Do I have to return an accidental double payment?
Administrative errors can result in funds being accidentally deposited or refunded twice into your account. Legally, you generally cannot keep money that does not belong to you, and failing to address the overage can prevent you from resolving the underlying transaction or clearing your balance.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Verifying the identity of those claiming the payment was made in error before returning funds.
- 2Claiming a 'change of position' defense if the money was already spent on something you wouldn't have otherwise purchased.
- 3Parking the extra funds in a high-yield savings account in case it has to be paid back
- 4Waiting a few statement periods to see if the bank or company reverses the duplicate credit
- 5Contacting the credit card company to check if the negative balance is fully refundable
- 6Leaving the unexpected funds sitting in the account untouched
- 7Telling the sender to work directly through their bank
- 8Blocking numbers that harass the recipient to return the money
- 9Waiting several months until the situation seems resolved before returning funds
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I have an investment (a VCT in the UK) which pays dividends every six months. The last dividend was accidentally paid to me twice by the administrative services company.”source ↗
“Am I obligated to repay the overpayment?”source ↗
“So I had a chargeback CC immediately credited me. Couple months later and their research shows I was correct and they credit me again (therefore double).”source ↗
“Mine was CC, twice. Not the retail store refunding.”source ↗
“I have had an unknown someone send me money ($140). My bank told me to do nothing and have them dispute with their bank. It's been over a month now and it's still sitting in my account.”source ↗
“I’m wondering that myself. I accidentally got a $40k transfer from someone I knew who was trying to transfer to herself.”source ↗
“Lol so i had this happen to me, chase even called me with the guy on the phone and asked me if I was willing to transfer it back. But I was suspicious of that so i told them sorry i wouldnt be sending it back but i wouldnt dispute any bank decision either.”source ↗
“About three days later, I get a email from the company that was charged back, about the refund being approved, then the balance showed up on my credit card balance: -X dollars. Ok great, but a couple days later I see that I actually have nearly double the negative balance I initially had.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 4How to fix journal entries moving income to expense accounts
- 4Why are Shopify payouts held and put on a rolling reserve?
- 6How do I dispute a bunch of incorrect charges at once?
- 6Boss hasn't paid me in months