In an account at a Florida credit union I recieved three direct
deposits for $500 each, once per week, for three weeks. After seeing
this I closed the account, and a cashier's check was mailed out to me.
The account was closed for three weeks and now I have recieved a
notice showing my balance is -1500.

Banks never cut me any slack, I get charged $25 if I make even a tiny
mistake in balance calculation. Their attitude is if I make a
mistake - tough. So I am hesitant to treat them any differently.

Can the bank take me to collections for this money when it was their
mistake?

The account was closed for three weeks and they "reoponeed it" can
they do this?

                                             - Thanks

Dear dragon420-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

In short, the answer is “yes”, they CAN hold you accountable for
“their” error because you profited from it and knew that such profit
was improper because the account was closed.

Consider these cases, in which funds were inadvertently deposited in
accounts through bank errors that were successfully handled by a law
firm in Ft Lauderdale. Florida:

ANGELO, BARRY & BOLDT
http://www.angelo-law.com/dls-litigation.php

“Nationsbank v. SCF International, et al. - Successful recovery of
over $300,000.00 in fraudulently obtained funds taken from bank
through bank error and deception.”

“Nationsbank v. Motola - Successful recovery of $200,000.00 in funds
inadvertently disbursed to third party within context of estate
claims.”

In addition, many banks have disclosure statements that you must agree
to before opening your account. Unless you read the fine print, you
too, may very well have signed one that had a statement similar to
this one from THE ROYAL PALM BANK OF FLORIDA
(http://www.royalpalmbank.com/disclosure.htm) :

“Errors and Adjustments. We agree to correct any error made in
crediting or debiting any account by making the appropriate adjustment
to your account balance. You agree to repay promptly any amount
credited to your account in error, and you authorize us to initiate a
debit transfer to any account to obtain payment of any erroneous
credit.”

Florida State Statute Title XLVI Chapter 812 (812.061  Larceny; return
of property to owner; procedure) provides that any person knowingly
having in his possession property or money which rightfully belongs to
another, must return the property or be charged with larceny.

FLORIDA STATE STATUTES 
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0812/SEC061.HTM&Title=->2002->Ch0812->Section%20061

Moreover, there is a provision that requires anyone who has knowledge
of lost or abandoned property (and misdirected funds would certainly
fit the criteria of lost property owned by another) to report the
finding of such property to the authorities or to the rightful owner:

FLORIDA STATE STATUTES
Title XL Chapter 705 (705.102  Reporting lost or abandoned property)
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0705/SEC102.HTM&Title=->2002->Ch0705->Section%20102

So, as you can clearly see, the answer is yes, you can be held
accountable for the bank’s error. My guess is that the bank will
relentlessly pursue you for it until they get it back unless you come
forward and try to strike some agreeable arrangement with them to do
it on your own. Not only can they take you to “collections” they can
take you to court. And if push comes to shove, they can even see to it
that someone takes you to jail for erroneously claiming ownership of
funds from a closed account.

Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

FLORIDA STATUTES “BANK ERROR”

FLORIDA STATE STATUTES

The situation in the UK is that, if the bank makes a mistake and the
account holder innocently spends their money, the bank has no
recourse.

Dunno what happens in Florida which I understand is run by the Mafia.

Perhaps they will make you an offer .......

If you ignore the statement, the bank may write it off as a loss. If
it was a smaller ammount they would likely give up after a token
effort. Ehtically you owe them the money even if it was $15 instead of
$1500. The bank can likely damage your credit at little cost to them.
You don't have to do bussiness with a bank that slaps penities on you
for reasonable errors, except I think all banks have such penities in
their rules which you agreed to when you opened the account. I think
you will loose if you go to court, but it is unlikely the bank will
initiate a court action over $1500. I suspect the UK does not let you
keep large windfalls due to bank errors, unless it is clear that you
have no assets. If you get to keep the money IRS will consider it
taxable income, and the bank may notifiy IRS that you had this
additional income in 2003.   Neil