An unexpected deposit can feel like good news for about a day — then it becomes a legal obligation, not a windfall.
It's not yours to keep. If a payment lands in your account by mistake, your bank can — and generally will, once the sender's bank asks — take steps to reverse it. In most cases this needs your consent, but refusing to cooperate or knowingly spending money you know isn't yours can expose you to a legal claim for the full amount, plus the sender's costs in recovering it. The safest move, every time, is to report it and leave the funds untouched until it's sorted out.
Neither the US nor the UK treats a mistaken transfer as a gift, however it might feel in the moment. The legal question isn't whether the money is "technically" in your account — it's whether you're entitled to keep something you know was never meant for you.
| United States | United Kingdom | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | No single federal statute forces instant reversal — general principles of unjust enrichment and conversion apply; knowingly keeping money you know isn't yours can be a civil (sometimes criminal) matter | Payment Services Regulations 2017, reg. 76 — payment providers must take "reasonable steps" to recover a mistaken payment once notified |
| Industry process | Bank-specific error-correction procedures; banks generally cooperate to reverse clear mistakes | UK Finance's Misdirected Payments code: sending bank contacts receiving bank within 2 working days of being notified; clear-cut, undisputed cases are typically resolved within 20 working days |
| Does the receiving bank need your consent? | Generally yes for a valid, existing account — banks don't unilaterally debit a customer's account without some basis or agreement | Yes — the receiving bank normally needs the account holder's consent before debiting the account to reverse the payment |
| If you refuse to return it | The sender can pursue a civil claim for unjust enrichment/conversion; if you knowingly spent money you knew wasn't yours, this can strengthen their claim significantly | The sender's bank can escalate through the Financial Ombudsman Service; ultimately the sender can pursue you directly through the courts if the bank-to-bank process doesn't resolve it |
One detail that surprises people: an invalid account number usually solves itself, because the payment simply bounces back automatically. The complicated cases are the ones where the money lands in a real, valid account — because at that point, reversing it stops being an automatic technical fix and becomes a request that depends on the recipient's cooperation.
Don't spend it, and don't assume it's a gift or a delayed refund unless you can specifically account for it. Contact your bank, describe the deposit, and ask them to confirm the sender so it can be sorted out properly — this protects you as much as it helps the sender.
Contact your bank immediately — speed genuinely affects your odds of recovery. In the UK, cite the Misdirected Payments code by name when you report it; in the US, ask specifically what your bank's error-correction process is and how quickly they can contact the receiving bank.
Once you're notified the payment was a mistake, continuing to spend it — or refusing to cooperate with returning what's left — moves this from an innocent oversight into something a court is far less sympathetic toward. If you've already spent part of it, disclose that honestly when you respond; it's a better position than being caught concealing it later.
If you have a legitimate reason to think the payment was intended for you (a genuine debt repayment, a gift, a business transaction), say so clearly and provide whatever evidence supports it. The recovery process allows for this — it isn't designed to strip funds from someone with a real claim to them, only to reverse genuine mistakes.
Recipient is notified, confirms the deposit is unexpected, and voluntarily agrees to the reversal through their bank — funds return with minimal friction, usually within the code's stated timeframe.
Recipient ignores the bank's contact attempts, spends the money, and only responds once formal recovery action or a legal letter arrives — turning a routine correction into a dispute.
Sender reports the error immediately and provides clear transaction details (date, amount, account number used) so the bank can act without delay.
Sender waits weeks to report a known error, reducing the chances the funds are still available to recover, then expects an instant resolution.
Use Kibbo's Finance & Banking tools to put your recovery request in writing, with the right details and timeline built in, so it's on record from day one.
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