Why you should always double-check your pay

If you got paid today and you seem to have more money than usual, don’t be in a huge rush to spend it. Australian IT reports that a technical error by Westpac meant that a large batch of payroll transactions were processed twice, resulting in double the amount of money going into bank accounts. (Non-Westpac customers are also significantly affected, as the pay could potentially go into any Australian bank account specified by the recipient.)
Westpac is working to reclaim the money, so if you go out and spend it before it gets redrawn, you’ll just end up with a slanging match with your bank next week. Of course, if you’ve got a well-organised budget system that includes moving money automatically into relevant accounts as it arrives, there’ll be less to worry about.