Bank overpayment.

Andymcj1

Hi,
I have an issue with my bank account that is causing me some anxiety. I recently cashed in a savings account for £3400 and this money was correctly deposited in my bank account as I'd requested. Two weeks later however another deposit of £3400 appeared in error in my account and a letter came from the bank confirming my savings account was closed. Where do I stand legally? What are my obligations and liabilities and do banks lose that amount of money without discovering where it has gone or is it only a matter of time before they realise their error?

skyrider007

So basically you deposited £3400 and afterwards another payment of £3400 was paid into your account? If it's not your money and the bank has made a mistake then they have the rights to take it the money back leaving your account with a balance of £3400 not £6800. What surprises me is that you mentioned they've closed your account?

If they did so, in the letter you've received they should have explained their reason and where ALL of your £3400 has gone to.

The best thing to do now is call into a branch and talk with the manager.

RayWolfe

The money is not yours, the bank will obviously want it back.

bryanb

Leave it in the account, see how long they take to realise the mistake. But don't be tempted to use it.

Andymcj1

I'm aware the money isn't mine and that the bank will want it back but I'm wondering how long will it be before they discover their mistake or even if they will find out about it. They can have their £3400 back without any problems as far as I'm concerned but if I thought it would take them a while to discover their error I would invest it and at least gain interest on it. I could of course save myself any potential hassle and just tell them about it but I take the view that the onus is on them to contact me.

y3andy

If you have a decent interest rate on your bank (current??) account then I'd just leave it there, gain abit of interest (don't spend any of it though) until they realise their mistake. :beer:

If 0.01 interest rate then just give it them back. I'd say its very unlikely they won't realise eventually.

Just make sure you don't spend it.

natweststaffmember

Why not ring the bank in question who have made the mistake, explain that you have received 2 amounts which is an error and ask them how they want you to return the money or for them to look into it. As Al Mac has said, if you spend it you can potentially end up in prison. Is that really worth it?

Andymcj1

Thanks everybody for the responses. Having considered it I think the best option would be for me to get in touch with the bank and bring it to their attention. I'm not sure I could resist the temptation to spend some of it so I'd be safer just to give them it back than risk legal proceedings in the future.

efallai

The law is quite clear on this - i wrote about it in a previous post:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=9476281&postcount=4

Marc

misterross

A similar thing happened to me. My account has an overpayment for more than £3000. After seeing the previous post, I decided I needed to phone the bank.

I explained the situation about three times, and then they told me I had to ring a separate number, and was put on hold for about 30 minutes after which I gave up.

This really isn't my problem so I don't see why I should have to do anything now I've notified the bank. Do I need to take any further action?