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Money transferred to wrong account, bank won't pay it back.

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  • catfish50
    catfish50 Posts: 545 Forumite
    happs wrote: »
    and nobody sees anything wrong with that?

    It depends. Does your friend have an agreement in place for repaying the overdraft? If he does, and is keeping to it, I would say the bank ought to respect that and return the £100.

    But if there's no arrangement for repaying the overdraft it's not surprising if the bank insists on its right to offset.
  • happs
    happs Posts: 56 Forumite
    catfish50 wrote: »
    It depends. Does your friend have an agreement in place for repaying the overdraft? If he does, and is keeping to it, I would say the bank ought to respect that and return the £100.

    But if there's no arrangement for repaying the overdraft it's not surprising if the bank insists on its right to offset.

    I'm not surprised the bank are insisting on keeping it, i'm questioning whether they have the legal right to. My reading of this would seem to back this up, section 5 being the most relevant one.


    24A. Dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit
    (1) A person is guilty of an offence if-
    (a)
    a wrongful credit has been made to an account kept by him or in respect
    of which he has any right or interest;
    (b)
    he knows or believes that the credit is wrongful; and
    (c) he dishonestly fails to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to
    secure that the credit is cancelled.
    (2) References to a credit are to a credit of an amount of money.
    9
    (3)
    A credit to an account is wrongful if it is the credit side of a money transfer
    obtained contrary to section 15A of this Act.
    (4)
    A credit to an account is also wrongful to the extent that it derives from
    -
    (a)
    theft;
    (b)
    an offence under section 15A of this Act;
    (c)
    blackmail; or
    (d)
    stolen goods.
    (5)
    In determining whether a credit to an account is wrongful, it is immaterial (in
    particular) whether the account is overdrawn before or after the credit is made.
    (6)
    A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction on
    indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.
    (7)
    Subsection (8) below applies for purposes of provisions of this Act relating to
    stolen goods (including subsection (4) above).
    (8)
    References to stolen goods include money which is dishonestly withdrawn from an
    account to which a wrongful credit has been made, but only to the extent that the money
    derives from the credit.
    (9)
    In this section ‘account’ and ‘money’ shall be construed in accordance with
    section 15B of this Act.
  • grizzly1911
    grizzly1911 Posts: 9,965 Forumite
    happs wrote: »
    It was online, i selected the wrong account to make the payment to and didn't notice. It might be my mistake but it still doesn't make it their money. Both parties have informed the bank that it was made in error. I'm pretty sure that when banks make erroneous payments into peoples accounts that they don't accept finders keepers as a valid argument.

    I'm no lawyer but i'd have thought keeping money you know is not yours amounts to theft.

    You authorised the transaction. You told them where to send it. They complied with that request. Not their fault.

    I can't speak for your bank. I have a number of online accounts and they all provide a clear confirmation screen which, repeats my instruction, that I then have to confirm for a second time.

    The monies have been paid away as requested. If this had been to pay for a service or product that would be it.

    What clouds the issue here is the fact a friend is involved and that you have also said the account it went into was seriously overdrawn.

    I don't know whether your friend is in default on that account or has insufficient overdraft limit . On the basis they will not accept his instruction to pay the money back, then that would be my initial interpretation. If that is the case then I can understand his bank wanting to hold onto it.

    If it had been transferred to account that didn't exist, but accepted into the system, then you would, more than likely, get your money back.
    "If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future.".....

    "big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas I prefer the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," "Arunachalam Muruganantham
  • catfish50
    catfish50 Posts: 545 Forumite
    That seems to be referring to a situation when a person uses money which has been mistakenly paid into his account.

    Your friend's situation is different. The money hasn't been paid to the wrong person, and it also hasn't been paid to the wrong account -- just not the account you meant to pay it to. The money did get to the intended person, and has been applied against his debt. His debt is now £100 less.
  • happs
    happs Posts: 56 Forumite
    catfish50 wrote: »
    That seems to be referring to a situation when a person uses money which has been mistakenly paid into his account.

    Your friend's situation is different. The money hasn't been paid to the wrong person, and it also hasn't been paid to the wrong account -- just not the account you meant to pay it to. The money did get to the intended person, and has been applied against his debt. His debt is now £100 less.

    Gee, i'm a bit thick, any chance you could run that by me again with a little more condescension?
  • catfish50
    catfish50 Posts: 545 Forumite
    happs wrote: »
    Gee, i'm a bit thick, any chance you could run that by me again with a little more condescension?

    Sorry if it seemed condescending. It wasn't intended.

    Not sure why I'm apologizing really. It's not my fault you made a mistake.
  • grizzly1911
    grizzly1911 Posts: 9,965 Forumite
    catfish50 wrote: »
    That seems to be referring to a situation when a person uses money which has been mistakenly paid into his account.

    Your friend's situation is different. The money hasn't been paid to the wrong person, and it also hasn't been paid to the wrong account -- just not the account you meant to pay it to. The money did get to the intended person, and has been applied against his debt. His debt is now £100 less.

    Or if your friend had taken the money out of your wallet, without you knowing until later, and paid it into his own account knowing it was overdrawn to repay his debt. i.e. to permanently relieve you of it knowing he couldn't get it back.

    another example is if someone took my car and then brought it back it would probably be treated as TWOC.

    If I never saw it again it would become theft.

    In this case you effectively did it for him.
    "If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future.".....

    "big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas I prefer the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," "Arunachalam Muruganantham
  • YorkshireBoy
    YorkshireBoy Posts: 31,541 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Which bank did you send it from?

    Did it go by FP or BACS?
  • grizzly1911
    grizzly1911 Posts: 9,965 Forumite
    catfish50 wrote: »
    That seems to be referring to a situation when a person uses money which has been mistakenly paid into his account.

    Your friend's situation is different. The money hasn't been paid to the wrong person, and it also hasn't been paid to the wrong account -- just not the account you meant to pay it to. The money did get to the intended person, and has been applied against his debt. His debt is now £100 less.

    Or if your friend had taken the money out of your wallet, without you knowing until later, and paid it into his own account knowing it was overdrawn to repay his debt. i.e. to permanently relieve you of it knowing he couldn't get it back.

    Another example is if someone took my car and then brought it back it would probably be treated as TWOC.

    If I never saw it again it would become theft.

    In this case you effectively did it for him.
    "If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future.".....

    "big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas I prefer the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," "Arunachalam Muruganantham
  • catfish50
    catfish50 Posts: 545 Forumite
    Or if your friend had taken the money out of your wallet, without you knowing until later, and paid it into his own account knowing it was overdrawn to repay his debt. i.e. to permanently relieve you of it knowing he couldn't get it back.

    Yes. That's a good illustration.
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