Unusual bank error in my favour, advice needed

monkey80

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Long time lurker. This is a long and slightly complicated one, any advice here would be greatly appreciated. I applied for a new credit card with my bank (AIB) and in the process of opening the card, had a balance transfer for €5400 from another creditcard (tesco bank) that I hold. I usually pay off the full amount of the Tesco credit card in full each month, it is a cashback creditcard and my family use it for all purchases so the monthly amount can be large, I don’t look at the individual transactions as there are hundreds, but pay off the full balance each month. However I was buying a car that month so decided to open a creditcard with my AIB bank to avail of their low introductory rate on balance transfers.

All seemed fine until I had a letter from Tesco Bank informing me I was over my credit limit (8k), this seemed odd as they should have received the balance transfer from AIB 10 days earlier. It turned out that AIB had sent a cheque to Tesco for the balance transfer, but Tesco bank had not received it.

Next I ring AIB and inform them that Tesco bank have not received the balance transfer (even though on my AIB statement it was there). AIB then inform me that they will then immediately cancel the first cheque and issue a second cheque to Tesco bank.

A few days later Tesco bank receives the cheque and credit my account to the amount of €5400, all seems good. (in fact AIB refund me interest and fines that I received from Tesco bank for going over their credit limit due to the disappearing balance transfer cheque). This happened 2-3 months ago, and I thought this was all dealt with finished.

However, today I receive a phone call from AIB telling me that even though they cancelled the first cheque to Tesco Bank somehow Tesco bank cashed it! I have now gone back over my creditcard statements with Tesco and indeed my creditcard with Tesco was credited twice for €5400 (at different times). I asked AIB how Tesco were able to cash the first balance transfer cheque if a stop had been put on it WEEKS previously. They declined to give me an answer. I have spent the 5400 in the meantime (this may seem suspicious, but my family spends between 1.5k and 8k each month on all purchases, so 5400 of spend would not be unusual to us).

AIB have now asked me to ring up Tesco on their behalf and get them to send AIB the 5400 back, and for Tesco to debit my account with them the 5400 (which I obviously don’t want to do as Tesco have a massive interest rate, and I’ve already spent the money). They apparently are not allowed to call Tesco directly on my behalf.

What should I do, what are my options? If I say I will not do that (ring Tesco), do AIB have any recourse to take money from my current account with them directly, for their error in sending too much to Tesco by not actioning the block that they put on the first cheque? Could they take me to court for the money?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Specifically from people in the know on what actions AIB could take if I do nothing regarding contacting Tesco Bank for them.

I hope that makes sense. Thanks
 
Newspapers are full of stories of people who spent monies lodged mistakenly to their bank account; (clue: it never ends well for the party concerned).
 
I'm not being smart, but what specifically have I done fraudulently? I have acted in a good faith at all times, all errors have been with AIB.

You know that AIB paid €5,400 to you twice in error.

Anything other than prompt repayment of the money is fraud.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I have seen newspaper articles where when money was spent after a bank error and the customer genuinely thought they were spending their own cash, the court ruled in favour of the customer. This is the same situation I find myself in.

Regardless, do you think AIB would be amenable to me paying them back directly, but over a period of time at 0 interest. So I would not occur any additional costs?
 
I think they may be amenable but within reasonable but short timeframe, and you may need to prove why you need the timeframe.
 
thanks for the replies guys. I'm not a chancer, however the bank did rub me up the wrong way today by not answering questions regarding why this had happened. The honest answer would have simply have been to say that they made a mistake. Also, demanding that I do all the leg work to correct their error is also poor form.
 
I haven't said I wont repay the money, however I want to do it with as little inconvenience as possible.


Read back over your own posts.

It's pretty clear what you're up to.

This is not the place to obtain that sort of advice.

Repay the money.
 
thanks for the replies guys. I'm not a chancer, however the bank did rub me up the wrong way today by not answering questions regarding why this had happened. The honest answer would have simply have been to say that they made a mistake. Also, demanding that I do all the leg work to correct their error is also poor form.

They absolutely should answer your questions. They are perfectly legitimate questions. In any case you've done nothing wrong. You've come on here for financial advice.

As it was a bank error, and you did nothing wrong, but more importantly over time the money was gone and you're not in a position to pay it back, then AIB should accommodate you. That means you tell them you don't have the money and that you will pay them X amount monthly, at zero interest, like hello, until it is cleared.
 
I haven't said I wont repay the money, however I want to do it with as little inconvenience as possible.

Why not write them a cheque? ;)

Seriously, regardless of the morality of the situation AIB can (and ultimately will) sue you in which case you will be required to repay the amount advanced plus interest. I'm sure AIB will be reasonable if you have a cash flow issue.

If I was you I would ask to talk to the branch manager and agree something sensible.
 
[QUOTE="monkey80, post: 1501577, member:

I have spent the 5400 in the meantime (this may seem suspicious, but my family spends between 1.5k and 8k each month on all purchases, so 5400 of spend would not be unusual to us).

[/QUOTE]

So your family have no problem spending up to 8k on credit card purchases each month??
And you say you didn't notice an extra €5400 roll into your account.

What a load of baloney,

for starters any right thinking person would be scrutinising their credit card statement every month especially with that kind of spending. How many people are actually using your credit card??

I expect AIB will require the full amount back, you and your family will just have to cut back on ye spending for a month while you repay it.
 
Moneybox, he clarified that the cc is used for day to day spending.

Once on here, AAM, a poster was doing that, Esb Bill, groceries anything he could. But the crucial thing is he never paid interest. He was using it to get points. Or cash back, something like that.
 
You spent the money on your card which was your normal spending behaviour. When did you intend to pay this off if the mistake had not been made? You say Tesco have a massive interest rate that you don't want to end up paying but you spent the money on the Tesco Credit Card???

If your story is genuine and you ask Tesco to sort it out now you will not be in any worse position than you would have been in the absence of the mistake and you can carry on with your normal spending pattern.
 
If the shoe was on the other foot and the AIB spent €5400 of your personal money, wouldn't you want it repaid/refunded asap ???
 
You shouldn't get all het up about why they made a mistake. Mistakes happen. Lots of staff are involved and not everyone is perfect.

I have spent the 5400 in the meantime (this may seem suspicious, but my family spends between 1.5k and 8k each month on all purchases, so 5400 of spend would not be unusual to us).

Let's be clear about this. You transferred your balance from Tesco to AIB.
You issued your many family members with AIB credit cards and told them to give you back your Tesco cards as they were no longer valid.
But they still went ahead and spent money on their Tesco cards? Did they spend another €5,400 on their AIB cards?

As I say, people make mistakes all the time.

All seemed fine until I had a letter from Tesco Bank informing me I was over my credit limit (8k)

I don't understand this at all.
AIB transferred €5,400 to clear the account, so your Tesco card balance should be nil and should have remained nil if your family had not continued using the card in error.
AIB lodged €5,400 in error and you spent all this and exceeded your Tesco limit of €8,000. So your family spend €13,500 on the Tesco credit card in error.

As I started this post, I was trying to defend you against the accusations of pulling a fast one, but your story does not add up at all.

The consequences of not paying back the money are potentially very serious for you.

Brendan
 
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