Please help!!

Loubie

Hey all,

I owe a company a big sum of money (£1.5k to be precise) and I can't afford to pay them back... bare in mind that-

1) I handed my notice in prior to leaving - infact 4 months prior to leaving (went to university) and they didnt terminate me when my notice (which was typed) date was for (Aug 25th),

2) I didn't realise I had been overpaid until they contacted me to advise - I thought the monies were my student loan coming through.

They are wanting the money back before the new tax year begins, I earn less than £250 a month now and that goes on my accomodation and basic needs.

What can i do? Where do I stand?

Please help.. I can provide more information if needed.

Thanks,

Lou

Alleycat

Not sure where you would stand, but just out of curiousity, what did you do when you got your student loan through and realised that you had been overpaid?

I assume you would still be liable to pay the money back, but you could explain that you simply don't have the money to pay them and offer them token payments?

I hope you get it sorted.

Alley

magentadreamer

I think the best idea is the token payment route -see if they'll accept so much a month from you. If not I'd talk to CAB to see if they can help you.

Loubie

Hey, thank you both for your early response )

By the time I'd realised that I'd been overpaid I'd already spent the biggest majority of the money (paid off a few student things I needed) and I was surviving on my overdraft - not very good with money I know.

I told them that I could, realistically, pay only £30 a month maximum and they said that this wasn't acceptable - and are looking for around £400 to cover it over short time!

Am going to see the CAB this week, but just wondered if I do have to adhere to their terms - especially because it was, initially, their mistake.

Janey51

Hi Lou. I think the company (whoever they are) will try and get as much money back off you at once as they can and I suppose thats the nature of business.Technically it looks like fraud but even if you got taken to court, if the money isn't there you can't pay. If they went for a CCJ the court would only ask you to pay what you reasonably can...not a lot out of a student loan. If you have expensive assets like a fancy car or posh sound system then that could be seized and sold off to pay the debt.
I am sure your best course of action is the CAB first.
Good luck.

Harassed_2

Technically it looks like fraud

Disagree. It looks like the company made a mistake, which is exactly how a judge will look at it. Write to them (not phone) and state that you will be paying back what you can afford. State also, that if they do take it to court, they won't get any extra as the court will only make you pay what you can afford.

Crispy_Ambulance

Even though it is their mistake, you will still be liable to repay the money. However, there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to accept reasonable instalments - if you provide them with a financial statement, they can see how much you can afford to pay and this will help your argument.