South African Bank to Reverse Funds Mistakenly Transferred to Customers' Accounts

What would you do if you woke up one morning to find out that your account balance has increased? You were not expecting any credit transaction and your bank statement doesn’t show any detail of such! But as at the previous night, your balance was zero, and now it is over 3, 600!

Interesting right? Well, that was what many customers of one of South Africa’s leading Banks – First National Bank (FNB) woke up to.

The surprised customers who first spotted the error transactions took to social media share their experiences. This prompted other customers to check their banking apps, only for many of them to discover that their accounts were indeed credited with very large sums.

The cause of the unlikely error was not confirmed but the management of First National Bank (FNB) has released a statement acknowledging the error and announcing that they would be reversing the erroneous transactions which resulted in money being mistakenly paid into some customers' accounts.

"We can confirm that the issue of incorrect balances on some of our customers' transaction accounts has been resolved. The incorrect balances were due to delayed debit card transactions for purchases.

"Sincere apologies to impacted customers for the inconvenience caused," the bank said.

Although it was not clear at the time of this report the total amount that was dispensed by the bank, all those who received the credits will have to give it up!

According to reports, the highest reported amount received by some customers was 3,600, but anecdotal evidence suggests a very large number of customers saw lesser amounts, of around a few hundred rands, which mysteriously appear in various bank accounts.

According to Daniel Kaan, FNB's transaction banking spokesperson, the incorrect balances in clients' bank accounts were due to delayed debit card transactions.

Khan further said the bank has been in contact with affected customers and the matter "has been resolved" – though that does not appear to be entirely accurate, and the bank may find the situation trickier than its statement suggests.

There is no doubt that many of the customers would suspect that the bank will revert the funds and so, may have withdrawn the funds already.

What happens in such cases?

Header Image Credit: MDUDUZI NDZINGI