Bank accidentally puts $37MILLION into woman’s account – and she gives it straight back

A clerical error by her bank made a North Texas woman a millionaire – for a day. 

Dallas resident Ruth Balloon, 35, checked her bank account earlier this week, and it had some extra money in it: an extra $37 million to be exact.

Balloon, who is a mother of two, had wanted to believe ‘someone really gifted us with that $37 million’ but she knew it was too good to be true.

Ruth Balloon, 35, checked her bank account and found the balance was $37,000,000

The $37 million had been put into her account by mistake by a teller at the bank

The $37 million had been put into her account by mistake by a teller at the bank

‘On Tuesday evening I was checking my bank to see the balance and to randomly check on our transactions. I logged into the app and noticed the $37million in green,’ she told DailyMail.com. 

‘I wanted to start a chat with the bank, but the chat option was already closed for the day so I texted the pic to my husband and asked why our bank account was $37million!’ 

‘I was like, ‘wow, we have a lot of money!”, she told KTVT. 

Balloon then decided to call her 39-year-old husband, Brian, who initially thought it was a scam. 

Eventually, he got through to LegacyTexas, who informed the couple the extra money wasn’t a Christmas miracle but a simple mistake that occurred because a teller had punched in an account number as the figure for the amount of cash being deposited.

The bank apologized and took the money back.

She hoped someone had gifted her the money but checked with her bank who admitted to the error. Her husband, Brian, 39, pictured right, initially thought it was a scam

She hoped someone had gifted her the money but checked with her bank who admitted to the error. Her husband, Brian, 39, pictured right, initially thought it was a scam

‘I hoped someone really gifted us with that $37million,’ said Balloon. ‘I was a millionaire, I have a screen shot of it so I can say that now. It’s quite a story!’ 

Balloon says she even had time to think about what she was going to do with the cash. 

”First I was going to do 10% tithing, then I was going to donate some money and then I would have invested in real estate.

‘Even if the amount was a real transfer, I knew the money did not belong to us. I could not spend money that does not belong to us. I did daydream of what would I do with it if I did have it,’ she told DailyMail.com. 

The bank said that even if Balloon had not caught the error, it would have eventually been spotted and corrected. 

Balloon says although she was never going to try and keep the cash, she is hoping for a 'thank you' reward from the bank

Balloon says although she was never going to try and keep the cash, she is hoping for a ‘thank you’ reward from the bank

Balloon said she took a screengrab of the money so she could tell people that she was once a millionaire, if only for a day

Balloon said she took a screengrab of the money so she could tell people that she was once a millionaire, if only for a day

‘They did apologize and my husband had the bank manager send an explanation in writing, however they are definitely acting as if it was no big deal just a clerical mistake,’ Balloon said to DailyMail.com.

‘I do believe they should invest a little more in their security system! One should not be able to enter such a large sum without a warning of some sort.’

The bank said a ‘manual entry error’ resulted in the huge, temporary windfall.

LegacyTexas bank say a teller inputted the account number as the cash amount being deposited by mistake, resulting in a huge windfall for the Balloons

LegacyTexas bank say a teller inputted the account number as the cash amount being deposited by mistake, resulting in a huge windfall for the Balloons

Balloon said the error seemed to have occurred because of some currency she had exchanged the week before. 

‘On Tuesday, December 10, our client made a foreign currency deposit into her LegacyTexas account. Due to the fluctuation in exchange rates, all foreign currency transactions must be manually entered into our system through our back office. When our client’s deposit was being keyed in, our representative entered her account number into the amount field by mistake,’ the bank said in a statement.

‘Although our client brought the error to our attention and the transaction was immediately reversed, less the amount of her original deposit, it would have been caught and corrected during our evening processing. Rest assured, our systems are sound, and this manual entry error has been addressed. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk