To spend money when I don’t have any idea where it’s come from?

[NobodyLivesHere]

On checking my bank account this morning there is £600 in there that I can’t account for. The only info is an account number I don’t recognise.
I desperately need a plumber to come out and unblock some outside pipes and it’s been causing me a lot of stress as I can’t afford it. I’m off sick from work after a life altering accident and I’m a single parent to 3 including a disabled child, my savings have been eaten by this and there’s no telling when or even if I’ll be able to return to work.

I know I should report this money to my bank. But part of me wants to use £150 of it to do the work needed. And then if I have to pay it back set up a payment plan.

is this awful? It’s awful isn’t it? And yet it’s just….there.

Phone the bank. If it's a mistake they're going to work it out & take it back anyway. If on the other hand it's a payment due to you you can call a plumber & have extra money left over to take the pressure off you.

Phone the bank

Trouble is op, whoever gave it incorrectly is likely to want it back… and possibly not via payment plan. If you spend £150now can you afford to give all the money back immediately when it’s recalled? Otherwise you might just create another problem later on when you have to find the money quickly.

I can click on payments and get more information.

What does the ref say? Maybe we can help you work it out?

Which pipes are blocked? What have you done to unblock them? Someone here might have good ideas.

Honestly I'd spend it. You're not responsible for making the mistake. Your priority is yourself, your children and your home. If someone can't properly check bank details when sending a transaction, that's on them. The bank will recover it eventually anyway so you'd better move it to another account or withdraw it quickly

Yeah that’s true. I just was working on the idea that they can’t take money I don’t have in there to take. But I suppose they can make me over drawn and then charge me for that too and it’ll be even more of a pain!

Please report it, you wouldn’t want to lose £600 if it was the other way around. I totally get that you’re in dire straits but you don’t know how the person at the other end of that bank transfer is doing either.

Please do the right thing. And am so sorry you’re struggling.

If it was sent by a government department like the DWP or a business then you should tell them or they will probably hound you for it and claim you did fraud.
I've heard where people send it to the wrong account, the bank can contact the person but they're under no obligation to reply or return it? I could be wrong though.
It's very tempting. Can you pay back the £150 in future if you were asked? If you do want to keep it, I'd say put it aside for a month rather than spend it.
If nothing is said then it's more likely to be fair game?

If you spend it, the bank will just wait until you have enough in your account and take it back. Or they'll give the sender your details and they'll pursue you for it.

Is it a DWP/UC payment due to bank holiday?

It’s literally just an account number, and says ‘via mobile xfer’.

I know someone who tried to refuse to send money back and the bank froze their account.

What if it’s an older person who has made a mistake with online banking or someone who has number blindness? You’re heartless. And when the bank recover it, it could come out in a big chunk and put OP straight into the red and mean that it stops her being about to fulfil her direct debits or other payments. Which is brainless.

No they wont give anyone the ops details that would be illegal.

The bank can take money back though and could push you into an expensive unauthorised overdraft if it was their mistake.

If it’s an error the bank will just take it back as soon as they realise. As another post advises - ring them and check. If you don’t know where it’s from and you spend it that’s technically theft. Do you really want to stoop to that?

Exactly, point I made earlier. This could end up being very costly if OP doesn’t just do the right thing now. It’s inconvenient and tempting, but ultimately it’s wrong to keep money that doesn’t belong to you.

I’m not sure advocating stealing is a good idea.

Oh that’s a whole saga…basically the pipes that take the sewerage away are really old, there’s a crack in it right on the boundary between my property and next door. They are also not sloped correctly so they don’t drain. Everything backs up and then blocks my loo. For years the water company have come out a few times a year and cleared them as it’s on the boundary. This year they decided it’s not their problem anymore. I don’t own my house. My landlord refuses to pay. My neighbour refuses to pay. I’m the end of the line so to speak so it’s my house and yard that end up with raw sewerage seeping out if it’s not done. I have in the past cleared them (kind of) myself, but I physically can’t now.

so I pay or I have a back yard swimming in shit. 😔

They cannot take it back if it was a mistake. However there is normally a payee so I suspect it’s a bank mistake rather than another payee

When someone sends money to an incorrect account via a faster payment, the person who has sent the money has to fill out a credit payment recovery claim via thier bank. Their bank will then contact the recipient bank (yours) and attempt to claim this money back. They will be told however that it is not guaranteed and can take upto 20 days to recover the funds.

The recipient (you) will have 20 days to dispute the claim, you would have to give a reason why you are refusing to return the money though. No matter how desperate I was, this wouldn't sit right with me to spend the money, but thats your choice.

It is your landlord’s responsibility op. Fuck me, put your big girl pants on and make him come and sort it out. It is NOT your problem

No I don’t think so as the amount doesn’t make sense, and also they usually come with a reference that says DWP etc.

Yes they can.
And they will.

Do the right thing OP.