HELP!! Money paid into account by mistake

brewerdave

As an aside,3 years ago I had a smaller amount paid into my NatWest account from an unknown source.When I noticed,I reported it to my NatWest branch -they showed an astonishing lack of interest!
3 YEARS later I still have over a hundred pounds more in my current account than I'm entitled to.
I intend to change bank accounts shortly to take advantage of interest rates on some promoted current accs.-Wonder if that closure will trigger anything from NatWest??:rotfl:

Dovah_diva

Saunders888 wrote: »

...but feel like this may even shoot me in the foot if this goes on for ages and i do spend some of the money.

Why would you spend money that is obviously not your money?

BaxUk

As people have said, simply move the money into a savings account and benefit from it in the interim.

innovate

BaxUk wrote: »

As people have said, simply move the money into a savings account and benefit from it in the interim.

Given that moving the money could be interpreted as acceptance of the money, this seems a really bad suggestion.

Add to this that current interest rates are the square root of FA, and it begins to become a really stupid thing to do.

Write to your bank (with proof of delivery), telling them that because you had not expected this money and it is not yours, you demand that they remove it immediately from your account, and confirm to you in writing that they have done so, based on your instructions.

katejo

innovate wrote: »

Given that moving the money could be interpreted as acceptance of the money, this seems a really bad suggestion.

Add to this that current interest rates are the square root of FA, and it begins to become a really stupid thing to do.

Write to your bank (with proof of delivery), telling them that because you had not expected this money and it is not yours, you demand that they remove it immediately from your account, and confirm to you in writing that they have done so, based on your instructions.

Moving the money could also be risky if you haven't got much spare cash in the account. The bank might take it back at the end of the month without warning and cause you to be overdrawn.

MrsPBikerChick

OP, Santander are telling fibs - as an organisation the bank knows full well there the money has come from. It sounds very strange that the call centre staff cannot see any detail other the the bank giro credit transaction code (I certainly could see more when I worked for LTSB, but that's a different bank), but if that's the case they need to transfer you to a department who can help you. If this isn't offered then you will have to insist.

The only circumstances I can think of where they might not know the actual payee is if it was cash deposited at a post office, assuming you can do that with Santander accounts. Even so they should still have the paying in slip details, which would usually be pre-printed with sort code and account number rather than someone making a mistake filling them in.

The other possibility is that its not a bank error but a customer error - someone has put the wrong details in when doing a transfer (most likely through Internet banking). In that case you might show up as the "right" recipient according to automatic logs but you are not the intended recipient. I imagine in that case you would be asked to pay the money back but not sure you can be forced to (although by the sounds of things, like most people, you would).

Whatever the source, you definitely need to leave the money where it is for the time being. If you have no luck on the phone (do note the date and time of the call as it will be recorded) then write a letter to both your branch and head office explaining the mistake and asking them to move the funds to a holding account until the correct recipient is found. Send it recorded delivery and keep a copy. If this is not done within a reasonable time frame then open a complaint.

I have to say, based on past experience of this particular bank, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the mistake turned out to be theirs.

Lith

Dump it in a savings account and 'wait it out'

You phoned that company was the worse thing you could have done to be honest.... just dump it in a separate account and WAIT IT OUT

the bank will contact you if they know the problem because im sure the person who puts 3K in a wrong account simply won't let that slide.

ihateyes

pvt wrote: »

pqrdef's statement was "They can't take it back, assuming it's their error and not the bank's". So you cite an example of where the bank made an error!

These things are quite clear. If a third party makes a mistake and puts money in your account, your bank can only ask you to return it to the sender. If the bank makes a mistake and puts money into your account, it can correct its mistake and take the money back out again, as Santander did in the example you cited.

agree is a sender sends money in error, the bank can only ask you to hand it back.

The sender will never know your name, and you wont know theres....

the sender could try a claim in court, but they have to find out who you are first!