The bloke that sits next to me at work has not slept for several days now, at the weekend he paid £3000 in to a bank account to repay a friend.(yes this was in cash leaving him with a small piece of paper showing he paid the money in) Unfortunately he got the bank account number wrong by one digit….. now this was his error but he is having problems finding out how he can get his money back. The only think I can think or is to go to the Citizens advice. Any other ideas?
Ask the bank?
He tried that, they won't tell him whos account it is due to the data protaction act.
Did the destination account holder name & number match up?
Ask the banks, as a first step.
What did they say?
And put something in writing to the bank, now
If he got it wrong by 1 digit, the account will almost certainly not exist, as there is almost always a check digit included in account numbers. The receiving bank should have checked the account and told him there and then.
I think that it's illegal to hang on to money you know isn't yours that was accidently put in you account, so he should get it back eventually. If the bank is unresponsive threaten to make an official complaint.
get onto the bank asap. there is some law about monies credited in error and the recipient has to give it back...banks use it all the time when they make similar mistakes
the longer you leave it the harder that will be - he will have to hope the person who got it doesnt have internet banking!
I did something like this once, and the bank just put the money back in my account for me.
Think it may have been another of their accounts though.
One of my contractors gave me the wrong bank details and had a little more trouble getting his pay,, but he got there in the end.
Don;t know how useful that is, but perhaps it will clam your friend down a bit.
I'm fairly sure the bank will comply. The lucky account holder can be done for theft if they spend/dont give it back. But it takes time. I had 300 quid credited (by the bank not an individual) to me by accident once and attempted to keep it, in the blind belief that the banks error was my legal gain. There were some pretty heavy letters from the bank and a phone call from the local fraud team at the Police that gave me the impression that my liberty was under threat. I relented pronto..
If you know the account number it was paid into you could make a series of deposits in 1p and 2p amounts to send a message by morse code perhaps?
it'll be sitting in a suspense account somewhere, he just needs to raise a claim with the bank. Very unlikely it's gone into an individual's account, they set the numbers up so this sort of thing doesn't/can't happen...
Contact the bank and let them know about the mistake.
the bank has confirmed that the money has been credited to an account and that it is a business account but thats it. Now yes when the business comes to run the year end they should see that they have £3000 extra but that could take a while. (I asked him about the paying in slip and it was just the sort code and account number no name was filled out on the paying in slip....)
the account holder into which it has been paid will be deemed to hold it on a constructive trust now, due to the error. equitable title remains with the person making the error, so there is not a risk of it being lost forever even if spent already.
if he has no receipt/record of the credit - which is absolutely stupid, rankly - then he/a lawyer needs to write a letter to the bank outlining the position and informing them that he'll be charging them the lost interest on the £3k if they don't sort out where it went and get it back.
"this was in cash leaving him with a small piece of paper showing he paid the money in"
if he has a receipt and is sayign it was credited in error then he should just go and camp out in a branch until someone sorts it out.
Ask the bank to retrieve it.
He won't be able to get the details himself for sure but his bank will and wonder how much they will charge...
I think the person who got the money can keep it...woohoo!
😆
I don't understand this. Anytime I've ever paid money into an account you need account number, sort code, name of bank and the name of the account holder you are paying the money into.
If you get the account number wrong by one digit then surely the name of the account holder would be different and therefor not match up to the details.
Thanks for all your help, I will pass on your coments.
Someone paid money into my account (only a few hundred quid) by mistake. I got a letter from their bank asking if I could pay it back - however it was up to me. I paid it back immediately.
I guess you just need to hope!
The account name is not a required field (its as good idea for all the reasons above) but you only need a sort code and account number to deposit money
Yes, a bank will not credit money to an account if the name provided does not correspond to the account number.
I know this because somebody tried to pay a sum into my personal account instead of my business account, and the bank wouldn't let him.
Remind the bank of their obligations under the money laundering regulations.
You do NOT need a name on an account to pay money into it, only sort code and account number.
and if you pay cash into a well known high street building society using their 'counter' paying in slips, the reciept you get doesnt tell you which account it went to.
🙁
I managed to transfer money into the wrong building society a/c once online (Barclays) once but noticed straight away and contacted the bank who reversed the transaction immediately.
Contact bank immediately and explain the transfer was made in error. They should sort it out. I did the same thing with online banking once, contacted them straight away and they sorted it.
Why on earth the system doesn't have some error checking I don't know, it's very easy to transpose or mistype a digit, and there are simple ways to ensure that if you did this it wouldn't give a meaningful account number, but clearly the banks can't be bothered with making things safer.
It happened to me once, phonebanking person had done it wrong, took a few days to get it traced & recovered.
Oops that's gone a bit wrong...
Go to the Bank then Police
I think the error checking depends on the bank, as different systems will issue accounts in different ranges.
The error checking on an IBAN is very clever, I designed a validator for it a while back. Impossible to transpose digits or get any of them wrong.
Back to the OP, the bank can put in a claim to the recipient, but it's not immediate - the recipient needs to confirm the credit was in error - it'd be like you paying someone money then changing your mind and taking it back.
There was something on the local news like this a few months back, someone paid 5k to the wrong number online.
The bank wouldn't say who it went to and this woman obviously just hit a dead end. Must have contacted the press as a last resort but don't think she ever saw the cash again.
Thanks everyone (tinribz I will probrbly not tell his that one as he is already very worried about it) 🙂
Hw has now spoken to the company that has his money, and they are saying that they will only return £2500 of his £3000 as it was has fault!!!!
that can't be right can it?
thay have confirmed that they are not owed to the money but are saying that they have the right to keep some of it..... this does not sound right to me.
he needs to get some professional advice.
no, it doesn't sound right and there's probably a legal way of getting it all back but if he starts negotiating with this company he may end up prejudicing any actions he might subsdequently take. A solicitors letter to them would probably mean he gets the lot back and will cost him less than £500 and them a lot more to contest.
What a lovely company - charging £500 to be helpful. Surely the money isn't there's and they have to return it or they are breaking the law?
Thats what I think Tiger-roach, I could see that they could argue that it would take them "a moment" to arrange the payment and that they may want to charge (Keep) £50 for their trouble but £500 is taking the Pi$$. In opinion anyway.
I would ring the police. It has to be theft surely?
TreeWhatTree.... - MemberHw has now spoken to the company that has his money, and they are saying that they will only return £2500 of his £3000 as it was has fault!!!!
that can't be right can it?
thay have confirmed that they are not owed to the money but are saying that they have the right to keep some of it..... this does not sound right to me.
Cheeky little buggers. How did he get their details in the end?
My advice to him was to wait untill he has the £2500 and then call the police and get a case number and then go to the citizens advice and ask them to contact the company on his behalf and try to get the last £500 back. Sound OK?
I'm not sure how he got their information, I will ask... 🙂
Doing that might prejudice his case tho
Dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit (Scetion 24A Theft Act)
(1)A person is guilty of an offence if—
(a)a wrongful credit has been made to an account kept by him or in respect of which he has any right or interest;
(b)he knows or believes that the credit is wrongful; and
(c)he dishonestly fails to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to secure that the credit is cancelled.
(I'm not sure (c) would necessarily apply due to the requirement for [b]dishonesty[/b], which isn't evident from what you've said, but that's the offence I would be shouting about to them if it was my money)
if they ask him to sign soemthing before they pay him the £2500 he's stuffed.
at the risk of repeating myself.
[b]get some professional advice.[/b]
£10 -30 admin cost max but £500 is taking the pi55!
Jeebus, I struggle to comprehend how bloody helpless people are sometimes.
FFS TreeWhatTree, tell your mate to sort himself out will you. 🙄
Reading a few different posts on different sites- its not as clear cut. 😯
****. and you dont always have to enter/correspond an account name either.
Deadlydarcy, this 'friend' might be the OP himself?
Deadlydarcy, this 'friend' might be the OP himself
Yeah, I'd sort of considered that hora...good point all the same though.
Honestly, though, if some ****er was trying to sting me out of five hundred quid like that, I'd be going mucking fental. I just wish people wouldn't let themselves get bloody walked all over so easily. It just encourages the baddies to keep trying.
Take the £2,500 and get my friend to pay the company a visit for the rest!!!
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What a bunch of A-holes!!!
Wwaswas yes I agree and have passed on that he should speak to a professional
Deadlydarcy, when I started this he had been to the bank and they had pretty much said that it was his fault and not their problem so just thought I would put up a the question to the wise SFW collective, he has been sorting things slowly but he did sh1t a brick when he was first told “it was your mistake, and we can’t tell you who’s account you have credited your £3000 too”
Hora I’m surprised that it has taken this long for someone to draw that conclusion, but if it were my £3000 I would have been down the police station the same day to get things moving and once the back made it clear that they were going to be a pain.
Thanks again for all your comments I did also LMAO at the> http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/some-idiot-put-3-grand-into-my-account-what-bike-should-i-buy
Hw has now spoken to the company that has his money, and they are saying that they will only return £2500 of his £3000 as it was has fault!!!!that can't be right can it?
thay have confirmed that they are not owed to the money but are saying that they have the right to keep some of it..... this does not sound right to me.
I missed this bit. Wondered what the £500 replies were about.
Is this in writing? Is this the companies official line?
This is a totally different situation. Is this admission in writing? Does the person who said this own the company?
Is it a big company?
I'd give the Police a call and take professional advice as mentioned. Its extortion in my books- they've even admitted they are not owed the money. Occasionally we have had money paid into our company bank account- its always returned as we have to balance the books for the annual Audit and tax purposes. It sounds like this person wouldnt be letting it near his books and as such pocketing £500 without declaring this as earnings for tax. I'd get them to put something in writing- even an email from their work address.
Only once - we were told not to repay the amount (I know mad). So our then company owner gave the money to a charity instead. (Noble fella).
I'm not sure who he has been talking to but he said he thinks its a small company and only has a phone number ( I have suggested he google the phone number to see if he can find out the company name.
he has nothing in writing with them and tells me that he did not agree on the phone that they could keep £500 but I think he is going to wait until he gets the £2500 back so at least he has that before taking things further.
But as suggested above I would probably have gone to the police to report it and then to a solicitor to get them to send a letter.... but it takes all sorts!
If you've supplied the wrong information that its your fault im afraid. You don't have aleg to stand on. The bank can't give you any infromation regarding who its gone to due to DPA. They will contact the person that its gone to but they cant force them to give you the money back. If it was the banks error then it would be a different story.
There was a case on the BBC which was virtually the same. Person transfered £3k into the wrong account and she didn't get a penny back.
Take the £2500, your lucky to get that back.
Don't bother going to the police, they won't do anything, its not a crime.
I work for a bank and have come across this quite a few times and its up to the person on the recieving end to give the money back. Thats it
If he knows who the company is, sue them in the small claims court.
I work for a bank and have come across this quite a few times and its up to the person on the recieving end to give the money back. Thats it
That's can't be right.
That's can't be right.
+1
Look up the law on unjust enrichment.
basically if someone makes money that they had no right to, they have to pay it ALL back.
He might have to go to court, but the court will order it all to be repaid
Shes paid someone before. Ok surely she'd have known who she was paying or could track back through paper or email correspondence? I mean she wouldn't have paid into some random account previously unlike the OP would she?
the post by thegreatape "Dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit (Section 24A Theft Act)" looks to be the exact situation. I have passed this on and he has some of the money back but still not the full £3000!
How much?
£2000 better than nothing but still.....
£1,000 gained for no work done. How can that **** sleep at night. I most certainly wouldnt leave it there. Surely with the return of the money there is a trace/receipt/something admitting original receipt?
It's incredible how some people are. Whilst most would just give it back as no hassle I see that some would try it on for the whole lot but holding back £1k? Crazy. If wanting to hold back some due to hassle involved then a sensible amount - £50?
it was paid in cash over the counter so nithing to trace it back to him.... but I agree I would not leave it there either, the person has said he will pay him another £500 today but is not planning on giving back the last £500, if it were me at that point I would go to the police (with a printed copy of the "Dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit (Section 24A Theft Act)" ) and ask them if they would call him on his behalf. I'm not sure they would but worth an ask.....
tiger_roach agree. The person at the other end is probably trying it on bigtime and will only hand it all back if the poor fella (whose probably pulling his hair out) went properly legal. After all, why hand anything back if the person on the other end thinks theres no comeback? Why hold onto a grand that you are neither owed or entitled to? Just seems odd.
I don't know why it bothers me soo much but injustice just does 🙁
I feel for you and your work colleague we have had banks transfer the money into another account (their error) and we struggled to get the money back for 2 weeks..... (this has happened twice although Natwest were more helpful than Abbey National). YBS managed to credit a closed account but they were extremely apologetic - Maybe I just deal with the cluts...
Get majority of money back
Close all accounts with bank
Get your own 500 pounds worth of, "pleasure", from said business.
Is the company Ryan Air by any chance ? Thats sounds cheap for one of their processing fees !!