Mystery Lodgement to CC

Hi all,

My credit card received a mystery lodgement of €500 about a month ago that I 100% had nothing to do with. I would imagine this is a mistake, and it is marked as a "retail payment" on my online transactions.

My question is will I get away with holding onto this or is the bank more likely to come knocking for it? I haven't spent any of it as I want to be prudent but at the same time given how much we are ripped off I'm not necessarily averse to holding onto it!

I think there is an obligation on you to notify the bank - just as you would notify them if an error was made which was adverse to you

This happened to me last year except the amount was €1,500 I made numerous calls to the bank to tell them it wasn't my money but they wouldn't take it back, they kept asking ridiculous things like would a family member have lodged it for you as a gift.

After about a month I figured I might as well spend it and pay them back if and when they finally realised they made a mistake. About 2 months later they debited my card by €1,500.

shaking said:

This happened to me last year except the amount was €1,500 I made numerous calls to the bank to tell them it wasn't my money but they wouldn't take it back, they kept asking ridiculous things like would a family member have lodged it for you as a gift.

After about a month I figured I might as well spend it and pay them back if and when they finally realised they made a mistake. About 2 months later they debited my card by €1,500.

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What I dont understand is that given it's a retail payment how would someone have managed to lodge to my card without a payment slip?

Note that there is plenty of legal precedent to show that a bank cannot legally debit your account to recover the money, unless you give consent. In practice, as in the case of Shaking above, they are likely to do so, regardless of the legal situation.

Gulliver said:

Note that there is plenty of legal precedent to show that a bank cannot legally debit your account to recover the money, unless you give consent. In practice, as in the case of Shaking above, they are likely to do so, regardless of the legal situation.

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Out of interest what would happen if they "reclaimed" a sum like you're saying and it pushed me overlimit? I was more or less at my limit. I wouldn't let a situation like that happen, but I'm interested in a legal basis as to whether they could charge overlimit fees in a situation like this!

I know I'm not one to take the moral highground however!

I'm not a lawyer, but a former banker. Legal position is that the bank has a right to recover funds credited in error - (unless the recipient could prove that he was unaware of the error and spent the funds on the assumption that he was entitled to do so), but should not debit your account without your consent. If you refused consent or some other form of payment, then they could bring a case against you.

If they debited your account without consent, and the consequence was a cost to you which you would not otherwise have incurred, then you have a claim against them.

bigbadostric said:

What I dont understand is that given it's a retail payment how would someone have managed to lodge to my card without a payment slip?

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I know that Bank of Ireland have blank dockets for making payments to a credit card - other banks might well have them too. Maybe someone entered the wrong number on the docket - and, by an amazing coincidence, it turned out to be your credit card number.