Student enjoys millionaire status after account error

Dane Gillespie’s mum Caroline revealed how her son’s account balance was a whopping £8.9m on Wednesday. But sadly for the 18-year-old his dreams of buying a Porsche were dashed when Nationwide spotted the mistake and corrected it.

She told Belfast Live how he deposited a cheque for £8,900 – money from his grandmother – at Nationwide’s Donegall Place branch last week.

When she told him on Wednesday to check if the cheque had cleared, they were shocked to find that his balance was £8,988,397.

“It’s as well he told us and didn’t go and blow it all,” Caroline said. “For an 18-year-old being a millionaire for the day, he just can’t believe it.

“He just wanted to go out and spend, but if you do then you have to pay it back.”

Sadly for Dane his multi-millionaire status was short lived as a cheque deposit correction was issued a short time later, rectifying the potentially costly error.

A spokesperson for Nationwide said: “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.

“While the amount was shown on his balance, cheques do not clear straight away, so the funds were never in his account.”