Bank error in my favor?

January 10, 2008 7:03 PM

The mystery of the missing check: I wrote a check for December's rent. My apartment management company deposited it on December 11, and apparently it cleared. A month later, the money still has not been taken out of my checking account. The transaction did not show up on last month's statement either. What's going on?

I haven't noticed anything else amiss with my account. There's always plenty of money in there to cover my expenses. I have written two other checks since December 11, which have been taken out just fine.

So, what the heck could cause this? And more importantly, am I being over-optimistic in thinking maybe I just got some free money? Is there a limit for how long a bank can take to carry out a transaction?

Or, is there any chance there's something fishy going on that I should be concerned about? (By fishy, I mean identity theft or something...my apartment management co is fantastic, and I would not at all suspect them of trying to pull something)

I'm with US Bank if it makes a difference.

posted by gueneverey to work & money (11 comments total)

The bank made a mistake and more likely than not took the funds from the wrong bank account. When the owner of the other account discovers this, they'll take the money out of yours and credit them. At that time, if you don't have sufficient funds to cover it, things will begin to bounce. There's really no time limit on when they get to fix the mistake, either. This can happen tomorrow or in six months.
posted by IronLizard at 7:08 PM on January 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ironlizard is probably right; to save yourself a nasty surprise, you may want to contact the bank yourself. On the other hand, if you are good about balancing your checkbook, you could wait and see what happens and when the check eventually clears, you may at least earn interest on the money while it was in your account, assuming it is an interest-earning checking account.
posted by TedW at 7:14 PM on January 10, 2008

It would probably be wise for you to bring it to their attention, so that it gets corrected sooner rather than later.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 7:14 PM on January 10, 2008

I once cashed a check my Grandmother gave me for a birthday, and she complained for several months that I was slacking by NOT cashing it, because her checkbook wasn't balancing. I finally had to sent her a printed confirmation that the check had cleared and the funds went into my account. She called her bank and explained the situation, and they actually shrugged it off and said that it happens sometimes and she shouldn't worry about it. It was only for $25 or so, but it still seemed strange to me that the bank wasn't concerned. Their loss?
posted by autojack at 7:31 PM on January 10, 2008

The bank probably made an error.

And more importantly, am I being over-optimistic in thinking maybe I just got some free money?

Honestly though, you owe rent money. Nothing about this is free. Someone somewhere is paying whether or not they realize it. Call the bank and bring it to their attention. And hey, you may earn some Karma points in the process.
posted by ASM at 7:36 PM on January 10, 2008

Hmm, sometimes places will hold checks at the end of the year so that they don't have to pay taxes on that money till the next year. Are you sure that your apartment management company actually cashed the check?
posted by bkeene12 at 7:46 PM on January 10, 2008

This does sometimes happen. My mother carried a $115 cheque she wrote to Sears on her checkbook ledger for literally years. As far as Sears was concerned, the bill was paid, but the cheque never properly cleared her bank.

You can call it to their attention and get it over with, or you can hang on to it and hope it never comes back to bite you in the ass, which it might, at any time in the next year or so.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:56 PM on January 10, 2008

Sounds like the ethics brigade is on the case -- better return that money, or you are worse than Hitler!

Make sure you have enough in your bank account to cover the check. If the error is fixed, no one's the wiser. If the error is not fixed within a year or so, free money.
posted by Krrrlson at 8:09 PM on January 10, 2008

Ok, I guess I'm not getting a nice christmas present from the bank. I can see that they'd let $25 slide, but probably not hundreds of dollars. It doesn't bother me that much to have my account out of whack, so I might just wait and see how long it takes for them to figure out.

Somehow I failed to mention that my January rent went through a few days ago...but yeah, I had the same thought as you, bkeene12, until then.

Thanks guys!
posted by gueneverey at 8:19 PM on January 10, 2008

I worked at a bank until an unexplained error cost me my job. If you mention it to the bank, you may save someone's job, or at least get someone out of hot water. If the bank has made an error in your favor, odds are it is adversely affecting someone else. Do the honest thing and give the bank a heads up.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:15 PM on January 10, 2008

years ago, i had a mysterious $400+ credit to my schwab account. i wondered about it for 3-4 months before finally mentioning it in passing to my dad, who said "oh, your brother deposited the same amount in his schwab account and it disappeared." i called the broker and he ledgered it back into my brother's account. ymmv, depending on whether the party who's short the money is like my brother, or more like me.
posted by bruce at 11:23 PM on January 10, 2008