ATM messed up---statute of limitations?

[tia travels]

Has anyone had the deposit you made in an ATM returned to you? I did....and thankfully was still PARKED in front of the ATM because, had I left to make the phone call to the 800# in a different part of the parking lot, the guy behind me would have had all my money instead.

I called the 800# immediately and said there was a mistake. They claimed over the phone it is showing as deposited. I said "I'm holding the money here in my hand...it certainly is not".
This was on a Sunday.
I went INTO the bank on Monday and deposited the money.
So my account shows the money going in...+ the same amount already in there.
I stood in line and loudly professed the ATM made a mistake and that I was there putting the money in as it was originally supposed to have gone. So I have a witness who commented to me in line.
The teller also was told the story. He went into the back and talked to a supervisor who said it was showing it was deposited. I said, "well, how can it be deposited when I'm sitting here holding it right now? I don't want to not put it in and then you discover your mistake and take that money out and my checks start bouncing".

My question is...how long (if there's a rule) do I have to leave that money in there before I can assume they've done their audits and I can keep that money as a windfall then?

It's already been sitting in the bank for 5 months and they haven't taken it out yet. With my luck, the moment I remove it---is when they'll realize they screwed up.

I kept telling the teller (and the 800# person) that there was a mistake. So it's not like I was trying to get away with anything.

Does anyone know (either you work at a bank or you're an attorney) if there's a time limit to when I can claim that money? If I close out that account, can they still come after me for the money a year later for example?

I certainly tried to do the right thing. And...am thinking maybe GOD is looking out for me this year and knows I could use the extra funds....at least that's what I'd like to believe.

[TownCryer]

You should open a new account with a different bank now as if they choose they will report you to an agency that banks check to see if a customer is not paying a fee or for late posting check etc. this way you will have an account working for you before any issues. I had a problem somewhat like this and the bank finally admitted to a mistake, taking me off the naughty list and clearing their books and the old account.

[tia travels]

Well I've left the money in the account and have not touched it and won't touch it for a number of months still. So there won't be any late fees with checks. There only would have been that issue if I removed that money.



Are you saying do that before I remove the money and then close down the account? I already have another bank I also use.

[Gotyour6]

They will do a count and fix it

Relax

Dont have to stand on a soapbox and preach the gospel of money woes
See the balance?
Minus what the mistake it, that is your new balance.
You are 55 years old for Christ sake

[Salty Again]

... Hee Hee! ... Gotyour6 might be a little brusque there,
but the POINT is made... Get yerself a bank statement every month
and then you'll KNOW... You can look at the statement
and track EACH movement.

A young joey-in-the-woods fellow like you surely came to the
proper place for good advice.

### Salty

[Salty Again]

... uh... or even if you're a pretty-bird. ... mistakes happen.

### Salty

[Fizley]

Once Charles Schwab deposited a $1000,000+ in a newly Opened brokerage account I had just opened. At that time I had just graduated from college and had my first job. I was still a poor college student with a full time job earning nothing.

Back then statements were still mailed to you.

I called in and told the customer service representative that was not my money and I only make 27K a year.

The customer service representative told me not to worry. A million dollars would be noticed by a customer and then schwab would complete an audit.

The money sat there fkr about four months. I had several stockbrokers call me wanting to buy stocks. I would tell each of them it is not my $$ and they should remove it.

Finally I wrote them a letter.

About five months later the original owner discovered the funds had not been deposited and schwab completed their audit a d they removed the funds.

What passed me off, is even though I had nothing to do with the money being deposited into my account, schwab wanted to change me interest. The registered letter I had sent them, saved me.

If it was me I would contact the bank thru their online line portal in chat so there is a record in case anyone trues to claim something nefarious on your part.uu

[tia travels]

Originally Posted by Gotyour6

They will do a count and fix it

Relax

Dont have to stand on a soapbox and preach the gospel of money woes
See the balance?
Minus what the mistake it, that is your new balance.
You are 55 years old for Christ sake

I never said I had a problem with knowing what amount is extra. You read my issue incorrectly.
I said...if I didn't put the money back in there and they decided to take out the money, I would be in the hole if I had written checks against it. But...yes...I am 57yo to be exact now and I "do" know how to work a checkbook thank you. I put the same amount that was spit out by the ATM back in there. So right now I am not worried about checks bouncing (while the money is in there) and never was. I'm just worried I won't get to keep this EXTRA WINDFALL.

My question was...how long does it take for a bank to do their auditing to find mistakes?


By the way, this thread was not about money woes...it was to hear from someone in the legal or bank department who actually would know about statute of limitations on found money or how long banks take to get things figured out.


Salty: I check balance daily.

I just want to know how long I have to wait before I can safely take it out and keep it without them coming back for it 3 years later for example.

BTW: useful advice about the chat portal FIZLEY...thank you. I thought though if I ever need to subpoena the bank teller, the customer in line who heard my story and commented as well as the woman and man in front and behind him that day....the 800 customer assistant...and their cameras at the ATM as well as their voice recording of my phone call, and show the Facebook posts I made about it as well as this post possibly---I'm good to go there. I mean...I did the right thing. I called...I returned the money...I redeposited it...I made it known there was an error. I would think that if they decide there wasn't...then it was meant to be mine from the heavens above. :-) It's been 5 months so far and the money's still in my account. I'm thinking I'll wait at least a year.

[pmdelites]

if that's all that's left in that account, take all but $50 out, go out it in another bank and wait for them to ask you for it.

there is some sort of 60 day rule about telling them about problems (on back of statements).
i don't know time limit if it's their problem.


"ooh ooh, take the money and run"
... steve miller

[tia travels]

I think they would just reverse it (take it out) without any warning. So leaving all but 50 in there would still mess me up. I'd be in the negative. :-)~


btw....PM...you're one post away from 18k posts~
WOWWOWOWOW!

[sketchball82]

Generally, the statute of limitations for any debt is 7 years. Federal regulations time bar claims, so you cannot contract around this. Which makes sense because otherwise debtors would just add a sentence to form paragraphs to remove the statute of limitation.

[JRLawrence]

I would guess that this is a relatively small amount. I once had a drop box deposit from someone else issued to my company for $35,000 when it should have gone to another company. When we called them the issue was resolved instantly. But, the totals need to match up with an individual, and sometimes that requires that a person - not a computer - examines the issue. Just have a little patience, and document everything in writing. Becoming vocal will not solve anything.

[pmdelites]

Originally Posted by tia travels

I think they would just reverse it (take it out) without any warning. So leaving all but 50 in there would still mess me up. I'd be in the negative. :-)~

if you have other accounts hitting that account, yes, it would go negative. i was suggesting opening up a new acct, move the money there, then quiesce the original acct.

then, if they hit you for that money and it's not there, i'm sure they will send you a notice or contact you in some way, shape or form.
then you can just so, "oh, that money. here, let me get it and give it back. it'll take a day or so..."

in a different way, this happened to me back in late 70s. a bank person mistakenly deposited $5000 into my checking acct that was intended for another person w/ same last name but diff first name. i went to the bank and withdrew the cash, went to a bank down the street, and put it in a savings acct. a few weeks later, when i called the bank to check on my balance (this was long before online banking), the service rep wouldnt give me any info and asked me to come in. i did and asked a teller for my balance. lickety-split, a bank manager was at my side asking for the money back. i told him "oh, that money. i've got to go get it. i'll be back in about 30 mins or so..."
i made all of about $2.50 in interest - whoooo hooooo!!

Originally Posted by tia travels

btw....PM...you're one post away from 18k posts~
WOWWOWOWOW!

well it has been 13 yrs (Join Date: 04-02-2009) ;^}

[Massagejunkyie69]

Its their mistake, I would assume that they will find it. Having some documentation to protect yourself should help. If you haven't already done so, take a notebook, and write down, including the dates, etc, your experience, any names of people you spoke too, what they said, etc. As much detail as possible. If you can, try to get something from someone via chat or email that is saying "no, everything is alright".

You'll want that information in the event they try to charge you some type of interest, or treat you like you stole the money.

In my case, many years ago, when I was newly married, all I could qualify for was the store credit cards. When I finally had enough credit for a Visa, it was super high interest (in the 20% range). After a year, I was finally able to qualify for first real Visa/Master card that had a zero interest balance transfer for 18 months. So I took the 1$500 I had on the high interest credit card and transferred it to the zero interest card. My old card showed a zero balance at the next statement. But the balance transfer NEVER showed up on the new card. I made it a point to call both banks. The old bank said as far as they were concerned, my cc was paid off. The new bank said they never had a record of it. That had to be 35+ years ago and I've yet to get a bill from them. But I will say, I fully expected a few months to go by and then for the charge to show up. It never did.

So while I assume they will find their error in a few weeks, its possible that they never will. Hence, if you have the documenation, etc. then if enough time goes by that you totally forget about this event and they pull the money out of your account, you'll at least know why - plus, if they try to get you on something to cover they're own mistake, you'll have your documentation showing that you tried to remedy the situation when it first occurred.

Hope that helps!

[BigBamboo]

Typically they audit the ATM deposits / disbursements ledger against the last ATM audit, which includes cash removed and cash restored into the ATM by the company servicing it. If there were claims made for a faulty deposit or disbursement the bank would review and investigate that ledger. But in your case it’s been 5 months without any official claim by you of the deposit error, which typically would be something like the deposit money being accepted by the ATM but no acknowledgement written or otherwise by the ATM of your funds deposited. But in your case your funds were returned but deposit accepted electronically.

You didn’t mention receiving a receipt for your funds deposited despite the ATM returning to you the money. Did you receive a written receipt?

If you received a written receipt then you’re in the clear. If not then you’re at risk of reversal of that ATM deposit.

But since you don’t have a claim number for the ATM error the bank has no record an error occurred against your deposit. As far as the bank is concerned your deposit money on Monday s completely different cash than the deposit money the ATM errantly credited to your account. In other words all the cash in the ATM picked up on Monday by the ATM on Monday could belong to anyone including you.

I believe errors like these are written off by the bank. Because the cash out / cash in doesn’t equal on the electronic ledger compared against the ATM cash retrieved by the ATM servicer an internal investigation would have taken place. But apparently the ATM ledger was unable to point them to your account as reason for the cash shortage versus the ledger.