Difficulty repaying bank error in my favour

Gravelrash_2

Hi Everyone.

On 24th December I received a letter from another bank stating that they had mistakenly paid £450 into my bank account. I have checked my account, and sure enough, the deposit was made at the beginning of December.

Unfortunately this was the first I knew of the additional funds. I had checked my bank balance in the middle of December, and the balance I found seemed perfectly reasonable to me, and so my Christmas spending was based on those available funds.

I realise the money isn't mine. The trouble is, having spent it unknowingly, it is going to be difficult to repay. I have basically overspent this Christmas by another £450 more than I would have otherwise.

I have composed a letter to the bank explaining the situation, but haven't yet posted it. Is there anything else I should be doing?, and is it reasonable of me to ask for a low level of repayments in order to avoid financial hardship in repaying the banks error?

Many thanks in advance

Gravelrash_2

Oh, and btw, I have just read another unfortunate persons thread, where they (coincidentally) have paid £450 into a strangers account.

I can assure you that that was not me! The payment is actually a repeat standing order that was cancelled many months ago by the sender, and, according to the letter from the bank, the sender has already been refunded.

Paul_01

Make an offer to repay the money in instalments. Shouldn't be a problem.

sharpy2010

Gravelrash wrote: »

and is it reasonable of me to ask for a low level of repayments in order to avoid financial hardship in repaying the banks error?

I would say it is, yes.

Ask them for repayments of £50 a month for 9 months, until it is repaid.

I'm fairly certain they'll be receptive to the offer.

Gravelrash_2

Thank you very much for the prompt response Sharpy. That is just the sort of information I needed.

Hominu

I don't think it was a bank error, as otherwise they would have just taken the amount out already, even if it had put you into unauthorised overdraft. Far more likely to be a customer error, so they are lucky to get the amount back at all (some never do), so offering £50/month sounds more than fair to me.

innovate

Gravelrash wrote: »

Unfortunately this was the first I knew of the additional funds. I had checked my bank balance in the middle of December, and the balance I found seemed perfectly reasonable to me, and so my Christmas spending was based on those available funds.

May be learn from this - - don't check your account just once every blue moon, and check each transaction rather than just looking at the balance. How else could you be sure that no money has left your account that shouldn't have left it?

Another MSE-type tip would be to not just spend until your current account is empty. Save up for Xmas, holidays, birthdays etc, in separate savings account(s), and then spend what you have saved for the occasion.

jonesMUFCforever

Can I ask one question?
OP if the mistake was the other way round would you be happy to accept instalments?

callum9999

Hominu wrote: »

I don't think it was a bank error, as otherwise they would have just taken the amount out already, even if it had put you into unauthorised overdraft. Far more likely to be a customer error, so they are lucky to get the amount back at all (some never do), so offering £50/month sounds more than fair to me.

Surely it doesn't matter? Either way it was an error, and keeping money that doesn't belong to you - regardless of it not being your mistake - is theft, is it not?

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Can I ask one question?
OP if the mistake was the other way round would you be happy to accept instalments?

Not remotely comparable... If the OP's household budget was anywhere near the budget of the banks, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to accept such a minuscule amount of money back in instalments...

Most people come here looking for loopholes to keep the money, the OP just wants to be a bit flexible in paying it back as they don't have the money any more. I don't think your accusatory tone (if intentional?) is really necessary.

Gravelrash_2

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

if the mistake was the other way round would you be happy to accept instalments?

Hmm. OK, if I had accidentally sent, lets say £5, to someone in Zimbabwe, and they told me they would have difficulty repaying, not only would I accept instalments, I would tell them to keep it.
This is a bank we are talking about, and so that £450 will be much less to them than a fiver is to me.

Just so we are clear, the letter from the bank does state "We have refunded our customer and now need to reclaim the money from you"

I accept that I really should keep a closer eye on my money. I will be checking as many historic statements as I can find for any other errors that might have occurred.

As for saving up for Xmas, well that is pretty much what I thought I had done, hence why the balance didn't seem unreasonable when I checked it during the lead up to Christmas.

Gravelrash_2

callum9999 wrote: »

the OP just wants to be a bit flexible in paying it back as they don't have the money any more.

Yes, thank you. I wasn't sure if I was required to repay it all very quickly, which would cause me difficulty, particularly at this time of year.