I've inadvertently paid £5,000 to an account from my online bank account.

I was rather stressed and assumed the payment details I'd already set up were correct. However when the payment didn't show up on my credit card statement I then double checked and realised the wrong account had been used.

The tricky thing is that the account I paid into belonged to my daughter. I'm not sure if the account is still valid as she has now had some sort of debt repayment order which may or may not have included this card.

I'm abroad on holiday and won't be back until next week and although I have my phone with me I can't get a signal to make calls.

What is the best thing to do? Contact my bank to see if they can reverse it or contact the credit card company? Both accounts are MBNA which is how the mix up happened.

I'm not sure if there was any outstanding debt on my daughter's account but, if so, can they keep it to pay off any debt owed even though she has this order arranged.

I'm vague about what the arrangement she has although it was done through a third party debt help company which lumped all her debt together and she now pays a monthly sum to them. I don't want to get my daughter involved if possible because she's not very reliable.

If I lose this money I will not be able to pay my debt as I have very limited income.

Any advice would be great before I try and sort this out. Please ask if you need any further clarification.

Many thanks in advance.

One problem here is that the receiving bank is your daughters bank and not use so they will refuse to deal with you.

You should certainly contact your bank immediately. You should do it on the phone if you can and make sure you record the call but also follow-up in writing.

Your daughter should contact her bank and explain the error. Once again she should do this on the phone immediately but also in writing. I would suggest that she basically sends a letter of appropriation. This is normally used to protect certain priority payments but I don't see why it shouldn't be used to protect money which has been paid in error.

A letter appropriation would be headed "Letter of Appropriation" and then go on to say that this is to inform the bank that X number of pounds paid into her account on X date was paid in by her mother in error and that the funds do not belong to her and they must be returned and not applied to any debts or payments.

You need to do all this now. I'm sorry that you are on holiday frankly if you have made this mistake then if you delay then it will cause you problems.

When you get back from holiday come back here and we'll see if we can help you further if the bank turns out to be uncooperative – which it probably will.

I think the letter of appropriation is extremely important because that will make things clear beyond doubt. If they then go on to ignore that then I think you have a basis for an effective complaint.

Although you are abroad, you need to get these letters off to the two banks by guaranteed next day delivery – even though that will cost you quite a lot of money

Many thanks. I'll do as suggested.

When you say contact my bank immediately, do you mean MBNA or the account I paid the money from?

I've clicked on the link to access the letter but a message says I don't have access rights to it.

You are right. I am trying to sort it out.