What a typo can cost you when sending a payment

Everyone knows that when sending payments to someone else's account, it's important to correctly enter and thoroughly check the recipient's account number.

However, not everyone is aware of the consequences of a wrongly entered payment. If you accidentally send money to an account that is affected by a distraint, you may never get your money back. This is because the money is deducted from such an account and paid to creditors as part of the enforcement proceedings. Once the money reaches the creditor's account, there is almost no real possibility of recovering it.

Immediately upon discovering that the money has gone to a wrong account, action must be taken very quickly. First of all, contact the bank by filling in a form to request the return of the money that has been wrongly received. If the recipient has an account with the same bank as you, the bank will contact them directly. If the recipient has an account with another bank, the bank will contact that bank first, and then the recipient will be contacted. If the recipient does not return the money, you have the right to ask the bank for their identification details and contact them directly.

If you find out from the bank that the account is subject to distraint proceedings, you have the option of contacting the distrainer directly. There is no prescribed procedure to apply here. You will definitely have to prove your mistake in entering the payment, e.g. provide the correct account number where it was clear that it was a typo. Even so, the distrainer is under no obligation to release the money and you are only relying on their goodwill.

If the money has already been sent to the creditor's account as part of the enforcement proceedings, there is no alternative but to bring an action for unjust enrichment. This action is brought against the owner of the account to which you sent the money. However, this will be suing the person in execution and your chances of getting the money back will be very low.