So here’s a dilemma. I’ve recently had a sizeable (hundreds of pounds) credit made to a personal bank account. Nice, only thing is I’ve no idea who made it or where it came from.
Naturally I reported it to the bank. I’m good like that. But I was rather surprised to hear that, largely, they’re not really that interested. They seem content to leave the money where it is (ie. in my account), despite my protestations that it’s not a deposit I recognise. They go so far as to ask for £10 in order to retrieve the paying in slip to check things, which I really don’t understand.
From their perspective at least they’re trusting their computer systems to have put money where it’s intended. From my perspective I don’t recognise the deposit and so - presumably - somebody else has deposited the money incorrectly in to my account. But, and here’s the rub, why should I risk £10, to perhaps ‘correct’ the banks mistake. Surely it’s the banks responsibility to investigate such a queried transaction? Helpfully (or not) they’ll refund the £10 if it’s found to be their mistake.
So, the best I can expect is to “lose” this unexpected deposit and get the £10 charge back as it’s “their mistake”. The “worst” is that it is a valid deposit and I’ve just wasted £10. My only doubt is that perhaps it’s an old deposit that’s been stuck in the system (Although we’ve no stubs for that amount in the last few years), or that having recently re-mortgaged it’s something to do with that. All that said the credit source is such that I don’t think any of this is likely.
An unrelated variable in all of this, which is at the back of my mind, is that I recently lost a not entirely dissimilar amount of money when a client I’d done a small piece of work for went in to liquidation, leaving my invoice unpaid. Whilst the amount is broadly comparable to the amount owed, they (as with all my clients) don’t have the details of this particular bank account: So I’m entirely certain it can’t be that. Atheist that I am, I’ve no truck with “karma” or “what goes around, comes around”, but I can’t help but feel it’s something in the way of compensation!
I like to think I am a moral person. But my key issue here is why should the obligation be on me to fork out/risk money to correct what I am 95% certain the bank’s (or somebody else’s), mistake? They’re insisting it’s correctly deposited, so could it just be a kind benefactor or my forgetfulness? Am I being a muppet to query this? Should I even be concerned? Especially given the bank is supposed to be well behaved? Finally, the bank remained silent on my question about how long it is that they can take the money back if they get a legitimate complaint about a missing deposit - and what if they demand the money back a year down the road, despite my actions so far?
Your thoughts appreciated. Or even just a click on my wizzy new “advisory poll” feature 
Should I spend £10 to retrieve the paying-in slip?
- No - You’ve already done enough (64%, 7 Votes)
- Yes - Do all you can (18%, 2 Votes)
- No - Finders keepers (18%, 2 Votes)
- Don’t know (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 11
Loading …Update 6/Dec/07 :: More detail in my comment, but it turns out it was a refund from our old mortgage provider. Strange way of going about it (the supposed source of the credit does not make sense), and still raises a few concerns about how my bank handles queries like this.
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December 5th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
well, it could be that the people liquidating your old client managed to find some cash to pay off debtors, although I would have expected additional communications about that.
more likely someone transcribed an account number incorrectly (e.g. swapped digits) and you can expect the true recipient to complain to the bank when this is discovered, and it will magically disappear again.
Banks are very good at making money magically disappear as we found when they did a double transfer of a house deposit a few years ago leaving us massively overdrawn
Matt
December 5th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Agreed it’s most likely an incorrectly transcribed account number, but I remain astonished that my saying “I don’t think this is my money” is met with a request to stump up a £10 fee to check things, when - I would have thought - the bank has a duty of care all of its own to what I presume is the other customer.
Of course, when it is unwound, it’ll be taken without notification, much less an apology (because, as interesting as all this is, it’s an inconvenience). I’m just glad we’ve a bit of spare cash in the account at the moment!
December 6th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Problem solved: It was a refund for the amount taken by our old mortgage company at the start of the month. As the credit was on a different page from the debit, I’d not noticed the similarity until I went back and checked some dates as part of an enquiry I was drafting to our re-mortgage solicitor.
Still very strange that it should be felt to be a Post Office credit by our own bank, which goes to show how little information is available (or made available) about money transfers. I’m still also somewhat perplexed too by the attitude taken by my bank.
But relieved to be able to feel comfortable spending the money now
December 8th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Yonks ago (when I was about 25) a deposit (about £500) appeared in my bank account, being penniless at the time, I told the Bank - not mine - oh yes it is. Stalemate.
Moved the amount into a deposit account and left it there. Gained Interest over 10 years. Then spent it. Never did find out where it came from.
Ever tried to give money back to the Gas Board - forget it - after three years of telling them - I finally sold the house I was living in and guess what - the gas board sent me the money which was not mine in the first place when I closed the account with the final meter reading. OK it was only £100 but it makes me wonder.