Yes I made a complaint of fraud and the bank admit they don't know how on earth it has happened but somehow they are holding me responsible even though it is CLEARLY their error. Ombudsman say I have to have a 'final response' from the bank before they can look into it which I am currently awaiting but a complaint is definitely being made. Also apologies for how the original post has spaced out, I did not post it that way :/ I am reasonably confident that I will get this random money back from the bank as I know for a fact it is nothing to do with me but my issue is how long its likely to take to actually get it..given I have already promised out a lot of the money that has now been eaten up by this ridiculous overdraft. I am also slightly worried that my next ESA payment will go to that account too, despite being assured my details have been changed, as I was told the details had been changed last time and they weren't. As such, if there is a way for ESA to take the money back that they paid in error to that account, I would rather go down that route and deal with the overdraft separately..

I have 2 issues in one really. I will try to explain it all aswell as I can in the first post so as not to dripfeed. last month there was fraud on my bank account. I have absolutely no idea how as I have previously asked for a 50 pound overdraft to see me through a very hard time and was told I could not have one, which is fair enough. I am currently not working due to ill health so its completely understandable that I cannot have credit. However, for some reason my bank allowed a VERY large transfer/payment to leave my account, taking me very overdrawn, to the tune of nearly 4k. Bank don't understand but are denying any responsibility so my account is still overdrawn and I am in the process of taking the case to the ombudsman. I planned on just leaving the account overdrawn until the matter is resolved. On the day this was discovered, I called ESA to change my bank details. They said a payment would still go into this bank account as it had already been issued, but all further payments would go to new bank. As it was short notice, I understood that even though it meant I had to borrow for my rent that week. I understand this is not the fault of ESA. Bank details were apparently changed that day. I was waiting for a backpayment of ESA due to passing a recent tribunal which I questioned and they said nothing was on the system yet so it would probably be at least another few weeks. Payment was made into old account as stated. This was on 21/06/16. I was taken into hospital around my next payment date so didn't realize that my next payment also went into old account (05/07/16). Then, the backdated payment I have been waiting 2 years for went into my OLD account 2 days later. This payment was for nearly 3k. Which was completely eaten up by the negative balance. Obviously I called up about this, the guy I spoke to told me that the system has 2 parts, on one part it said that I had called to update bank details, but on the other part no change had actually been made. effectively they have record I changed my bank, but it hadn't actually been done. I then received a call from the payments team who told me that since the account the payments had gone into had been given by me, there was nothing they could do but they would NOW change my bank details to my new bank. They also tried to tell me that my bank details had indeed been updated when I called up about it originally ..which is impossible as I had to change them DURING this call as they had my old details, and also payment went into old bank not new?! Now. I realize that the initial fraud was not the fault of ESA. However I had been told my bank details had been changed over 2 weeks prior to this payment being made into the old account. I kinda feel a bit mugged off here to be quite honest. Apparently I just have to kiss goodbye to the 3k I spent 2 years fighting for, because someone didn't update the system properly? At the same time, if the ombudsman decides in my favor about the fraud, I shall then be able to access the payment, but that is not 100% certain and also could take months/years from reading around. I have rent arrears and had promised my landlord I would sort it as soon as I got this payment, other debts (less important) had also been told the same thing. I just can't now tell them all that I may not be able to pay them for 6 months+. So my question is, can ESA recall the payments they sent in error? I realize they cannot just issue the payment again as 'technically' I received it (albeit to the wrong account) but I really need access to this, and not a chance of access in a year or so either. The person I spoke to said it is not possible to recall it, but from lurking forums and such I know that often things get said that are untrue because its a bit more effort to actually do what is being asked..