A man was charged 5,000 yuan (US$759) by a bank for a failed money transfer five months ago.
The man, identified as Luo, transferred the money to a canceled credit card account and was asked to pay commission by the bank, yesterday s Shenzhen Evening News reported.
He filed a complaint against China Merchants Bank on Saturday and was awaiting a reply.
Luo transferred 100,000 yuan to his brother-in-law through the bank s online banking service Sept. 5 to help his nephew study abroad. I accidentally transferred the money to my brother-in-law s credit card, but the card was valid only until October 2007 and had been canceled years ago. However, the system said the transaction was successful and my brother-in-law also received a text message from the bank, saying he had received the money, Luo said.
Luo s brother-in-law has not checked or used the money. When he went to the bank to withdraw it Saturday afternoon, he was told there was no money in the card account, Luo said.
They were surprised and then went to a branch in Nanshan District where they found the money in the bank s clearing account. However, when they wanted to withdraw the money, they were told they had to pay a fee of 5,000 yuan.
What we did was in compliance with bank policies and we ve already passed on his complaint to managers. They will give them an answer in three to five days, an unidentified bank staff member told the paper.
Legal experts said the bank should return all the money to Luo and compensate him for loss of interest, according to law. The bank had no reason to charge the client and should compensate him for holding his money, said Pan Xiang, a lawyer with the Zhong an Law Firm.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
