Money transferred into my account by mistake

[grassisntgreener]

Hi guys,

I've got a bit of a weird one.

I have 3 current accounts, 1 for my bills, 1 for my day to day spending and an account that I don't use, but has a few pounds in which I keep the card in my car in case I lose my wallet and then I can transfer money via internet banking etc so I am never left without access to money for parking/tolls etc for work.

My company have since given us company credit cards - so the need for this has declined and I haven't used the third account for sometime. I have since transferred banks to another provider but the third account has been sat there for some time not being used. I decided to use this account again as a savings account for christmas next year, putting some cash away so its there ready to be used however when I signed in the account is some £1250 in credit.

I've checked my statement and it appears that this money was transferred to me by a university in September via a giro credit. I've contacted the bank, who's attitude was - nothing to do with us, we haven't had a request for it back so sit tight and see if you get one. I've contacted the university to try and trace it but because my details don't match there's nothing they can do. They state that they would expect someone to query if that amount had gone missing but nobody has mentioned that they haven't received that amount. I've given them my contact number, but they don't hold out hope in tracing the payment back.

I'm not happy to transfer the money back to them or anyone for that matter (not that they have asked for it) and want it to be requested formally as a charge back through the bank as I feel that if I did transfer it to somebody I could end up being charged it back again and I'd end up out of pocket. I've spoken to my new bank who confirmed that I have to leave the money where it was transferred to, and if I transfer it into another account (i.e. a savings account so I could use the account again) it would be considered theft and that would not look good on my security clearance for work. I have no evidence of the above conversations happening so couldnt defend that I had tried to do everything if challenged.

Any ideas where I stand if nobody is interested in claiming it?

[grumbledoak]

Just ignore it. In my experience someone will miss it eventually, and when they start enquiries at their end it will vanish as incomprehensibly as it arrived.

[cloud_dog]

OP....ensure the bank have it on record that you do not recognise the payment in to your account. It's important they record your advisory, just in case of any anti-money laundering activities.

I'm unsure how long the money has been there but leave it there for at least a few weeks. After that I suggest you keep the money safe in case it needs to be returned but, there is nothing stopping you from earning interest on this money

[anonymous-user]

grassisntgreener said:

this money was transferred to me by a university in September via a giro credit. I've contacted the university to try and trace it but because my details don't match there's nothing they can do.

That can't be correct. If they sent money to your account they can obviously just look at their bank statement and internal records to see why that payment was sent to that account on that date. Even an incorrect payment will have left a full audit trail.

I would write to the finance office of the university setting out the amount and date of the payment together with your sort code and account number.

[mikeiow]

rockin said:

grassisntgreener said:

this money was transferred to me by a university in September via a giro credit. I've contacted the university to try and trace it but because my details don't match there's nothing they can do.

That can't be correct. If they sent money to your account they can obviously just look at their bank statement and internal records to see why that payment was sent to that account on that date. Even an incorrect payment will have left a full audit trail.

I would write to the finance office of the university setting out the amount and date of the payment together with your sort code and account number.

I would agree that this *ought* to be simple for the University to figure out, really.

Mind you...

You could easily sit tight and await a request.

About 15 years ago, I had an "identity theft" nightmare.....was selling an item on ebay....and like a fool I had the same password on my hotmail & paypal account: pretty sure the hotmail one was hacked.

Well, in the space of one afternoon, "I" managed to buy and sell a number of items: around a dozen!

I had an address in Vienna that items "I" had bought were to be shipped. Police were not interested.
I spent a fraught evening contacting sellers & buyers, to stop things shipping etc. Things were happening as I typed, to the point where I wondered whether my keystrokes were bring 'watched' (no, as it happens, it just felt like it!)

Ebay was 'kin useless - no way to actually speak with a human, and all I could do was put a stop on the card - the company weren't interested any more until 30 days had passed!

Anyway.....the end result was that my account ended up with over £400 left in it - & no way to get any response from others involved that dark day!

I left it about 9 months, then just "took it" as payment for the stress I underwent that evening!