Bank Refunds "Forgotten" ATM Money

Have you ever walked away from an ATM and forgotten to take your money with you?

Well you are not alone - Bank of Ireland estimates six people do it ever year per machine.

It's refunding 43,000 customers who made that mistake between 2005 and 2009, because of flaws in its own anti-fraud measures.

When users walk away from the ATM machine without their cash, it always pulls the money back-in after a short time period.

But Bank of Ireland says for the four years up to October 2009, when the money was pulled back in, their customers' accounts were still debited for the cash.

Only around half of the customers noticed the mistake, and these were refunded on a case-by-case basis by the bank when they complained.

But it was only last year that the bank realised a wider systems problem was to blame.

Now, it's refunding a total of $3m - just under half to its own customers, and the rest to customers of other banks who used Bank of Ireland ATMs but didn't take their money.

The unexpected windfall amounts to an average of $93 per customer.

The bank carried out research into why so many customers walked away from their ATMS without money.

It pointed to a number of things, including getting mobile phone calls and other distractions; forgetting to take back the bank card, which must be withdrawn for the money to appear; and not taking the money within the 30 seconds allowed.

Bank of Ireland has apologised for the error, which it discovered through its own internal monitoring.

It's assuring customers that since October 2009, in has enhanced procedures for handling incomplete transactions, and all accounts have been refunded in this situation.

Other Irish banks could find themselves paying similar compensation, because they introduced similar anti-fraud measures at the same time.