Be Honest??

vwman_3

kenshaz wrote:

No... if it was an error on behalf of the bank and you had no intent,why is it criminal ,we do not live in that sort of country

If you benefit by £5k knowing it's not yours then you should take steps to rectify the matter, ie give it back, if you keep it then its theft/deception (depending on the facts), if the bank made an error then thats what it is just an error, but I dont think that the bank will say keep it because we made a mistake.
What I dont want to see is somone getting into bother through a mistake error call it what you will that a bank has made. they will want their money back one way or another. And believe it or not, we do live in that sort of country.

lisyloo

No... if it was an error on behalf of the bank and you had no intent,why is it criminal ,we do not live in that sort of country

You have duties if mistakes are made (see the 1996 theft act).
You have obligations if you notice it.

If you don't notice it, then you are OK (but would still have to give it back) but try and justify not noticing £5K - if you are on a million pound salary perhaps .... but most of us couldn't justify it.

It is illegal to retain a wrongful credit (read the 1996 theft act relating to wrongful credits if you want more info).

vwman_3

lisyloo wrote:

You have duties if mistakes are made (see the 1996 theft act).
You have obligations if you notice it.

If you don't notice it, then you are OK (but would still have to give it back) but try and justify not noticing £5K - if you are on a million pound salary perhaps .... but most of us couldn't justify it.

It is illegal to retain a wrongful credit (read the 1996 theft act relating to wrongful credits if you want more info).

Indeed..........

dchurch24

Rather draconian, considering if it were the other way around and the bank owed it to the OP, it would be a civil matter, not criminal.

vwman wrote:

Talking from experience having dealt with a similar incident a few years ago when I was a Police Officer (before I retired) .....it matters not is you have the money in cash or it has gone through some sort of electronic banking system if you benefit from it then sorry to say your guilty that is unless you do something about it such as telling the bank. If you wait for the bank to contact you then there could be some awkward questions.

lisyloo

Mistakes are very unlikely to become a criminal matter if people are being anywhere near reasonable.
It will have to go a long way down the line before that happens.

i.e. you'd have to refuse to pay back money that was never yours.

vwman_3

dchurch24 wrote:

Rather draconian, considering if it were the other way around and the bank owed it to the OP, it would be a civil matter, not criminal.

Yep I agree, banks are as often said on here are the enamy.

lisyloo

BTW - there are other options available to people who have a problem with their bank e.g. complaints procedure, banking code, FSA, financial ombusman.

Perhaps this is why criminal offences aren't felt necessary that way round.

kenshaz

vwman wrote:

If you benefit by £5k knowing it's not yours then you should take steps to rectify the matter, ie give it back, if you keep it then its theft/deception (depending on the facts), if the bank made an error then thats what it is just an error, but I dont think that the bank will say keep it because we made a mistake.
What I dont want to see is somone getting into bother through a mistake error call it what you will that a bank has made. they will want their money back one way or another. And believe it or not, we do live in that sort of country.

Sure they will want their money back,and no-one disputes that ,but it is their duty to maintain your account in a correct manner ,if they fail it is not your responsibility to rectify that,it is theirs.There will have been no legal precedence whereby an error has been made and an individual has faced legal proceedings because he has not notfied the bank.

vwman_3

kenshaz wrote:

Sure they will want their money back,and no-one disputes that ,but it is their duty to maintain your account in a correct manner ,if they fail it is not your responsibility to rectify that,it is theirs.There will have been no legal precedence whereby an error has been made and an individual has faced legal proceedings because he has not notfied the bank.

All I can say is from my experience, under normal circ's the matter is resolved between customer and bank and the money paid back that being an end to it.
However I did as a Police Officer deal with a similar incident and it went to court and the customer did go down for 18 months, and it was a lot less than £5k.(he spent it)
Yes no one is going to face legal proceedings for not notifying the bank but the problem arises when the money is for whatever reason not paid back and the only reason I can see for not notifying the bank is because it's going to be kept.
And yes I do agree that banks should maintain accounts properly, if you know of one let me know.

rich0148

Thanks

But the difference is - I wont go and spend it and will happily pay it, the tempting thing to do is to keep my mouth shut until the ask - but my fear is only that if it takes them 6 months to figure it out they hit me will a 6 month interest bill@15%.


I have the 5k in another account (the last of a big stooze session) so again, the issue is not that I have spent it or intend to spend it - just not act on it....