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Spend it, bank told me after £47,000 error
The Daily Telegraph ^ | January 28, 2003 | Stewart Payne

Posted on 01/27/2003 5:52:27 PM PST by MadIvan

A woman who repeatedly told her bank it had wrongly credited her with £47,000 was threatened with imprisonment when she took its advice and spent the money.

Linda Parish said yesterday that although she was relieved that the charges against her had been dropped, the bank was now demanding she pay £25,000 costs and interest for its own mistake.

A judge ordered the criminal case to be thrown out after the prosecution said it was no longer proceeding with a charge of theft. Nigel Daly, her barrister, told Judge Stanley Spence at Reading Crown Court: "My recollection of the Monopoly game is, 'Bank error in your favour. Collect £100', not 'Bank error in your favour. Go to jail'."

The judge had instructed a senior representative of Lloyds TSB to appear to explain the error. Instead, Heather Norton, prosecuting, asked for the case to be abandoned.

Mrs Parish's problems started 18 months ago when she sold her family home to move to a smaller property. She made £47,000 profit and put the money in her current account before moving it to her savings account.

Although the money was transferred, her current account continued to show the £47,000 and she pointed out the error several times at her local branch.

Finally, after the bank carried out an investigation and still refused to accept any error, she said she was told: "Look, it's your money, my dear. Spend it."

She did, using the money to pay off the mortgage on another property she owned. Two months later, the bank told her the money was not hers and insisted she repay it.

Last week, Mrs Parish, 50, from Lower Earley, Berks, who has now repaid the money, was formally acquitted of theft. She said: "The bank has made me out to be a criminal. I visited my branch five times to point out the error."

Mrs Parish, who owns a chauffeur business, said that when the bank finally acknowledged its mistake she set about re-mortgaging the property to recover the money. "Before I could do so I was arrested for theft.

"It was horrible. I had no intention of defrauding anyone. The judge looked disgusted by what was happening and shook his head in disbelief."

A spokesman for Lloyds TSB refused to comment on the case because negotiations were still underway to resolve the civil claim.

Mrs Parish said she had now moved to another bank.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bank; error; fraud; spent
I'm glad I don't bank with them.

Regards, Ivan


1 posted on 01/27/2003 5:52:27 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: carl in alaska; Cautor; GOP_Lady; prairiebreeze; veronica; SunnyUsa; Delmarksman; Sparta; ...
Bump!
2 posted on 01/27/2003 5:52:47 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
Typical bully boy tactics by the banks.

The only time a bank manager wants to talk to people these days is when someone owes them money out the oxters. It's only a joke being half way decent with them.

If I was her..the bank would whistle dixie out their wazoo before I'd give them their court costs.
3 posted on 01/27/2003 5:59:44 PM PST by Happygal
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To: MadIvan
What kind of idiot spends money from a KNOWN error? This lady is a complete moron. She should have put the money safely away knowing the error would be caught sooner or later. While she should not have been charged with theft and merely made to repay the paper windfall, she has none of my sympathy for being so daft.
4 posted on 01/27/2003 6:23:00 PM PST by Freedom_Is_Not_Free
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free
I had a similar thing happen to me here in Arizona. I redeemed some some US savings bonds for around $2,000 and the bank credited my account $20,000. I pointed out the error and the bank teller said I was wrong. I let the money sit in my account and, sure enough, six weeks later the bank found their error and debited my account.

I think the real idiots are the bank employees that don't properly investigate problems when they're reported.
5 posted on 01/27/2003 6:32:01 PM PST by zonealarm
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To: MadIvan
Here's another interesting story about a guy who got $95,000 by depositing one of those "fake" checks he got in the mail. And then the fun began.

http://users.rcn.com/pcombs/$$tablecontents.html
6 posted on 01/27/2003 6:39:10 PM PST by chaosagent
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To: MadIvan
I have my own incompetence story about a mortgage lender. they wrongly sent us double bills, then ended up putting as delinquent on our mortgage (we werent, we paid on time) because their bookkeeping was bad ... This got put on my credit record. I found out when I was turned down for a cell phone (even teenagers get these things). we finally paid off the mortgage and had to send in a few times to get them to acknowledge it and send us our escrow money.

egads.


7 posted on 01/27/2003 6:40:29 PM PST by WOSG
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free
Exactly. If you suddenly find money in your bank account that you know isn't yours, for the love of God, don't spend it, no matter what they tell you...at least get it in writing and notarized, if you want to be a risk taker.

They ALWAYS come back for the money. The bank, the IRS...if they screw up in your favor, they will ALWAYS come back for it. Don't spend it. It's not worth the trouble.
8 posted on 01/27/2003 7:15:29 PM PST by wimpycat (Hands off my Moral Compass!)
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To: wimpycat
Don't spend it Kinda depends on the amount doesn't it? If it was enough, I would spend it and disappear. Ok I wouldn't spend it all. Only enough to disappear.
9 posted on 01/27/2003 7:19:21 PM PST by jeremiah (Sunshine scares all of them, for they all are cockaroaches)
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To: Howlin; Ed_NYC; MonroeDNA; widgysoft; Springman; Timesink; AntiGuv; dubyaismypresident; Grani; ...
"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

10 posted on 01/27/2003 7:20:37 PM PST by mhking (RED ALERT! Shields UP! Lock phasers on target; load quantum torpedoes!)
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To: jeremiah
Nope, I would never spend it, because for one thing, I could never "disappear" while my parents are still around...and they wouldn't "disappear" with me to any non-extraditing country, either.
11 posted on 01/27/2003 7:21:46 PM PST by wimpycat (Hands off my Moral Compass!)
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To: MadIvan
I took out a $20,000 cashiers check as a down payment on my house in 1978. The entered it as a $20,000 deposit. So I had my check and a balance of $40,000. Took em 3 weeks to ask for it back. I always wondered what would have happened if I had simply withdrawn it and disappeared.
12 posted on 01/27/2003 7:27:20 PM PST by calljack
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To: chaosagent
good story, spent 40 minutes reading it.

13 posted on 01/27/2003 7:31:56 PM PST by WOSG
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To: calljack
I took out a $20,000 cashiers check as a down payment on my house in 1978. The entered it as a $20,000 deposit. So I had my check and a balance of $40,000. Took em 3 weeks to ask for it back. I always wondered what would have happened if I had simply withdrawn it and disappeared.

You would have been busted around 1988, when computers caught up with the old paper records. :)

Seriously, if my credit union made such a bone-headed error, I would just move the money to my savings account (in the same credit union) and earn interest on it until they caught up with it, but I would not spend it.

14 posted on 01/27/2003 7:37:28 PM PST by LibKill (ColdWarrior. I stood the watch.)
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To: LibKill
A few weeks ago my mother in law, a recent widow, went to her credit union to deposit a $17,000 insurance check. The lady upset her so she demanded the check and deposited it in another bank. Several days later she checked her savings account and discovered they had deposited the $17,000 in her account anyway. She called to try to explain the error and the banker told her, in a very rude manner, that they were in a meeting and didn't have time to discuss any errors on her account. A few hours later the credit union president called to explain they had found an error and would be deducting the money from her account. She explained that she had tried to tell someone but they weren't interested. She then told him she wouldn't be depositing anymore money into that credit union and the president said, "That's fine with me" and hung up. So much for customer service.
15 posted on 01/27/2003 8:01:05 PM PST by Terry Mross
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To: Terry Mross
That sounds like Hell's credit union. I don't wonder that your mom doesn't want to do business with them. They won't last long with attitude problems like that. There is plenty of competition in the banking business.

Fortunately, where I keep my money the people are friendly, polite and efficient.

16 posted on 01/27/2003 8:11:07 PM PST by LibKill (ColdWarrior. I stood the watch.)
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To: MadIvan
Let's see....

Bank makes an error. Bank then denies error even after an extensive investigation. Customer is told to spend the money, it's her's. Customer follows advice from bank and spends the money (and not even frivilously at that...)

Two months later, bank wants to collect the amount in error PLUS INTEREST AND FEES....

Sounds like the bank decided they would make more profit if they let the woman keep the money and spend it, later to get it back with huge interest and fees, than to do their own investing.

Of course, this is why you get EVERYTHING in writing.
17 posted on 01/27/2003 8:24:55 PM PST by TheBattman
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To: Terry Mross
I never understood why small town bankers would be so rude. There is so much competition in the banking business.
18 posted on 01/28/2003 3:47:15 AM PST by jjm2111
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To: MadIvan
a clear case for the old adage: "Get it in WRITING... and get THAT notarized"
19 posted on 01/28/2003 8:30:22 AM PST by demosthenes the elder (Thanky Society of Jesus)
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