Banking error?

[djtaz11398]

With regards to the previous question, what if i told the bank and they said there is no error?

[templeman]

The short answer is that you can't keep what is not legally yours. You should make every effort to point out the error to the bank.
For those that a interested in banking errors the following link is a wonderful read. It's a long and intriguing tale. Look for the link to the next part at the end of each section.
http://www.goodthink.com/writing/view_stories.cfm?
id=11&page_id=2

[gilf]

I read a great story on the web once about a bloke who cashed a fake cheque which had been sent to him during a marketing campaign like Readers Digest. I think it was worth $100,000 he went to the bank a number of times and they said it was valid and the money was in his account. He withdrew the money via a bankers draft and kept it in a safe. He eventually gave it back when the bank had admitted that he had done nothing wrong. However this is in the US.

[templeman]

That great story is the one in the link above.

[darth vader]

If you have written proof from them stating there is no error, the money is yours. (Happened to me once, though i had to go via the ombudsman...)

[WendyW]

darth vader is right. If this situation arises then ask the Bank to confirm in writing that there is no error and that the money was intended for your account and is therefore yours to use. If they do this (and there is no way that I would ... ) then legally they would have a difficult time claiming it back.

[WendyW]

To continue: the silly things Bank staff do!

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Many years ago a Bubblegum Company put copy Confederate Notes in the Bubblegum packets ..... people took them to the Banks and many Banks cashed them!!!

[treaclefight]

if only i could be bothered to research this properly, i will post again if i do. i seem to remember from the days when i did my law degree that if 'things' are given to you by mistake you can keep them, but the (very old) law of restitution prevents you from keeping money that is given to you by mistake (its something to do with the concept that property passes between two people in title which can be done by mistake, whereas money technically all belongs to the crown so there is no passing of a title to a property). it sounds like the ombudsman may have some remedy to this and that would be a good avenue to try. (i'm now hoping theres a lawyer who works in this area reading this that can get my story straight for me) :-)

[Ben C]

Nice one templeman! Cheers. Ben

[djtaz11398]

Thanks for all your answers and please dont spend any more time on this as the bank has now realised its error even though yesterday they were posivtive there was no error, i am now �4,500 down, ah well !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[treaclefight]

hmm, i think that they should give you 10% of it for getting you hopes up, that would make things fairer. :-)

[FTVS]

i had a case on this many years a go. What happened in that instance was that a person was overpaid in their wage packet - they couldn't possiblyt have known as they wre expecting extra cash in their pay packet and they oblviously spent it; however the same thing happened the next month and at that point they should have known it was error and we managed to get this money back, however the first time when they couldn't have known they didn't have to repay. i would say overall that an individual is not entitled to keep money they KNOW they are not entitled to, however I suspect the mistaken party would have trouble recovering that money if the person couldn't have known and had disposed of it and did not then have the means to pay it back.