Any bank workers about?

[AlexisGold]

Hiya,

my brother sold his stereo through a local paper and then posted it.

The person who bought it did a bank transfer online, but then had to cancel it as it would have taken ages.

They then resent it and my bro posted the stereo.

My bro doesn't have online banking and the person has contacted him to say both payments went through, i just checked for him and they have.

Trouble is he didn't know this as he only checked his balance at the ATM and has spent it.

Is it his fault or is it the banks resposibility as the payment was cancelled but they sent it anyways,.

of course he will pay it back but it wll take a while for him to raise the cash.

Or is it the banks mistake not his?

sorry he has online banking but no net acess.

When it comes to erroneous payments, there is some expectation of reasonable responsibility on the part of the account-holder. The example is usually that if you find £1m has been added to your account by mistake you're supposed to tell the bank rather than spend it! Besides which, he only has the word of the buyer that they had cancelled the first transaction - the buyer could have messed it up or left it too late. It might not be the bank's fault, in other words.

It's up to him to manage his finances, he has to take responsibility for where his money is up to. An example we often get at work is where someone has used their debit card in a shop but the retailer hasn't yet requested payment - if you know you have spent the money you must not spend it again, otherwise you will go overdrawn and incurr charges. He would be best off talking to his bank and explaining the situation, see if they would give him a temporary overdraft to cover it, so that he doesn't go overdrawn.