Cheque paid into wrong account - bank error?!

Megan1999

My mum looked at her (Yorkshire bank) bank account on Friday and saw around £8500 paid into her bank, she didn’t know anyone except an ex partner who would pay her that much money so she went into the bank and asked.

The woman at the bank said that it was TWO separate HSBC cheques of around £5000 and £3000 paid into her account and she couldn’t tell her any more but it was now HER money to keep.

When my mum told me this I advised her to ring up Yorkshire bank and ask for confirmation before she even thought about spending it. The phone call was recorded so this can all be proved. The woman on the phone told my mother she couldn’t give her any further information about where the money came from but it was HER money now and if it had been caused by a bank error “you can definitely keep that money and the bank would be liable to pay back the original account holder but couldn’t remove the money from your account”

My mum went into Yorkshire bank branch ONCE AGAIN and spoke to a manager who phoned her back and said she has to pay the money back as it was a bank error and wasn’t meant for her.

What I’m confused about is how can the bank ask for the money back when an employee confirmed on the RECORDED phone call that if it was a bank error they would have to pay the original account holder back themselves.
Secondly, if it was a cheque paid into her account how could it be an accident? The whole point of cheques being secure is that the account number, sort code and account name all match, so surely a cheque couldn’t be paid into my mums account without having her name and account number and sort code on? Can anyone advise me on this please

Chino

Megan1999 wrote: »

Can anyone advise me on this please

Read this article "Can I keep cash wrongly put in my bank?".

jonnygee2

The woman at the bank said that it was TWO separate HSBC cheques of around £5000 and £3000 paid into her account and she couldn’t tell her any more but it was now HER money to keep.

This was very poor advice.

Your mother should pay the money back immediately. The bank cannot forcibly remove it from the account, but she could face criminal prosecution for theft if she keeps this money. The bank employees advice wouldn't alter the legal case.

Secondly, if it was a cheque paid into her account how could it be an accident?

It's easy to see how a bank employee could accidentally mistype the account number, or an automatic system could misread the number.

She should probably make a complaint, though, about the advice she received which essentially told her to break the law and commit theft.

EarthBoy

Megan1999 wrote: »

Secondly, if it was a cheque paid into her account how could it be an accident? The whole point of cheques being secure is that the account number, sort code and account name all match, so surely a cheque couldn’t be paid into my mums account without having her name and account number and sort code on? Can anyone advise me on this please

The account number, sort code and printed name on cheques are those of the person or organisation paying the money, not the person being paid (the payee). The only payee details is their name, which is usually handwritten, or sometimes printed if the cheque is from a company. So the cheques should have had your mother's name on them, but they won't have had her account number and sort code on them.

JuicyJesus

FOS has taken the line as part of technical guidance that judgments of whether money credited to an account by mistake needs to be paid back rest upon whether the consumer could reasonably expect that the money belongs to them, and whether their position had drastically changed as a result of receiving it.

In this case I think a complaint could go either way. The bank specifically advised that the money was hers to keep (a really dumb thing to say in my opinion and I would have couched that in other language if I were on the other end of the phone) however at the same time your mother was not expecting these funds and had no reasonable belief or explanation as to why they would belong to her - as shown by her contacting not one but two banks to ascertain the true position.

Likely she will need to pay the money back, if she has spent it - it's not clear what your mother did with this money as your post jumps from receiving the money to being asked to pay it back. However I would expect this to be in instalments, interest free.

Here is the technical guidance: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/wrong-account-payments.htm

Here are some FOS case studies - these don't form precedent but they illustrate the FOS' general tenor towards complaints: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/87/87-banking-complaints.htm and https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/33/credits-33.htm

maxximus75

I would put the money into a separate account and keep it there until documentation is received from the bak requesting the money to be paid back.

John_G_Jones

Megan1999 wrote: »

My mum looked at her (Yorkshire bank) bank account on Friday and saw around £8500 paid into her bank, she didn’t know anyone except an ex partner who would pay her that much money so she went into the bank and asked.

The woman at the bank said that it was TWO separate HSBC cheques of around £5000 and £3000 paid into her account and she couldn’t tell her any more but it was now HER money to keep.

Yeah, that didn’t actually happen.

And yes, we all know that there are people like you who’d think that they get to keep this, but please don’t look to justify it. She’ll be paying it back, make sure she does so out of the original money, not out of the money she needs to live on when she inevitably comes to the end of the road.