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Sent money to the wrong account for nearly a year

  • 24-06-2016 11:27am
    #1
    colly10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,008 ✭✭✭


    I've just found out i've been sending money to the wrong account number for nearly a year, over 1K's gone into the wrong account.
    Can a person legally refuse to return the money?


Comments

  • #2
    Spocker
    Moderators Posts: 6,864 ✭✭✭Spocker


    How did you send the funds? If it was a standing order, then I would suspect the answer to your question might be yes, unfortunately

    [edit] Was it to a business or personal account?


  • #3
    colly10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,008 ✭✭✭colly10


    Spocker wrote: »
    How did you send the funds? If it was a standing order, then I would suspect the answer to your question might be yes, unfortunately

    [edit] Was it to a business or personal account?

    I sent them through online banking, wrong account number against a contact.
    I meant to send to a personal account, I don't know who owns the account it actually ended up in or how I got the number at the time


  • #4
    hearmehearye
    Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭hearmehearye


    Contact your bank ASAP.


  • #5
    colly10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,008 ✭✭✭colly10


    hearmehearye wrote: »
    Contact your bank ASAP.

    I spoke to them, they said to write them a letter but it's luck of the draw whether I can get it back


  • #6
    hearmehearye
    Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭hearmehearye


    colly10 wrote:
    I spoke to them, they said to write them a letter but it's luck of the draw whether I can get it back


    That answers your question then no?


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  • #7
    Kovu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,241 ✭✭✭✭Kovu


    I did something similar for 4 months last year, had a term loan account but when I was setting it up for online payments, I accidentally named it as a mortgage from the drop down list. Didn't think that it would matter though as it was the correct account number I was paying into.
    Long story short the account actually did match up to some guys mortgage account and I had been blissfully unaware that I was paying off his mortgage. :pac:
    It took a few weeks but I did get it all back.


  • #8
    Nody
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,327 CMod ✭✭✭✭Nody


    colly10 wrote: »
    I've just found out i've been sending money to the wrong account number for nearly a year, over 1K's gone into the wrong account.
    Can a person legally refuse to return the money?
    Yes. The transfers were not done illegally and it is your fault so they can refuse to send any money back and be perfectly protected in doing so.


  • #9
    JTMan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,541 ✭✭✭JTMan


    Nody wrote: »
    Yes. The transfers were not done illegally and it is your fault so they can refuse to send any money back and be perfectly protected in doing so.

    No. Not true. The person is who received the transfers is in possession of someone elses assets that they do not own. They have both a legal and moral obligation to return the assets that they don't own to the right asset owner. You can sue them if they don't.


  • #10
    BazzaDP
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 69 ✭✭BazzaDP


    This comes up every so often and consences seems to be:

    Legally it's dubious. While you'd think they'd received it in error and should just give it back, you need to realise they may not have noticed this. So if they are a completely innocent party it's a bit unfair to demand €1,000 back in one go for your mistake.

    One things for certain - the bank cannot just go into the other persons account and take the money back. That would be unfair to the recipient for above reasons, mean that the bank is taking a view here that you did make a mistake and are not just demanding money back for some other reason and, even if those were not the case, would be against the terms and conditions of the account.

    What gets even more interesting is that the bank is usually not allowed to tell you who owns the account without their permission or a court order. So while you could sue the other person you might struggle to find out who to sue!

    Best you can do is ask bank to ask other party for it back and hope they give it back. Assuming you made the mistake and not someone at the bank.


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