Further To My Post

[fruitsalad]

Money paid into wrong account after OH transferred online to an old closed account of mine, hes just had a letter from his bank stating...'We got in touch with Natwest within 2 working days of you telling us about this to ask for the return of this money, but we can't guarantee that the recipient will agree to return it"
Is this not theft then?

[Peter Pedant]

No

you have done this presumably
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/send-money-wrong-account

[Peter Pedant]

the difference is that - - -
finding a phone - you know it is not yours

finding an extra thruppence ha'penny in your penny safe purse you MAY think it is yours and spend it on penny-chews and no that is not theft

s/o of my acquaintance got two pension lump sums
hey lucky fellow
and we agreed he had to give one back...
the difference being tens of thousands of pounds .....

[Bazile]

If the money has been paid into ''to an old closed account of mine'' - Who is the recipient then - isn't it you ?

Doesn't make sense

[Baldric]

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1602848.html

[Peter Pedant]

// Doesn't make sense//
sure it does
if the numbers were nonsense then it would have gone BOING! and come back

but if the numbers were someone's ( recycled ) account then .....it goes in and the acct sort of burps ....

[ I was on the other end - and the payment to my closed account bounced back to sender who then sat on it and said so what I tried once ....]

[Cloverjo]

The banks reuse old account numbers. It's possible that someone has got fruitsalad's money. I've read about this in the financial pages of newspapers. It's very difficult to get it back if the recipient doesn't give it back.

[Bazile]

From the other thread -
//Yes we both spoke to our bank they are the same branch OH paid it into an old Nat West account of mine, that is now closed/

So who is the recipient in ?-
//...but we can't guarantee that the recipient will agree to return it" //

[Bazile]

ok - i see - i didn't realise that the account numbers of closed accounts are reused

[Cloverjo]

Bazile, the person who now has an account with fruitsalad's old number.

[fruitsalad]

As I understand it then, if someone, in error pays some money into my live bank account and I don't know them from Adam, I can refuse to give it back, and have a good old spend up with it.

[Neveracrossword]

Fruitsalad, I think all the banks have signed up to the (voluntary) 'Misdirected Payments' code. They try to get you your money back and if they fail, they are supposed to give you advice to get it back by other means.

[fruitsalad]

'Other means' like sending in the heavies