Accidentally sending people money from your online bank account

NeilF · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:16

With my bank, if you've sent money to anyone elses account, their account is listed on their online system whenever you are moving money around.

I've always wondered why this is the case, and why they are not buried under another option to prevent confusion. I'm always scared I'll miss with the mouse if in a hurry and send X thousand pounds of to someone I simply paid £10 to X years for something...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8251679.stm

xb8browney · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:18

I would be gutted

Delvis · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:23

Mine saves them, but you can remove them just as easy.

Who are you with?

Delvis · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:30

Just to add...I think the woman in the link is a dizzy person...I really cannot see how you can send that amount of money to someone without realising.

On my bank, I literally have to click the name of the receipant, then enter the amount, and check everything on the screen.

Dolph · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:52

This is why it's important to actually use the confirmation page that comes up, double check your entry, then confirm, not just slam your head against the mouse until it goes through while dribbling a bit.

Clairvoyant · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:56

I clear mine from time to time.

Pookie Bear · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:58

Everytime I send a substantial amount to someone, my bank not only has a confirmation screen where I have to re-enter my password, but they also make an automated call to my phone which describes my transaction and I have to enter a random pin number from the screen. You'd have to be a moron to **** it up.

Dark88 · 12 Sep 2009 at 09:01

'Claire Logie works for one of the big four banks'

Adz · 12 Sep 2009 at 09:15

I did this once, IIRC it was around £2000. I called the online banking support team (Natwest at the time) and, since it was an inter-bank transaction, they put a stop on it.

I felt bloody stupid at the time though

.

freebooter · 12 Sep 2009 at 09:47

Interesting that the recipient can't be forced to give the money back. There have been cases where banks have paid money into people's accounts by mistake (recent NZ case of $30million iirc) and the money has either been taken back or it has been treated as theft if the person keeps or spends it. In those cases it seemed that the recipient was assumed to realise that the money wasn't paid to them genuinely and hence they were in the wrong by spending it. Similarly people over paid by employers can be forced to pay the money back. In this case where the mistake is made by an ordinary member of the public the case is treated differently.

Delvis · 12 Sep 2009 at 10:02

freebooter said:
Interesting that the recipient can't be forced to give the money back. There have been cases where banks have paid money into people's accounts by mistake (recent NZ case of $30million iirc) and the money has either been taken back or it has been treated as theft if the person keeps or spends it. In those cases it seemed that the recipient was assumed to realise that the money wasn't paid to them genuinely and hence they were in the wrong by spending it. Similarly people over paid by employers can be forced to pay the money back. In this case where the mistake is made by an ordinary member of the public the case is treated differently.

When you put it that way, it is odd.

Destination · 12 Sep 2009 at 10:09

Delvis said:
When you put it that way, it is odd.

Not really, if the person is non-contactable, and not responding to letters, what can they do? As far as they know it might have been a legimate transaction and she's just hoping for her money back after the event, without the other person to actually state, I didn't mean to acquire this money they have no grounds to refund.

Bank mistakes are a different matter. They can't give her the name of the person, due to data protection, but odd she has no idea who the person is, considering she sent them money before, it would seem she send lots of money online, or is a complete idiot.

Glaucus · 12 Sep 2009 at 10:15

stupidity.

You can delete them and it's a useful function. Absolutely nothing wrong with it and it is not a simple click. There's a confirmation page as well. If you have a low iq then don't use online banking.

freebooter said:
Interesting that the recipient can't be forced to give the money back. There have been cases where banks have paid money into people's accounts by mistake (recent NZ case of $30million iirc) and the money has either been taken back or it has been treated as theft if the person keeps or spends it. In those cases it seemed that the recipient was assumed to realise that the money wasn't paid to them genuinely and hence they were in the wrong by spending it. Similarly people over paid by employers can be forced to pay the money back. In this case where the mistake is made by an ordinary member of the public the case is treated differently.

That is a totally different situation and are totally unrelated.
A bank transfer is non refundable and as such is good way to protect from fraud. Just don' be stupid when using online banking.

Johnny Girth · 12 Sep 2009 at 10:20

It does sound a bit weird. If you can identify the recipient then you would almost certainly have a good cause of action against them in restitution so presumably they just can't get hold of the recipient

Delvis · 12 Sep 2009 at 10:22

Hikari Kisugi said:
Bank mistakes are a different matter. They can't give her the name of the person, due to data protection, but odd she has no idea who the person is, considering she sent them money before, it would seem she send lots of money online, or is a complete idiot.

Regarding this part...You have an option to 'name' the transaction on most banks, not everyone does this probably.

I do, because it's common sense surely.

But still, naturally you cannot just take the money back...But if the bank was half decent, there are ways of contacting people legally other than sending emails.

theukmoog · 12 Sep 2009 at 10:42

I bank with First Direct and they also save 'destinations' until they've not been used for a year.

I actually phoned them up to ask them to delete 1 or 2 'one off' destinations, so I couldn't select them in the drop down by accident but, apparently, they couldn't delete them, only add more text, along the lines of "DO NOT USE".

Ac1dh0u$3. · 12 Sep 2009 at 11:45

Who cares if she hasn't got a clue what shes doing ?? What annoys me is that some ******'s made off with £2000

Glaucus · 12 Sep 2009 at 11:47

Ac1dh0u$3. said:
What annoys me is that some ******'s made off with £2000

and what do you want to happen?
Bank transfers are non refundable. It is no different to going into a bank and paying in cash over the counter. If you are to stupid to use a computer that is your fault.

Delvis · 12 Sep 2009 at 12:14

Ac1dh0u$3. said:
Who cares if she hasn't got a clue what shes doing ?? What annoys me is that some ******'s made off with £2000

Just for comparison...If you found some money sticking out of a cashpoint with no one around at all...would you take the money?

Scam · 12 Sep 2009 at 12:16

Dark88 said:
'Claire Logie works for one of the big four banks'

Proof that she's a dizzy moron imo!

It is also interesting that it's one rule for banks and another for us. Let's face it, if you get paid £2,000 or £1mil out of the blue, there's not much difference is there? It'd be quite clear that it's not yours regardless of the amount.