bank payment error

[johnsmith44]

A payment of �2000 has been paid in error to my HSBC business account. HSBC have written to me saying the sender has asked for the payment back and i need to authorise it for them to do it. Do I have to do so or can i say no and keep the money?

[Bob906]

Who paid it in, in error. HSBC or the sender.
You could hold on to it but that amounts to stealing, the bank should advise you.

[Lakitu]

Do you REALLY want to keep �2000 that is not yours in the first place?

Everyone makes mistakes.

[johnsmith44]

Not HSBC, it appears its from another bank, reference says EBA BK A/C. Not sure if this is different?

[johnsmith44]

If its from another bank then YES! I did the same thing to Natwest 2 yrs ago for �600 and never got my money back.

[CheekyChops]

You know it is not your money and therefore you are commiting fraud by keeping it. You can be taken to court and made to repay the funds.

[EverClean]

There's an offence called "theft by finding" and the bank can report this to the Police to try to recover this potential loss.

[squarebear]

Yes, you do have to pay it back, as it is not your money.

Quite a lot of people ask this here, which seems strange to me, as common sense would surely tell you that you have to pay it back.

[johnsmith44]

In my experience banking and common sense are worlds apart but thanks for your answer.

[johnsmith44]

i have an apartment in rio! think for �2k ill give it a miss though

[factor-fiction]

I suggest there's a simple way of deciding how to deal with these circumstances. Imagine 'the boot was on the other foot'.
If your mother tried to do an electronic transfer of �2000 to you and accidentally entered the wrong account number would you want the recipient to return the money so she can redirect it to you? I think the answer would be YES.

[Golf38]

There is a specific criminal offence to cover these circumstances called 'retaining a wrongful credit'.

[luckyman]

keep it!!!!! they take enough money off us dont they...ie hidden charges and admin fees etc..

[Uzoma]

I believe that they could transfer the money out of your account if they want to, even if it made you overdrawn by �2,000. If you had already spent some or all of the money however, then they would probably make an arrangement with you to pay it back. The short answer is if they want it back from you, they can & will get it back.

[anjlegs]

Make them wait i transferred some money into a HSBC account by mistake over 3 months ago , it turned out the account it went into had been closed through bad debt,( not my debt ) I have only just recieved the money back even though they admitted they had the money.

[factor-fiction]

"Make them wait" , anjlegs? It won't be the bank that suffers, it will be the other customer who, just like yourself , made a mistake and was then made to wait for their money. Johnsmith44 should pay it back quickly and then hope someone would do the same for him if the boot were ever on the other foot