# Money has been lodged into my account



## fifffi (8 Nov 2012)

Over a thousand euro was lodged into my bank account this morning. I am with TSB. I phoned TSB, they could not tell me where the money had come from. They had no idea only that is came from BOI Tullamore. I rang them and they wouldnt tell me either. Rand my own bank bank but they really were no help.

What do I do??? Keep the money?? Spend it?? Leave it till someone comes looking for it. I have really tried to find out what it is but the banks are so unhelpful.


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## Padraigb (8 Nov 2012)

I think the best guess is that it was credited to your account by mistake. Whether it was a mistake on the part of somebody originating the transaction or by the bank is of no great consequence other than to satisfy your curiosity. 

Don't spend it. Expect that somebody will come looking for it.


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## Time (8 Nov 2012)

To the Bahamas and don't spare the horses.


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## user name (9 Nov 2012)

Could it be an income tax refund?


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## Time (9 Nov 2012)

Not unless the account number was given to revenue as part of a tax return.


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## greengrass (9 Nov 2012)

it will probably be debitted in few days when somebody realised a mistake was made, so don't go mad shopping yet.


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## fifffi (9 Nov 2012)

Thanks. Why can't the banks just put it bank if it's not mine. I can't cope with this temptation & am up to my neck in debt!


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## Brendan Burgess (9 Nov 2012)

Hi f

It's an interesting question. 

A customer of a bank in Tullamore transferred money into your bank account. 

Your own bank can do nothing about this. It has nothing to do with them. 

Bank of Ireland Tullamore should be onto this immediately as it would appear to be an error by one of their customers.  Maybe they are not allowed to tell you who paid you as it would be a breach of the Data Protection Act. 

When the poor payer finds out, they will hit a equally strong brick wall when trying to find out your details to ask you for the money back.  See this post for example. 

I think you should write to the manager of BoI in Tullamore and notify them formally of the error.  
Ask them to provide you with details of the account to which it is to be repaid. 
Ask for a response within 7 working days. 

They will have a very irate and frustrated customer on their hands when the payer discovers the problem. 

Brendan


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## wbbs (9 Nov 2012)

Trouble is customer could have made the mistake, one wrong digit is all it takes, and a nice even sum like that would mean a lot of trawling through transactions for that day in the Tullamore office, they probably won't do anything until a customer comes back with the query.   I think I would be asking your own bank to return it to Tullamore, let them lodge it into some suspense account or other, at least it would be out of your way.


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## Gulliver (9 Nov 2012)

In this situation, your bank's role is similar to that of the postman.  If a letter is addressed to you, the postman is obliged to put it in your letterbox, regardless of the origin of the letter, and has no obligation to take it back if you don't want it.

As regards the Tullamore bank, there is an interesting situation.  One practical effect of the Payment Services Regulations 2009 is that nowadays, credit transfers are made by reference to account numbers only (previously it was normally done by reference to both account number and destination customer name).  If the Tullamore customer made an error in the intended account number, then he may be frustrated and angry, but his bank has to operate on his stated instructions.  The relevant regulation states that Tullamore should make "reasonable efforts" to recover the money - but only when so requested by the Tullamore customer requests a refund:-

(2) If a unique identifier provided by a payment service user is incorrect, the payment service provider concerned is not liable for non-execution or defective execution of the relevant payment transaction. However, the payer’s payment service provider concerned shall make reasonable efforts to recover the funds involved in the transaction.

(Payment Services Regulations 2009 - Clause 89(2))


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## Time (9 Nov 2012)

But if the money is gone there is not a lot the bank can do.


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## delgirl (9 Nov 2012)

We had a similar situation a few years ago when we suddenly and unexpectedly received large lodgments to our personal account from a bank in Kildare.

I contacted our bank and asked them where the funds were coming from, they could only confirm a bank in Kildare.

I called the bank in Kildare and asked them for information regarding the transfer and they said they couldn't disclose any information, I would have to contact the account holder who sent the funds. This was impossible as we didn't know who the account holder was.

This went on for 5 months and then the account holder in Kildare finally twigged that they had set up a standing order to our account by mistake and they contacted their bank, who contacted our bank, who contacted us to ask if they could have the funds back.

We gave it back straight away, it was over €15,000.

From my experience you'll have to wait to see if the account holder in the bank in Tullamore realises that they have sent the funds to you by mistake.


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## Time (9 Nov 2012)

They will have to ask for the money back. The bank can't just swipe it back.


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## 44brendan (9 Nov 2012)

This was an error by whoever lodged the money. It happens quite frequently. Currently the person at loss is the intended recipient of the money and not the Bank. In law this is quite similar to finding a sum of money. Your obligation is to report it to your own bank. make sure that you have a record of this report. It's up to them to advise the transmitting bank of the error.
Don't spend the money as despite the fact that it has been lodged to your account, it's not yours. The rightful owner can pursue you personally for the funds. There is also the risk of being prosecuted for "theft by finding" if you spend the money and refuse to refund it.


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## Time (9 Nov 2012)

Very unlikely as "that would be a civil matter".


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## elcato (9 Nov 2012)

I lodged money into my account a good few years ago by having my card swiped (as oppose to filling in a paper slip) and got a receipt. Only after a few weeks did I realise it was missing and when I queried it they said they would have to inform the account holder it was paid into before they could refund. the receipt had the wrong account number on it but was a printout of the transaction. I duly got my money but I can say for deffo that I did not make the mistake, the teller did. I would say this happens quite a lot but not always the intended recipients fault, well apart from not checking their account fairly sharpish or indeed being eagle eyed enough to check the account number on the receipt. I guess it's a lesson learnt.


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## Crugers (9 Nov 2012)

Go to your pTSB - get a bank draft for the amount you received, payable to yourself - pay the charge for the draft, hold onto the draft.
Now funds in your account are correct and temptation is "out of sight".
At some point in time you will get a request for repayment of the sum.
At that stage ask for the bank details of the sender - name, account number, branch sort code should be enough. Make a credit transfer of the amount minus the draft charge.
You can do no more!


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## Kimmagegirl (9 Nov 2012)

Gulliver said:


> One practical effect of the Payment Services Regulations 2009 is that nowadays, credit transfers are made by reference to account numbers only (previously it was normally done by reference to both account number and destination customer name).


 
So if a person had a cheque made payable to a Ltd. company but did not want the money going to the Ltd. Company but to his personal account, he goes in to Bank A and fills out a giro form. In the Account name section he fills in the Ltd. company name and presents the cheque payable to the Ltd company to support the lodgment. However rather than put in the account number of the Ltd. company he puts the account number of his personal account. Nobody in the bank is checking out that the account number is matched to the account name. So the money goes to the personal account and not the Ltd company account.
Seems very easy?  Could also be done with a stolen cheque.


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## Gulliver (9 Nov 2012)

Not so, Kimmagegirl.  The Payment Services Regulations 2009 do not apply to cheques.  A bank accepting a cheque payable to a limited company is obliged to ensure that the funds go to the account of the limited company.


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## Brendan Burgess (9 Nov 2012)

Crugers said:


> Go to your pTSB - get a bank draft for the amount you received, payable to yourself - pay the charge for the draft, hold onto the draft.
> Now funds in your account are correct and temptation is "out of sight".



Great practical advice.


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## wbbs (9 Nov 2012)

How in practice would bank A make sure a giro to a particular account number in bank B was going to the same account as the payee of the cheque lodged?  Do they actually ring up the other bank to check or what.   I'm just curious as to how the practicalities of it would work.


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## Gulliver (9 Nov 2012)

wbbs
1... It is nowadays extremely unusual for Bank A to accept a handwritten giro for an account in Bank B, and would take exceptional care to ensure that all is well before doing so.
2... If a giro is accepted in branch A of a bank for an account in branch B of that same bank, then branch A has full details of the destination account online, and will check

This situation almost certainly has no relevance to the original posting


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## wbbs (9 Nov 2012)

I know, I was just curious, obviously if same bank then they could just look it up.

As to op's original problem, I did an online transfer some time ago to one of my accounts, I have couple of accounts with same bank but under different sort codes, anyway I used correct account number but wrong sort code, money ended up in someone else's account.  It took me ages to get it back, receiving branch said it was up to customer who got it to give permission to transfer it back but obviously they would not give me customer's details so I had to depend on them to try and contact customer.  On top of that it turned out to be a pretty much dormant account, which was good in one way as it hadn't been spent!  But it made it hard to contact customer, got it back eventually.


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## Time (9 Nov 2012)

So in theory if the person receiving the money in error does not answer there is not a lot you can do as the bank won't tell you who it is, and they cannot just go and fish the money out of their account.


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## wbbs (10 Nov 2012)

That was basically it, bank said it was not their mistake so could not debit the account without customer's permission.   I was very lucky I had a contact in the bank who was willing to try a little harder for me as management pretty much told me tough luck!


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## Kimmagegirl (10 Nov 2012)

wbbs said:


> I know, I was just curious, obviously if same bank then they could just look it up.


 
But if it wasn't going to the same bank but a different bank they cannot check account details.


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