I've been refunded twice! How can i keep the money!?

tophelecool

Guys,

I'm in the unusual situation that I've ended up with double the amount in my account I originally claimed for! It turns out that both the credit card company and the bank have re-funded me (both part of the same group), thus resulting in me being nearly £900 up!!! not bad ehhhh!? pretty unusual...

- one refund was a BACS transfer made by the bank
- the other came in the form of a cheque from the card company which I recieved and cashed yesterday

I have two questions;

1) What can I do to make it as difficult as possible for them to get the money back? I've been very badly treated and obviously I'll do anything to make sure I keep the money! I thought about moving my entire balance into another account, but am cautious in case this arouses suspicion...afterall, if the balance in the account is zero...then surely they can't claim it back right!?

2) What are the chances of them finding out in the first place!? Are they likely to call me before....let me know before they take the money back... or just take it out of my account!? (bearing in mind that I have an open complaint which probably means they still have access to my account info)

I'm guessing the probability of them finding out and asking for the money back is probably fairly high considering that the card company and bank are part of the same company.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

pinkarsenalprincess

Are you seriously considering theft? As this is essentially what you are doing. They will get their money back.

the_insider

Even if you move the money to another account they will still be able to take it, all that will happen is that they will put you overdrawn and you'll have to pay it back. They will find out sooner or later, and if it's later you may have been tempted to spend the money. Your best bet is to ring them and sort out giving it back.

KingElvis

Don't bend down to pick up the soap

ilikewatch

Ignoring the moral aspect of this, it doesn't really matter what you do with the money - if they discover the error they'll get their money back, if they don't you're £900 up. Personally, if I was going to try to keep the money I'd withdraw it, put it away in another account and see if anything came of it.

agrinnall

I would suggest that the best you could hope for is being given time to pay it back in instalments, although I think you'll be lucky to get that. It's not your money, you know it isn't, just pay it back (then close the account if you're unhappy with the bank).

dunstonh

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This is a money saving site. Not a how to commit crime site.

tophelecool

they've had my £900 for over 2 months...I've lost interest, time, and not to mention the cost of the premium rate numbers....frankly I question their morals...!

pinkarsenalprincess

tophelecool wrote: »

they've had my £900 for over 2 months...I've lost interest, time, and not to mention the cost of the premium rate numbers....frankly I question their morals...!

Pot....Kettle...Black....

tophelecool

...to add to the record; I never knew beforehand that I had been re-funded twice! I only got round to checking my balance today... as far as I was concerned the cheque yesterday was my refund...I had no idea they would be making a BACS payment too! I only recieved notification of this today after cashing the cheque in the post!

opinions4u

tophelecool wrote: »

they've had my £900 for over 2 months...I've lost interest, time, and not to mention the cost of the premium rate numbers....frankly I question their morals...!

Fine. So you quantify what your losses are.

£900 x 3%pa x 2 months = £4.50
2 hours at £10 an hour = £20
Telephone calls = £8
Goodwill payment = £50

You return the funds paid in error with a letter of complaint explaining how this simply tops off their poor administration and service. Quantify the numbers as above (reasonable estimate for telephone calls, don't go above £10 an hour for time) and ask them to reimburse this amount or a greater value if they think a larger sum is due.

It might not get you £900. But it's far better than getting an 18 month sentence for theft.