Financial Ombudsman: Money that was placed in the wrong account can be refunded

The financial ombudsman recommends that when making a bank transfer, make sure that the recipient’s account number entered or pasted is correct.

“Transferring money to the wrong number can lead to a complete loss of money. However, if such a mistake happens to us, we will not collapse. As clients of financial institutions, we have the legal possibilities to request a refund of our own money” – the defender points out in the announcement on the recently published evidence that was Created based on specific cases reported by clients to the Ombudsman’s office.

The defender points out that both the sender’s bank and the recipient’s bank are not responsible for the incorrect indication of the recipient by the sender of the transfer. Providing the correct bank account number is the responsibility of the sender of the transfer.

He also emphasized, if someone has already sent a transfer order to the wrong bank account, they should first contact their bank.

“The payer’s bank, i.e. our bank, is obligated to take appropriate measures to enable the payer to recover the funds. Most importantly, these actions are taken only after the customer has notified the bank. First, we must immediately notify our bank about the wrong transfer. ”- he emphasized Defender, noting that the bank has the information and tools that can help in this situation.

The RF confirmed that no complaints were made at this stage, but only informs the bank of the situation and asks for action.

The bank must inform the recipient of the transfer of the error and indicate a special account number for the return of funds. He is also obligated to provide us with the personal data of the recipient if the recipient of the transfer does not decide to return our money within one month. Thanks to this, you will be able to pursue your claims in court.

“If the recipient has an account with our bank, they will contact it directly. If they have an account with another bank – our bank will contact the recipient’s bank to take the above actions” – describes the Ombudsman’s letter.

If the bank does not take the required actions or does not provide the relevant information, it will be grounds for filing a complaint. If this is not taken into account, you can turn to the financial ombudsman.

The financial ombudsman will analyze the entire case from a legal perspective, give advice, and may also intervene in relation to the bank if it neglects its activities under the law.

In turn, if the recipient of the transfer does not return the money within one month of the notification, and the means of amicable settlement of the dispute did not bring the expected result, you can go to court to get our money back.

“It must be remembered that in this case we are not suing any of the banks (our bank or the bank of the recipient in this case is not a party to the dispute), but the recipient of the transfer, who received money that was not due to him, “- emphasized the RF.

In the detailed guide on this topic issued by the Financial Ombudsman, available on the Ombudsman’s website at https://rf.gov.pl/faq-bledny-przelew/, there are descriptions of real cases taken from the lives of clients who report to the Ombudsman Finance and a number of tips on how to act in specific situations.

“We will find out if if the wrong amount is transferred to our child’s savings account, we can ask the bank to refund the excess. We will learn the differences between the incorrectly made transfer and the unauthorized payment transaction. We will find out what our rights are in such an unfortunate situation and what are the formal requirements that must be satisfied in order to bring an effective case to the court regarding a random recipient” – refers to samples of evidence in wireless communications.

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