Did NT$900,000 Drop from the Sky?

With the Lunar New Year approaching, many people withdraw cash to prepare for the festivities, but they might inadvertently commit a pleasant mistake!

A few days ago, a lawyer at the same law firm mentioned during a dinner gathering that people truly must not be greedy. One day, after withdrawing money from an ATM, the printed statement showed an available balance with an extra zero compared to his original deposit—meaning his original deposit of NT$100,000 had somehow turned into NT$1,000,000.

He recalled recent television news reports about a man using a cash card to withdraw more and more money, and by the time the bank discovered it, the man had withdrawn NT$30,000,000.

He thought he had encountered the same good fortune, though it was also possible that his kind wife had deposited money into his account. After pondering this, he first ruled out the possibility of a deposit from his wife, as that probability was even lower than the bank making a mistake; thus, he concluded the bank had made an error.

Fortunately, he was not greedy and decided to report the mistake to the bank. After an explanation from the bank, he realized that he had almost borrowed money from the bank without even knowing it.

It turned out that the account he had originally opened with the bank was a consolidated deposit account. He had previously set up a NT$1,000,000 time deposit. Although it had not yet matured, time deposits can be used as collateral for a loan up to 90% of their value. Therefore, when making a withdrawal, the available balance item on the ATM statement displays the sum of the loanable collateral amount and the original demand deposit. In other words, the loan amount based on the original NT$1,000,000 time deposit was NT$900,000, and the original demand deposit was NT$100,000, making a total available balance of NT$1,000,000. However, the statement does not tell you that this includes the loan amount secured by the time deposit.

Therefore, if one were to give in to greed and withdraw the entire amount, it would be equivalent to withdrawing not only the original NT$100,000 deposit but also borrowing NT$900,000 from the bank, and furthermore being obligated to bear an interest rate 1% higher than the original time deposit interest rate.

If you truly commit the aforementioned mistake, you may invoke Article 88 of the Civil Code to rescind the loan on the grounds of mistake. However, it is best to notify the bank in writing to avoid future evidentiary difficulties. Moreover, since the time limit for rescission due to mistake is only one year, if you discover the mistake after a year has passed, you might just have to accept your bad luck, repay the principal and loan interest, and ultimately not only fail to earn the time deposit interest, but instead end up burdened with even more interest.

This kind of mistake looks fortunate and pleasant at first glance, but a mistake is a mistake after all—it is always best to be cautious!

※ Published in: United Daily News / E6 / Binfen