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."
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.
