Bank Has Wrongly Credited our Account?

Ham_On_Rye

Mine and my girlfriend's joint account with the Co-Op was credited with £2,300 on May 24th - we weren't expecting it but as we're in the process of buying a flat we thought it might be a gift from a family member, and contacted the bank to ask for background info on the credit. It was paid in by cheque, and the Co-Op have charged us £5 to provide copy docs which we are expecting in today's post at home. These should show a copy of the cheque, and the deposit slip.

They have said that in the event that it was incorrectly credited to our account, which it certainly seems to be from our point of view as everyone we have spoken to has denied any involvement, that they will contact us to request permission to debit our account. Does this mean that we can refuse? My girlfriend was told when she initially phoned the bank that if it was indeed a crediting error by the bank then we could keep the cash and they would have to recredit the correct intended beneficiary out of their own coffers. Surely this isn't right?

My first action has been to ringfence the cash in a separate account. My second will be to request my fiver back if they get the cash. Any advice on our legal position? Obviously I don't want the intended recipient to go without, but I've got no qualms with the bank being out of pocket...

Ham_On_Rye

ah. just seen the snidey "Basic Answers" sticky, no surprise that it would be written sneeringly by a Natwest worker.

Won't expect a response to my thread then, still puzzled as to why Co-Op would tell us we could keep it though. Maybe I should go to a forum not populated by such obvious finance professionals..

jonesMUFCforever

If its not yours then it is not your end of story.
They do not have to ask permission to get it back if it is found to be somebody else's money.
My advice is to leave it where it is.
They will ask for it back unless you really do have a guardian angel.

masonic

Ham_On_Rye wrote: »

Maybe I should go to a forum not populated by such obvious finance professionals..

One can only infer a compliment from that statement. Yes, go find a forum where people don't have a clue about money.

RayWolfe

Clearly the OP:
didn't get the answer he was looking for
has no morals
wouldn't mind if the Co-op (note: not big, greedy, fat cat, capitalist money-grabbing bank) [irony] lost out!
Fancy asking for advice and then thinking the whole world is against him for not telling him what he wanted to hear.

MissMoneypenny

Ham_On_Rye wrote: »

My first action has been to ringfence the cash in a separate account. My second will be to request my fiver back if they get the cash. Any advice on our legal position? Obviously I don't want the intended recipient to go without, but I've got no qualms with the bank being out of pocket...

Back in the 80s, I remember a famous, overseas, sportman's brother doing that. From what I recall, he requested money from one currency account to be transferred to US$100,000.00 and to be put in the $ currency account he had with the same bank. Bank worker credited it but forgot to debit it from the other account. It quickly showed up on on the banks account but the clerk shoved it to the bottom of his work pile. Banks account security alerted the clerk again urgently and finally the clerk decided to look at what he had done wrong. To late! Both account closed with the bank:D

I think you should at least get your fiver back. It was the banks fault. Put it in writing to the manager.