Bank Error in your favor, collect $300

[Maine-ah]

Poll question: Bank Error in your favor, collect $300

Be honest here. The only way people know which way you voted, is if you tell us.

BTW, the way that they fucked up, it's going to be virtually impossible for them to figure it out.

[Maine-ah]

1. shameless kick.

[reyd reid reed]

2. Okay...I voted "Tell them as soon as you figure it out"

Even though you've only got 30 days to report an error in their favor, they've got considerably longer than that. I've heard of banks coming back years later. Plus, if you at least try and make the correction, there's the chance it won't work (I've seen that happen, too) and then you can document your attempts to return the money.

Plus, honestly? I'd feel guilty. I'm the type to return the money if someone gives me too much change.

[Maine-ah]

4. I was wondering about that.

[bridgit]

3. other, please specify = spend it very slowly at first...

:)

[Katina]

5. I would tell them

as soon as I realized. It's not worth keeping someone else's money...and it's the teller who made the mistake who gets in trouble. Tellers don't make enough to leave them hanging like that.

[MrCoffee]

7. if there's no way to trace it, it's probably not the teller who screwed up

i was a bank teller. unless you've gone completely off the rails, everything you do is backed up and recorded and noted. and it's a good thing, too. otherwise, i'd have been fired dozens of times.

[Katina]

8. still

it's not my money. I couldn't keep it.

[MrCoffee]

9. you're a better person than i

[Katina]

13. no, not really

it's just that it would really bother me. Even if it couldn't be traced to me, the teller's drawer would be short $300. Again, the teller would have the error on his/her record...and could even get fired. I wouldn't want to be responsible for that.

[Maine-ah]

10. it was the teller that screwed it up.

I don't know if I can quite explain the screw up, but I'll try.

1. deposit slip (mine) said to deposit $900 cash from paychecks. (I was taking $57 back)
2. their slip said they deposited $600 and gave back to me $357
3. I hadn't even looked at the amount they deposited, but reminded the teller that the money needed to go in as cash, not as checks so as the money would be available to me immediatley. I also said I didn't need a slip.
4. I was only supposed to get $57 in cash back, when I got home, I had $357 in cash and my original slip said they only deposited $600.
5. I checked my balance on their site, and it said I deposited $900, but I still had an extra $300 in cash.

hence, a $300 dollar error in my favor.

BTW, it's not been spent yet. I have made note, but it's been a week and they haven't fixed it yet.

I just noticed this yesterday when I checked my balance.

[MrCoffee]

11. they will.

that will get caught in the audit when the bank that the check is drawn on returns it to your bank.

it'll get caught, trust me. they'll deduct the $300 from your account. do not spend it.

[Maine-ah]

12. it's all drawn on the same bank.

[MrCoffee]

14. hmmm....be vewy vewy qwiet...maybe they won't notice.

[LibDemAlways]

15. I would go back and try to explain it to them. I had

a screw up one time with a department store over a dining set I bought. I charged table, 4 chairs, and a cabinet to the tune of $1200. A week later the store called to tell me they had three chairs only, and did I want them delivered now. OK. When they delivered the chairs, they adjusted my credit card to show that I had only received the chairs - $300. At the same time they credited me back $900.00 for the remainder of the furniture. Then, a week later when the rest of the furniture showed up, they billed me $900.00 but the credit they had issued the week before reversed it and my balance ended up $0.00.

I took the bill down to the store and tried to explain that I owed them $900.00 and to go ahead and put the $900.00 back on the card. The supervisor I spoke with assured me it would "straighten itself out" and not to "worry about it." I made a good faith effort to get them to correct their error. That's all you can do.

[Blue Diadem]

17. Wow..I wonder how she balanced out?

That's a lot of money to be short..so she could very well lose her job if it's not found. Maybe it depends on the bank though.

My daughter worked in a bank for years and years..behind the scenes. She'd was the one spotting problems and correcting them.

[Maine-ah]

18. that's my other thought.

But, I go there everyday. She's still there.

[Blue Diadem]

19. bank size?

My daughter worked at a small bank for a portion of those years and they usually had to stay the day they were short to find anything of that size.
When she went to the large bank, it would take longer.

I'd let her know anyway. It happened to my husband not too long ago..just an additional $20 stuck in his envelope but he called and told them and it was corrected immediately.

[Maine-ah]

21. pretty good sized.

in state only.

[MrCoffee]

6. This heres a story about billy joe and bobbie sue..

[johnnie]

16. If banks were as honest as the people here...

I would say to tell them right away and give the money back. For anyone who has ever dealt with a bank screw-up and how slow they are to make things right, then you know that feeling guilty for taking the money is a little easier.

Chances are I would tell them though.

[Gormy Cuss]

20. Wait until they figure it out.

Don't spend the money, but don't try to tell a bank that they made an error. They will figure it out eventually. I used to be helpful and point out such errors, but for the level of effort required to prove to them that they screwed up I wouldn't bother for a few hundred bucks.

On edit: since you know it was a teller error, I'd give it one attempt to correct it with the teller before waiting for the bank to figure it out.

[petronius]

32. That's my concern...

I vote for 'tell them immediately', but I'm almost certain that it will take a huge effort to get it across to them, and they'll probably just duplicate the error in the opposite direction in the attempt to fix it. This is a case where doing the right thing is almost certain to backfire...

[FILAM23]

22. Years ago

I cashed a check (can not remember amount) but what happened was
I got back the full amount of the check plus a $200 deposit. Left
bank, ran a couple of errands, dropped of items and cash at home, went back to work.
Later that afternoon bank called saying they had made a mistake and demanded
the money back before close of business, I explained that the money was at home
and I could not verify until next day, didn't matter to them today or they
take it from my account..Next day at lunch went in talked to manager who confided
that there was no way they could prove that I had been given the extra money ( it could
have been anyone of 12 people), however the teller had already frozen my account.
Bottom line teller got fired, I closed and moved all my accounts (used nothing but
credit unions since), and due to my honesty the bank got the $200 back.

The point is if they are nice about it I'll give it back

[Maine-ah]

23. hah, no chit?!

very interesting.....

[Joe Chi Minh]

24. I went for a loan at the bank yesterday, but they turned me down.

They won't accept the voices in my head as references.

[hickman]

25. That's outrageous! Who would know you better?

Call the Better Business Bureau if it still exists.

[Joe Chi Minh]

28. They told me to try the BEST Business Bureau ("Always go to the

top", they said), but I got the impression they were fobbing me off.

[hickman]

30. Well at least your's speak english.

The voices in my head don't. I have no idea what they want, and they're getting upset. }(

[Joe Chi Minh]

34. That is a difficult one!

[eyesroll]

26. Under the model penal code...

You're only allowed to keep property given to you in error after you've reasonably tried to restore it to its rightful owner. Otherwise, it's theft. ($300 is misdemeanor theft, I believe, under MPC.)

So it depends on whether your state has adopted the relevant portions of the MPC, has its own statutes, or leaves it to common law (in which case there's no theft).

/learned that last week

[high density]

27. I worked at a bank

Typically a $300 screwup in your favor means that somebody else is short $300, whether it be a teller or another bank customer.

(Further reading suggests the poor teller is short $300. I'd bring it back to the bank and make that teller's day, but that's only because I've been on the receiving end of frantic "have you found $XXX ???" calls from tellers in my former job.)

[MsKandice01]

29. Something similar happened to me once...

I went into the bank to cash a check for $500.00 and had no desire to deposit it. The teller cashed my check and then proceeded to deposit it into my account. I realized when she gave me the receipt that she had deposited my check and immediately informed her of her error. She thanked me profusely and told her I saved her job. It gave me a good feeling...a feeling that extra $500.00 would have never provided.

[Kutjara]

31. Other: it depends on the amount.

$300 - tell the bank.
$3,000,000 - Gone In 60 Seconds. Brazil, here I come!

[pitohui]

33. i told them but it was more than that, many thousands

they would not have figured it out, indeed, they had arrested an embezzler at the time and while he admitted to stealing some, they accused him of stealing all -- the chance you take when you embezzle when there is a screw up in bank records, i guess


i have to admit that i regret reporting it, the money would have made a real difference to me and i doubt it made any difference to the bank or to the embezzler since he was still charged with stealing well into five figures

[Fox Mulder]

35. Keep it and run.

That's what I'd do.

[buddhamama]

36. i'd tell the bank

bad karma is the pits.

[CBGLuthier]

37. I will tell you about two bank errors

This was all over twenty years ago.


One time, I went through the drive thru and realized the teller had made an error in my favor. I went back through the line to return the money. She acted like I was wasting her time and did not even say thank you.

A little later, an error in my favor again.


And yeah, damnit, I kept it.

I would not do that again as I know it comes out of the teller's pay and could cost them their job.


But I was young and angrier then.

[Radical Activist]

38. Most large banks are criminal organizations that rob people daily.

I would have no problem taking a little money back from a bank that spends so much time taking it away.

[SKKY]

39. I think you're got to tell them straight up...

...If a buddy of yours left 300 dollars at your house one night, you wouldn't wait for him to figure out where he left it, right? This isn't like finding
money in the street. There's a name to who this money belongs to. I think you've got to tell them. You probably won't get any reward or satisfaction, but
your karma will feel a lot better. I would understand if you didn't however. 300 dollars is a lot of money. Some may not have the choice.

[jmm]

40. My sophomore year in college

I was overcharged for the fall semester so before I went home for Christmas break I was given two checks for $210. I belong to a credit union which is great except for the fact that it doesn't have any locations. Since I couldn't get to my own bank for a few days and I knew I'd need money before then I went to cash them at Fleet because that was my school's bank. I had cashed numerous checks there before and I was always told that I could with a couple of ID's but this time the woman behind the counter tried to argue that I couldn't without opening an account there. My mother who had given me a ride had to grab the sign with the policy and move it right in front of the teller's window. She then refused to talk, put my money on the counter and called for the next person. Normally I count my money right there but because I was upset I walked out. A few miles down the road while organizing my wallet I realize she had not given me the $420 she was suppose to but $840 instead. Before and after that incident I've had errors made in my favor and have always given it back but after the way she acted I wasn't about to go out of my way, change plans, and imposition others to help her out.