A Sydney woman has found herself $24.5 million richer after her bank accidentally transferred her an unexpected windfall.
Clare Wainwright made the shocking discovery on Thursday morning when she logged into her bank account and found the National Australia Bank (NAB) had paid out her mortgage and given her $24,544,780.16 to redraw.
"I thought 'oh God, what is going on?'," she told AAP on Friday.
"I went straight to my mortgage broker and he got in contact with them (NAB), and the person in the customer service team said someone would get back to him in three days."
Clare Wainright claims to have had $24.5 million accidentally deposited into her account. Source: Facebook: Clare Wainwright
The young lawyer said she wasn't tempted to spend the money as she was very aware of the consequences that could follow.
"I knew I couldn't get away with playing the dumb card," she laughed.
The groundwork leading to the colossal mistake began more than a month ago when Ms Wainwright received a letter from the bank explaining that mortgage repayments for her home loan would be in excess of $25 million, rather than the agreed-upon $2500.
"I got in touch with my broker and he said 'I'm sure it was a typo, I'll get in contact with them', but obviously the mistake was never fixed," she told AAP.
On social media Ms Wainwright wrote in a tongue in cheek post after making the discovery: "When NAB accidentally pays out your entire mortgage, and gives you an extra $24.5 mil to redraw ... do I skip the country??"
After feeling like a multi-millionaire for 24 hours, Ms Wainwright was happy to report her bank balance was back to normal as of Friday.
"They took it out this morning," she said in remarkably good humour despite being $24.5 million poorer.
AN NAB spokesperson thanked the customer for making the mistake known.
"The error has been fixed and the payment has been reversed," a spokesperson said.
"Although the funds appeared in the account, they were not available for withdrawal.
"We thank the customer for contacting us and we’re sorry for any trouble caused."
The NAB appeared to have requested a debit process to St George bank for the funds, but St George did not honour the payment, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We have investigated the matter and can confirm that the direct debit request was automatically declined by St.George in line with our dishonour clearing process," a St George spokesperson said.
