Any financial lawyers in the house?

Associated with the transaction should be the details of the party making the payment. That should gíve her a clue. She wasn't due any life assurance company / building society demutualisatiuon windfalls was she? I think "anonymous" group may have made same in recent past.

Legally, it's grey. Can't remember all the details but iirc court position is that if the account has been challenged and confirmation made, in writing if poss, that details not in error then the money is hers. Insurance or financial reserve will cover banks loss. If not challenged the bank may have recourse. Not my area of specialty but have seen similar and know where banks have had to swallow the loss.

Huw

I think she should ask the bank to make very careful enquiries as to where this money is coming from. Clearly she was not expecing the first transaction and certainly not the second. It could be a simple mistake; it could be more sinister.

Either way, if she spends money that she knows she is not entitled to then that might well be theft. It does not matter that the money is there by mistake.

quote:

Originally posted by Nigel Cavendish:
Either way, if she spends money that she knows she is not entitled to then that might well be theft. It does not matter that the money is there by mistake.

I'm sure I've seen coverage of similar cases recently where it was regarded as theft and a successful prosecution was made.

It might be amusing to transfer the money to an investment account at the same bank. Then leave it well alone until they get their act in gear! As in: "Whose interest is it really?"

If the receipt of monies is a mistake, the original owner, who still has the equitable interest will seek restitution from your friend. If your friend has dealt with the monies as if they are her property, she could additionally face criminal proceedings for theft.

There are many precedents!It is quite clear. The money is not hers. It never will be hers. Using the money would be theft.

Bob

Thanks folks

On a similar vein just had my last two mortgage payments go astray. Only found out recently as I was in advance so they thought I'd just skipped some but gave me a courtesy call to check.

Checked with bank and they went with the same sort code, account and ref they have for the last 10 years and bank says they got there.

Building society are saying I should have used a different sort code and account number! (But the old ones were what I was told to use 18 months ago).

Investigation just started at both bank and building society to find out where it is.

Shame it's not £3000 as I'd have a starting place to look

different countries - different rules

There have been similar cases in Germany, the legal practice here is that the one at fault is the bank. The account holder, who spends the money in good faith ("it could be mine...") has to repay only up to the amount which is still left in the account, as it is the fault of the bank they are not allowed to cover the damage they have caused (they mislaid 6k) with claims against the account holders other assets.

She should move quickly....

Regards
Guido

Things like this are always simple. The law is simple and common sense should prevail here. You say that your friend has told the bank she was not expecting any credits and they said it's definately yours, well get them to put that in writing and she'll be fully covered. Once she has it in writing, transfer the £6,000 out into another account, but do not spend it yet.

If it turns out to be a mistake, it's the bank's fault and they can cough up.

I'd suggest the "reasonable" context could be stretched here, to your friends advantage.

Let's say she uses the money, not knowing that that there was an issue, ("i.e that money washes in and out of the account and I am never any good at managing it")

If and when the mistake is brought to light and the institution requests the money back, Your friend can sugget that she has no problem about repaying the amount but the overall error is someone elses problem hence she should suggest reasonable terms for the repayment (i.e installments over n years, at zero or base rates of interest.

The likelihood is that the bank will have to repay the injured party (the person who initially deposited the money) in full and immediately. It is then a matter for the bank as to what terms it agrees with the party in whose account it ended up in (and these terms need to be reasonable, bearing in mind who made the mistake)

Regards P

Without getting too technical here, if your friend gets confirmation from the bank (in writing, to dispose of evidence problems) that the money is hers to spend and she then spends it based on that representation from the bank, the bank will, in all likelihood, be "estopped" from claiming later that the money wasn't hers to spend.

Please note that everything will depend on the actual facts of the case. Specifically, this does NOT constitute formal legal advice and I accept NO liability for any loss suffered as a result from reliance by anyone upon it.

Graham