# Unusual bank error in my favour, advice needed



## monkey80 (17 Jan 2017)

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


----------



## Gordon Gekko (17 Jan 2017)

Repay the €5,400.

Any other course of action is fraud.


----------



## monkey80 (17 Jan 2017)

Gordon Gekko said:


> Repay the €5,400.
> 
> Any other course of action is fraud.



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.


----------



## Setanta12 (17 Jan 2017)

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).


----------



## Gordon Gekko (17 Jan 2017)

monkey80 said:


> 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.


----------



## monkey80 (17 Jan 2017)

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?


----------



## Fella (17 Jan 2017)

If you didn't notice getting an extra 5k you won't notice paying it back!

What a chancer , no wonder mortgage rates so high in this country nobody wants to pay banks back!


----------



## Setanta12 (17 Jan 2017)

I think they may be amenable but within reasonable but short timeframe, and you may need to prove why you need the timeframe.


----------



## monkey80 (17 Jan 2017)

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.


----------



## Gordon Gekko (17 Jan 2017)

This thread should be shut down.

Your behaviour is outrageous.

Repay the money.


----------



## monkey80 (17 Jan 2017)

Gordon Gekko said:


> This thread should be shut down.
> 
> Your behaviour is outrageous.
> 
> Repay the money.



I haven't said I wont repay the money, however I want to do it with as little inconvenience as possible.


----------



## Gordon Gekko (17 Jan 2017)

monkey80 said:


> 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.


----------



## Bronte (17 Jan 2017)

monkey80 said:


> 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.


----------



## Sarenco (17 Jan 2017)

monkey80 said:


> 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.


----------



## moneybox (17 Jan 2017)

[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.


----------



## Bronte (17 Jan 2017)

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.


----------



## llgon (17 Jan 2017)

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.


----------



## Lone Star (17 Jan 2017)

I wonder what the EU legal position is on this??


----------



## Cervelo (18 Jan 2017)

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 ???


----------



## Brendan Burgess (18 Jan 2017)

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.



monkey80 said:


> 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. 



monkey80 said:


> 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


----------



## thedaddyman (18 Jan 2017)

It's been well established in law that you cannot take advantage of a banking error in your favour. Hence if AIB want to chase you for the money they can and you need to deal with the consequences of that. If you are not satisfied with the performance of AIB then you should file a complaint against them via their internal complaints process and if you feel it is serious enough seek compensation. If you are not satisfied with how they handled your complaint then you may have a case to complain to the ombudsman. However, as it stands, you owe then €5400


----------



## Palerider (18 Jan 2017)

I am not sure AAM can provide any additional relevant and meaningful information for the OP, clearly a big spender who does not like the advice provided which is a shame.

It is not possible to teach people about right and wrong, adults get it or they don't, errors happen but you are afforded no legal defence that will succeed for a genuine error such as occurred here, pay back the money promptly and grow up.


----------



## so-crates (18 Jan 2017)

I am not going to have a go at you about the morality of the situation, other posters have made clear that an error on the banks part is no mitigation. The money needs to be repaid to AIB (since they are the ones out of pocket and as you say yourself, when you contacted AIB about the cheque you thought Tesco had not received they actually refunded you fines and interest that Tesco had imposed)

AIB cannot talk to Tesco for you because they would be acting on your behalf. Think about it, you would probably be extremely upset with AIB if they went around discussing your finances with other institutions.

AIB are looking to secure a quick repayment of the €5400, hence the reason they are asking you to contact Tesco, however as you say that would be punitive for you as you would then have to pay an excessive interest rate to Tesco. 

I think your best bet is to focus on AIB, offer to clear the €5400 debt on a reasonable time frame instead of their proposed solution which consists of you chasing Tesco for it and then having to work out how to repay Tesco.


----------



## llgon (18 Jan 2017)

so-crates said:


> AIB are looking to secure a quick repayment of the €5400, hence the reason they are asking you to contact Tesco, however as you say that would be punitive for you as you would then have to pay an excessive interest rate to Tesco.



This would not be punitive to the OP. The money was spent on the Tesco card.  There is nothing in AIB's request that puts the OP at a disadvantage except the inconvenience of having to contact Tesco.


----------



## so-crates (18 Jan 2017)

There is ligon, because then he will have to pay Tesco back the €5400 (+whatever interest charges etc apply) that they pay AIB. It would be simpler to cut out the middle man and deal straight with AIB on the issue.


----------



## llgon (18 Jan 2017)

so-crates said:


> There is ligon, because then he will have to pay Tesco back the €5400 (+whatever interest charges etc apply) that they pay AIB. It would be simpler to cut out the middle man and deal straight with AIB on the issue.



The €5,400 he should pay back was never his. If he has interest/charges/penalties to pay they will only be on his own family's spend on the Tesco card since the balance transfer so he will rightfully have to pay these but there is nothing punitive to him. If anything the mistake may reduce these.

I think the key thing in this thread is in the title - 'in my favour'. It doesn't sound like the OP is too aggrieved. Rather that he is trying to turn the bank's mistake to his advantage and is seeking posters help on this.


----------

