Cheque deposits credited at wrong amount

rmg1

Morning all

Just after a piece of advice on this one.
We received a cheque for £13 and deposited into the bank account.
According to the counter receipt, they've deposited it at £1300 (an extra couple of zeros).

As far as I know (and I'm happy to be corrected), the as long as we don't draw against it (when it eventually clears) we should be OK, but is htere anything else we need to do to sort this out.
Obviously we don't want to incur charges and get caught up in red-tape for something that's the counter-assistants fault (it was paid in over the counter).

Any advice gratefully received.

snozberry

Tbh, I'd either telephone or pop into my nearest branch and let them know about it. It will sort itself out but it's best to let them know about their error.

rmg1

Thatnks for that, my OH will be contacting the bank today (and the issuer of the cheque).
Do you know if this will delay the cheque being cleared?

bengal-stripe

rmg1 wrote: »

We received a cheque for £13 and deposited into the bank account. According to the counter receipt, they've deposited it at £1300 (an extra couple of zeros).

Just check the balance on-line or at an ATM. Even if the wrong amount was booked initially, it probably was corrected at the end of the day.

jonesMUFCforever

As long as you do not touch anything over the £13 there will be no red tape when it comes to sorting this out.
I would have thought it unlikely it will be noticed today as no cash is involved and no till balance will find an error of this nature.
The problem will come in 2 days when the drawer's account will be debited with £1300. There could be some fireworks then!
If the cheque is from a friend the quickest way for him/her to sort it is to stop the original cheque and get a new one.

realaledrinker

If its from a sizeable company, they may well use 'Positive Pay' which involves them sending a file of their cheque payments to their bank each time they do a payment run. Incoming cheques are matched against this to trap fradulent alterations to the amount. In the case you describe, the cheque would be automatically referred to drawer and hit your bank account 4 working days after it was paid in.

Essex22011

If you spend this it is fraud as you know the funds do not belong to you!
When I worked for HSBC they accidently done this and the customer spent all the money, she had to take out a management loan to repay it..

rmg1

I know we can't legally spend the money, I was just after advice on what to do with regards to letting anyone know about the error and checking if it will affect the clearing times.

jonesMUFCforever

It won't affect the clearance time - but should you touch the extra funds knowing that they do not belong to you will be committing a criminal act known as fraud.

Canary_Wundaboy

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

It won't affect the clearance time - but should you touch the extra funds knowing that they do not belong to you will be committing a criminal act known as fraud.

Ring the branch you made the deposit at and let them know. They can correct the amount and set the paying in date so the clearance time isn't affected.

(Worked as a cashier at Nationwide for over a year, had this come up a few times).

Agricolae

The standard process here will be:
1. Either a) the cheque bounces due to insufficient funds; b) the drawer notices the wrong amount has gone out of their account.
2. In either case the drawer is likely to contact their bank telling them what has happened. The fault lies with the receiving bank but I know enough from working in complaints that the sending bank is likely to get an earful from the drawer!
3. The sending bank will look at an image of the cheque, see that a mistake has occurred, and a "clearing adjustment" will be made. The correct amount will then clear into your account.

Contacting your branch couldn't hurt, as they may be able to make the adjustment from their end.