Money in my account from unknown source

HealthAngel

Hi, a payment had been made into my bank account from an unknown source. I asked the bank where it came from and they don't know, and they say unless someone flags up that they've made a mistake, they won't know whose it is.

How long should I just leave the money there and not touch it? And can the bank simply take the money back out again, or will they have to tell me before they do so?

What I would like to do is put in into savings until it needs returning, to make some interest. Anyone know about this kind of thing?

izools

They can take it back any time for six years.

jonesMUFCforever

Leave it where it is for 6 years - it is not your to invest until this time.
You have informed the bank now you just have to wait.
If you touch it - technically it will be theft.

antrobus

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Leave it where it is for 6 years - it is not your to invest until this time.
You have informed the bank now you just have to wait.
If you touch it - technically it will be theft.

If you touch it, it will technically only be theft if you do so with the intention of permanently depriving the true owner of the funds. (And it's a bit difficult to avoid 'touching it' if the money has been paid into your bank account and will therefore be inevitably mixed in with your own money.)

It would be perfectly safe to open up a new account of some kind, transfer the exact amount received into that account, and just leave it there. (It would actually mean that you were less likely to forget about it, and accidentally spend it in the future.) The worst that can happen is that your bank will contact you in the future to say that so-and-so would like their £x back, and so long as you give it back when asked no one is going to accuse you of theft.

jonesMUFCforever

Moving it out of the account it went into may be seen as intentionally depriving the true owner of the funds?

I stand by my advice to the point I would insist the bank takes the money into one of its suspense accounts until it is reclaimed.

Annisele

I'm pretty convinced that antrobus is right. I can't find a link - but then it's hard to prove that something isn't illegal!

The closest I can find is this from the Financial Ombudsman Service, about whether the OP would have to pay the money back (answer: yes). If there was any suggestion the consumers were guilty of theft I'd suspect FOS would have said something about it in its note.

Mojisola

antrobus wrote: »

The worst that can happen is that your bank will contact you in the future to say that so-and-so would like their £x back, and so long as you give it back when asked no one is going to accuse you of theft.

The worst that can happen is that the bank will take the money back before contacting you which could mean direct debits don't get paid and/or your debit card gets refused. I've heard of it happening like this.

antrobus

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Moving it out of the account it went into may be seen as intentionally depriving the true owner of the funds?

Can't see why.

Put it this way. You move into a new home. The previous occupant has left what you realise to be a valuable painting hanging on the wall. All attempts to contact the previous occupant prove fruitless. Allthough it's not your painting, you are not legally obliged to keep it hanging in the exact same spot on the wall. You're quite entitled to take it down and put it somewhere safe until the matter gets resolved. You don't commit theft simply by moving the painting from one location to another.

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I stand by my advice to the point I would insist the bank takes the money into one of its suspense accounts until it is reclaimed.

Following the logic of your argument, wouldn't that make the bank 'technically' guilty of theft?

Mojisola wrote: »

The worst that can happen is that the bank will take the money back before contacting you which could mean direct debits don't get paid and/or your debit card gets refused. I've heard of it happening like this.

That's true, but that normally happens when the receiving bank has made a mistake and realises it pretty soon afterwards. But in these circumstances OP has contacted their bank who have pleaded ignorance, and therefore I doubt the bank would try and remove the funds without first getting the permission of the customer, and if it did and the customer suffered a loss, I would expect the FOS to uphold a complaint against the bank.

But in the circumstances it might be in the OP's best interest if they wrote to their bank and put it on record that they were putting the misapplied credit into a separate savings account pending a request for its return.

Degenerate

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Moving it out of the account it went into may be seen as intentionally depriving the true owner of the funds?

Nonsense. Seperating the rogue cash from their own personal finances could be defended as a perfectly logical move to avoid inadvertantly spending it.

Wallhart

How much we talking about?

I would expect that any interest you earn on it (i.e in a specific account set up for it) might not be legally yours either.

jjlandlord

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Leave it where it is for 6 years - it is not your to invest until this time.
You have informed the bank now you just have to wait.
If you touch it - technically it will be theft.

It cannot be theft in any case, as OP has received it.
He has notified the bank, now he should hold on to it in case it is claim.

I would put the cash in a savings account so that it is a least useful and kept as reserve in case the amount must be repaid.