Nationwide keeping mistaken payment

Natkim84

Hi, I could really do with some advice as can't  believe a bank can do this. A bit of background: I had a current account  which had an overdraft facility, I got into  paying back some money  and asked them for help which they were really unhelpful about, they came back with a payment plan which was still unaffordable.

A few months later I wanted to opt into an IVA as I was struggling financially and was advised to close this bank account, all direct debits have been switched over and on the banking app it doesn't show this current account anymore. All creditors agreed to the IVA apart from this bank. Last week a friend made a payment into this account by mistake, this was a significant amount of a few hundred pounds. My friend got in touch with their bank to request the money back as nit was not returned automatically. The.bank has said because my account is in arrears,  they are keeping the payment?? Surely they aren't allowed to do this, as the payment was made in error and my friend has requested their money back? Surely they're not allowed to do this?? Any advice would be welcome.  Thank you.

eskbanker

If the account is still open and overdrawn then yes, a deposit into it will simply reduce the overdraft and they're not obliged to allow it to be withdrawn.

Brie

I would think it depends.  

Did your friend call the bank and say "oops I paid some money into my mate's old account in error.  I meant to pay it into his new account with <name of new bank>"??   If that was the case I'd expect nationwide to say "tough, your mate owes us so we're keeping it".  

If however your friend called them and said "oops I paid some money into the wrong account and need to pay it into the correct account, can you help me?" I would expect them to be a bit more forthcoming but possibly contact you to see if you know who the individual is that paid the money.  

It can be tricky even when it's an error of paying money into a complete stranger's account because there's no guarantee that the stranger will agree to the money being returned.

friolento

Presumably your friend paid you because they owed you some money? It’s very unfortunate for you that this money has been used to pay some of the debt you have with Nationwide but this isn’t your friend’s problem and I don’t think it is likely that Nationwide will return it, or have to return it.

HobgoblinBT

The bank will see it as your friend has made a partial repayment against your debt with Nationwide. 

HedgehogRulez

Surely repaying the debts you owe is a good thing?

Jami74

HedgehogRulez said:

Surely repaying the debts you owe is a good thing?

Of course it is!

But sometimes when people are in debt and are expecting some money, they have already allocated that money to something else that they feel is even more pressing, maybe kids nursery fees, or a car repair. And no, they probably don't have an emergency fund to cover these costs.