has set up. We don't know that UT received funds from the daughter's bank back as in they see a return on their financials of the amount they sent to the daughter's closed bank account.

And yeah as I already mentioned there can be banks that create the check and send it out themselves, my bank is one of them and we've used the service ourselves before. For example back when we had a rental house our landlord lived in the state next to us more than 3 hours away. The first few rent checks we went onto our bank account and in our online account requested our bank to send a check made out to our landlord so it was not a handwritten mailed check from us but an printed out check mailed out by our bank (this is what you're referring to). That is also a different function for our bank than setting up recurring bill pay where the bank pays on a habitual basis whomever you choose (seems to be utilities are the most common ones).

But that point was made by me because the OP mentioned electronically but that to some people can mean different things and the OP said two contradictory things that the bank acknowledged that the transfer was done electronically but that they can't do transactions to closed account and that they received nothing; if you didn't receive anything and can't do transactions to a closed account how can you acknowledge an electronic transfer was done. This prompted me to comment on that. If the bank was able to state to the daughter that they remitted the rejected payment back to UT that's the thing that needs to be stated clearly and confidently from the bank but as of yet they haven't said that and keep dancing around it.

Technically if I request my bank via my online account (or via my mobile app) to send X person a physical check in the mail to some people that can be considered an electronic transaction. I was more or less saying there needs to be a clearing up of what electronically means. Was it two digital transactions or merely one financial institution electronically requested to send a check out. Furthermore the function to request a check be sent by your financial institution is not universal meaning not all banks have this functionality. In addition there's a difference in functionality of hitting a refund button and requesting a specific check be sent to a specific person with a specific address all when that was not the payment of origin (this could mean it's a specialized process).

The bank has told the daughter multiple conflicting different things with each subsequent call back...so does UT...it's not as clear on our end here what needs to be done much less who actually has the money. It would be easy for UT, if they could, to just send a check out (as in that seems like the simplest solution) but is that the correct and accurate one..who knows.

 

[TCRAIG]

Banks cannot keep ACH funds that reject due to closed account - the funds are automatically sent back to the sending institution.

 

[Lewisc]

I can understand how the problem started. UT can't refund back to the original form of payment. The customer moved out of state and wants the check mailed to adifferent state. This could have resulted in a fraud alert. Did UT mail a check to the old address? Let the post office forward it.

Please cancel my ticket. A new bank account. A new address. Sounds like fraud
Getting the ticket back in her account may be the only easy option.

The nominal savings offered by third party sellers isn't always worth it.

A few years ago UT was sold to a company in Texas. Make sure your dealing with the accounting department in TX.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

What a frustrating situation for your daughter. It sounds like a case of CSRs who don't know what they don't know...so to speak. They see on their system that the funds were "refunded" and there is a lot of guessing going on as to whether the funds were sent electronically or by a physical check. It's an endless wild goose chase.

TBF, Bill Payment systems are confusing and complicated which is why I, personally, never use them. Payments can be sent via ACH, a physical check drafted and mailed via USPS using the sender's DDA account information, or a physical check drafted off the third party Bill Payment system's clearing account which is also mailed via USPS and the funds are debited from the sender's DDA account. The formulas and agreements for payment methods are often determined by the third party Bill Payment company and the businesses involved. There are too many variables and USPS can be a black hole not to mention her change of address so..... The payment originator often must wait XX number of days before a stop payment can be issued on physical checks before reissuing funds dependent on which physical check method was used. For ACH funds, it's much quicker because banks cannot keep rejected EFTs as per rules and regulations. I *think* it's around 2 business days. The rejected funds are returned to the originator with a rejection code, which in this case, would be a code for Closed Account.

Long story short, your daughter must INSIST on speaking with a manager and possibly someone in their accounting department who will have more knowledge and access to the payment systems. When she gets a CSR on the phone, she needs to immediately ask for an escalation to a MOD. If none is available, she needs to request the email address for said manager as well as the email address of the Accounting and Operations Dept managers to cc. I would then craft a lengthy email explaining the situation CHRONOLOGICALLY so as not to confuse the recipients. Eventually, someone with knowledge will hopefully be able to remedy the situation. If not, she will at least have documentation of her efforts before escalating higher up the chain.

Good luck!