“I Mistakenly Sent N200K to a Wrong Bank Account, How Do I Get My Money Back?” Expert Explains
- A Nigerian man mistakenly transferred N200,000 to the wrong bank account due to a typing error and wants his money back
- He said he found out after the intended recipient complained that he had yet to see the transferred funds in his bank account
- Kalu Uche, an operational manager in one of Nigeria's commercial banks, explained to Legit.ng in an exclusive chat the process of retrieving wrongly sent funds
Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of business journalism experience with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.
Kunle writes:
"I mistakenly transferred N200,000 to the wrong bank account. I only realized the error immediately after the transaction was completed, and the intended recipient called to ask for the money again. I don't know what to do. Any guidance on how to get back my money would be greatly appreciated."
Source: Getty Images
Getting your money back after erroneous transfer
Kalu Uche is an operations manager in one of Nigeria's commercial banks. He has over 15 years of banking experience, rising from being a customer representative to a senior bank staffer.
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Customer-induced error process for refund
If a customer pays money to the wrong bank account, getting a refund is not straightforward. There are processes.
The first action a bank's customer representative is to establish if the mistake was intentional by the customer.
The first question is how did the customer make the error?
If the customer mistakenly pays to the wrong account—for example, an account number is 60 and the customer mistakenly inputs 06, resulting in the funds being transferred to another account—the process is as follows:
The customer will have to visit his or her bank.
For instance, if an Ecobank customer mistakenly transfers funds to the wrong GTBank account, the customer will visit their bank and write a letter stating that they mistakenly transferred money to the wrong bank account.
A customer representative will then send a mail to either the fraud unit, internal control, or e-banking. These are the departments involved in the recall of funds.
The appropriate department will then send a mail to GTBank requesting the recall of the funds due to the customer's mistake.
GTBank will then check the account to see if the disputed funds are in the account. If confirmed, a lien will be placed on the account, holding the money in that account.
GTBank will then go ahead and invite its customers to the bank to write a consent letter approving the refund of the money to the sender.
Inviting the customer to ensure that the sender is not lying after completing a business deal.
If the receiving customer gives consent for the funds to be refunded, the next step is for the bank to log in and acknowledge the approval, and then the money will be returned.
However, if the recipient refuses to write the consent letter, the bank will not return the money. The only option left is to obtain a court order to compel the customer to return the money.
The court process takes a longer time, typically 2-3 months, and it is also expensive.
However, if the customer is able to secure a court order and the money is in the account without consent, the money will be removed and returned to the sender.
Bank Error
Another scenario is when a bank staff processes a correctly written account number but makes a mistake, resulting in the funds going to another bank.
The bank will immediately write to the recipient indicating a bank error and requesting the return of the funds. In this scenario, the money is returned immediately without the consent of the account holder within 72 hours.
Disclaimer: Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers' decisions about solving problems. Readers should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any decision.
Do you have a story to tell? Want an expert's advice? Please email us at ask.an.expert@corp.legit.ng with 'Ask an expert' in the subject line.
Banks expose tricks used by fraudsters
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Nigerian banks have once again sent messages to customers to be vigilant regarding various methods used by fraudsters.
The latest message is from First Bank of Nigeria, the oldest financial institution in the country.
The combined customer deposits of Nigeria's biggest banks stand at over N15 trillion.
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Source: Legit.ng
