Nationwide building society, Royal Avenue, Belfast
A lucky Belfast teenager was shocked to find he’d become an overnight millionaire when a banking error meant he was paid £8.9 million.
What would you do if you woke up one morning and found that you were a multi-millionaire? Whether it be by complete chance, luck or mistake, the answer is: you’d probably spend it.
That’s just what this 18-year old Belfast local wanted to do when he found his Nationwide bank account had accidentally be credited upwards of £8 million pounds (GPB).
The Beginning
This tremendous bank error – whose story has broken the internet this past week – began with good intentions when an 18-year old Dane Gillespie from Cave Hill in Belfast lodged a cheque given to him by his Grandmother in his Nationwide bank at Donegall Place in Belfast.
Soon after Gillespie lodged the cheque, his mother urged him to check his bank account to make sure the funds had been processed, and that balance of £8,900 had been cleared.
What Gillespie did not expect to see was that his balance had been credited over £8.9 million pounds.
His mother, Caroline explained, “We couldn’t believe it… My son thought he was a millionaire for a few hours. There was £8.9million in his account on Wednesday morning.”
“He got a cheque from his grandmother for £8,900 and put the cheque in last Thursday…I said to him this morning, ‘that cheque should be cleared in your savings’ and he went, ‘right’.”
He would never have guessed to see figures in those numbers (seemingly) live and available in his own account.
Luckily, Dane Gillespie’s parents were on hand to shine some light on the obvious error and discourage their teen from blowing all his newfound cash.
Caroline went on, “It’s as well he told us and didn’t go and blow it all. He’s only 18… Next minute my husband messaged me with the photograph of his bank account details. It took me a wee while to click. He’s going to me, ‘I’m gonna order a Porsche’ and I said, ‘don’t be daft, that’s not our money, we need to get this sorted’.”
In the end
Gillespie’s millionaire status lasted only a few short hours with the Nationwide bank quickly realising the error and rectifying the lodgement.
A Nationwide spokesperson quickly released a statement following the incident, “The customer paid the cheque in at the branch and unfortunately the wrong amount was keyed. The error was noticed straight away and the balance was corrected in a matter of seconds. While the amount was shown on his balance, cheques do not clear straight away, so the funds were never in his account.”
Regardless, however, to see the figures stack up in your bank account, surpassing a whopping £8.9million, is a pretty memorable moment in a teen’s life.
His mother went on to admit, “He just wanted to go out and spend, but if you do then you have to pay it back. He thought all his birthdays came at once this morning. It’s mad.”
