Sigh... why don't people learn?

NJS123_2

I can understand why you would be concerned. Even though it's not your mistake it's still a weight of responsibility that you shouldn't have to bear. You can't spend the money, and now due to someone's silly mistake have to be careful not to dip into those funds, or face being left with a deficit if/when the funds are reclaimed. Really unfair.

If your bank doesn't take these funds very soon, I would seriously recommend contacting the financial ombudsman, which is the official authority that monitors financial institutions: (www)financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Soory - I can't post that as a link as apparently I'm still a "new" user, despite joining last year some time. ?

proeleche

pmduk wrote: »

Yes, it's not your money. You know it's not your money. If you hang on to it, it's called theft. Why do you expect something for nothing?

Is it actually theft in the eyes of the law? I'm not so sure. In order to commit a crime, you have to have the mens rea and then go on to commit the act - if the money has been sent to your account by someone else, the mens rea is quite clearly not there. In addition, when sending faster payments, the banks talk about it not being recoverable if you have made an error (the same when paying money into an account), so I would say this was all a bit of a gray area...

However, I do completely agree that someone should return monies that have been incorrectly deposited into your account.

Alpine_Star

proeleche wrote: »

Is it actually theft in the eyes of the law? I'm not so sure. In order to commit a crime, you have to have the mens rea and then go on to commit the act - if the money has been sent to your account by someone else, the mens rea is quite clearly not there. In addition, when sending faster payments, the banks talk about it not being recoverable if you have made an error (the same when paying money into an account), so I would say this was all a bit of a gray area...

It is a gray area. In addition, in order to be prosecuted for theft it would need to be proved that you meant to permanently deprive - and not just that you actually did. Proving someone's state of mind is very difficult in law.

The FOS has recently published some guidance on the issue: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/wrong-account-payments.htm

MrsManda

I don't think it's technically theft to keep it. However the FOS generally seems to take the line that if you can be reasonably expected to realise that the money has been mistakenly credited then they make the judgement you should pay it back.

Put simply, the general legal position is that someone who is given money by mistake should say what has happened and pay it back. But this may not be what consumers hear from friends or on the internet – where the informal advice might wrongly suggest that this is a case of “finders keepers”.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/wrong-account-payments.htm

Oops too late

Dave_®f©

Sorry, I realised I'd made a mistake as soon as I hit the 'send' button. Be a sport and fire it back to a/c 008355511 and sort code 80/90/80

Solomon_Broad

Maybe the reason it keeps happening is because you keep sorting it out. These people might not realise they've sent the money to the wrong place. Perhaps if you let them stew over their mistake one time, they'll be more careful about doing it in the future.

pmduk

I think you'll find that there have been court cases deciding that it is theft. This is the first one I found.

[Deleted User]

indeed theft but person should check b4 sending next time

Alpine_Star

pmduk wrote: »

I think you'll find that there have been court cases deciding that it is theft. This is the first one I found.

Spending the money is theft because it is proof that she meant to permanently deprive. But simply not paying it back - which is what we are talking about - is not evidence enough as proof of meaning to permanently deprive in law.

seven-day-weekend

I had a transfer of £25 into my Co-op Bank from a LTSB account. Now I have accounts with both these banks, but this was nothing to do with me. LTSB told me it was a repayment to a Co-Op credit card (which I don'thave); Co-Op told me they did not know what it was.

It's still there eight months later.