Yesterday I received an unexpected £500 credit, paid via BACS to my account, from a Nationwide sort code. I could see it in my feed the day before, but assumed it was a glitch or a bug of some sort.
I am nervous/cautious as I am certain this isn’t mine and will probably be recalled. I have done no additional work to my main job, which pays regularly every 4 weeks, and I don’t have any ancient savings accounts tied to my Monzo account.
I’ve spoken to in-app support, but they haven’t yet sourced where it came from. Thought I’d ask the community if anybody knows if there is a time-limit in which this can be recalled, or if it’s indefinite. Have shoved it in a pot for now so that I don’t spend it, but if it is going to go, I’d rather it goes soon, and if it’s due to stay I want to know when I can spend it!
Haha yeah in all seriousness I can see why it would make you feel like that but well done for being honest about it and reporting it. Hopefully it finds its way back to its rightful owner who is probably shitting themselves right now
If you do get to keep it then the beers are definitely on you!
The weird thing is that it was BACS - I imagine faster payments often end up with the wrong recipient, due to mistyping, but it seems weird with a BACS. The only payments I receive that way are my salary
I think by contacting both banks (Monzo and Nationwide) you’ve demonstrated that you’ve made reasonable efforts to let them know you don’t believe the money is yours. If they both come back with a shrug , you can decide how to proceed.
Rather annoyingly, all the advice out there says to contact banks etc etc. But there’s no advice on… just if it’s never resolved. You can’t be expected to indefinitely keep that amount on hand just in case. There should really be a period for someone to claim it before it becomes yours.
I suppose the recipient, having had negative responses from both Monzo and Nationwide, could decide for themselves what they want to do with the funds, always bearing in mind that at any point in the future they could be contacted by Monzo saying the bank error has been traced and they need to repay £500.
The examples in the article posted talked of three years, which gives a rough estimate of how long banks take to work these errors through their systems.
I’d definitely sit on the money for a while to be sure If somebody / some company is looking for their £500 I’m sure it won’t take more than a month or two But until that ‘clearing time’ comes, I’d hold onto it
Bit embarrassing, but it turns out its cash back from Nationwide for a mortgage I recently took out with them - which I was not expecting, bit of a suprise
Personally, if the amount of money was playing havoc with my budget in Monzo, and I decided to move the funds out of the account, I’d message customer services giving my intentions and saying I’ll pay it back upon demand. This could be called on as a demonstration of honest intent and would show there was no intention to permanently deprive the rightful owner of the cash.
Legal pedants: Interestingly, I don’t think the offence is Dishonestly Retaining a Wrongful Credit (as in the article) because in that sense, a ‘wrongful credit’ means a credit that has derived from theft, blackmail, fraud or stolen goods. It doesn’t seem to mean ‘incorrectly credited’. I’d suggest the correct offence would simply be theft, contrary to Sections 1&7 of the Theft Act 1968.
You could easily be taken under the general Theft Act or S3 of the Fraud Act if you did nothing, but both really require you to do nothing. If you try to return the money to the rightful owner then the law generally doesn’t see this as dishonest, providing you took reasonable steps.
It’s actually entirely the same if you find 1p on the floor. Legally you are expected to take reasonable steps to locate the owner. Reasonably, small sums on the floor can be reasonably resolved by a quick look around and possibly asking nearby people. Extreme large amounts would probably require a little more notification or handing in to the police.
You’re right in that ‘Wrongful credit’ is defined in that way, but theft generally has no strict definition of dishonest. So I would, given that a quick online search shows weeks can go by before things get resolved, endeavour to keep the money for that amount of time. Just in case.
could see, hopefully a surname or something so they can trace its intended destination.
, you can decide how to proceed.
If somebody / some company is looking for their £500 I’m sure it won’t take more than a month or two 
