BANK ERROR!! - what are the legalities??

[murrayloch]

Hi There,

Wonder if anyopne can help??

 

If a bank makes a payment to you....and its a mistake....is there legally a period of time before you can keep the money and they can no longer ask for it back??

 

I had heard it was 6 months, is this correct?

 

Thanks

[chocolatte]

How much?

[rosiecotton]

Yes, how much is the payment and is it an obvious mistake?

[murrayloch]

Don't want to go into specifics as i'm terrified the banks read these!! But its thousands not hundreds!

 

Basically they've paid out refunded charges twice! I'm purely looking for the legalities as i have not yet came to any conclusion as to what to do!

 

Thanks

[MattyH]

What about the morals though?? If you know they've paid out twice, surely you should do the honest thing and give the money back? Otherwise you are no better than that banks that took your money in the first place.

 

Just something to think about.

 

Matt

[murrayloch]

As i said - purely looking for the legalities!

[rosiecotton]

If it is obvious there has been a mistake and you would notice it in your account, you must pay it back. It could be classed as theft not to do so.

 

I will look up a bit more info for you since I have come across this sort of thing before.

[chocolatte]

Write to the bank thanking them for the refund of £XXXX (the inflated amount) and see what happens. Make sure you give them ample opportunity to realise their error.

Also, if you are sure it is an error and the money doesn't belong to you, then tell them to take it back?

[murrayloch]

I did call them today and quoted their reference on their correspondence. So they accessed my file and didn't seem to be aware that they had already paid. I was quite vague - just to see what info they did and did not have.

[chocolatte]

Hmmm, be very careful, you don't want to be in a situation of obtaining money by deception?

[murrayloch]

I know, but i think the worst that can happen is that they ask for it back, and as long as i don't touch it then there's no problem. I have heard that they only have 6 months in which to notice and request it back?

[Movingon]

If you know it's a mistake, give it back. You cannot enjoy your refunded charges from Jail serving time for Fraud. (The new Fraud Act will be in play for his offence).

[murrayloch]

I think that is a slight overreaction!

Anyway as said twice before - i'm simply looking for the legalities.

[rosiecotton]

They can take the money back at any time, it is not your money.

[murrayloch]

That's ok, as i'll leave the money alone, if they take it back then thats fine.

 

I am purely argueeing both sides here...I have made no decision on what to do.

[rosiecotton]

If you spend the money at any point then you can be prosecuted for theft. So you may as well hand it back.

[blitz]

That is the legalities, if its an amount that from your day to day dealings with the account does not look out of place, (say it was £100) you can claim you didn't know you were overpaid (Most of the time you really don't). Should however it be a large amount that it is obvious, that there is no way you could have overlooked it (such as this situation) you would be liable for not flagging it.

 

If you did keep the money they could easily just take it back randomly or set up a repayment plan.

By asking for the legalities you are obviously toying with the idea of keeping the money, just don't you have already got some money back off them from the charges you had refunded, attempting to keep double that is both morally and legally wrong.

[Chilli Con Carnage]

Surely if anything crops up you can act dumb and just say that you thought the bank had issued you with compensation, or you could say that you never check your balance so you hadn't noticed it.

 

I say keep it if you can. It's not morally wrong, Banks are [edit] and this community chest card shows a bank error in your favour! Good luck

[zootscoot]

If you keep the money not only can the bank demand it back and enforce it through the courts, it also amounts to theft if you are aware of the money and do not pay it back. This applies even if you do not withdraw the money from your account.

 

CAG in no way will endorse anyone involved in criminal activity of anyone encouraging illegal activity.