Help needed please - Bank's mistake

AngelinaB

This is my first post on here, so please bear with me. I am worried sick about the situation I have found myself in through no fault of my own. I got a letter from a building society a few weeks ago telling me that they had been paying an amount of £100 once a year into my current bank account for the past eight years by mistake. I honestly had no idea, I just use whatever money I have in there to pay bills etc, and don't check each item on my statement when it arrives, I just shove it in a drawer. I still had the past three years statements so I had a look and found the amounts they refer to, although the payments in did have my name at the side of them, so it's not like I would have noticed them. I have paid back the £100 they paid in this year, but I just do not have the other £700. I feel so stupid, I feel sick, I daren't tell my husband, we have enough money worries at the moment as it is. I work part time but most of what I earn goes on bills. Has anyone else ever had this happen to them, and what did they do about it?
Thanks in advance
AngelinaB

oldfella

ring them up, explain you dont have the money, and request an extended period to repay

suggest politely that as the mistake is theirs they have some responsibility

seeing it has been going on over such a long time they may reduce the sum as the mistake is theirs

Mike

johnmoney05

8 years?
tell them send you the statments for you to check.
close the account, withdraw all the money.
just ask them how you can remember what in/out in you account for the last 8 years. Offer them for the last 3 years which you ONLY got the statements with.

sonee2405

why should you get all the worry when most of the negligence is from their part. if they claim that you should be responsible for checking your statement you can also ask them why nobody did their job right from their end for 8 years, surely they had some kind of system that would have detected the mistake. banks have a habit of bullying customers when they realise this type of thing- i dont think they deserve a penny. my sister was paid for a year every month by a company she left, the company and the bank tried to make her pay back the amount but she stood her ground and they couldnt do anything, her defence was that as a student she never bothered to check her statements just spent as along as funds were available and also proof of postage of statements is not proof of delivery.

peter999

AngelinaB wrote:

I got a letter from a building society a few weeks ago telling me that they had been paying an amount of £100 once a year into my current bank account for the past eight years by mistake.

What do they ask for in the letter ??
They cannot make any demands & need to agree with you.

My initial action would be to ignore, force them into appropriate negotiating position.
Check your rights.

If they want to play hardball, you can do the same.

peter999

dexters_mum_2

I agree that it is not your mistake, it is theirs, for all they know you could have been expecting that £100 per year (ie a Dividend).
Ask them to explain why it has taken 8 years to come to light and state that you have been a good customer, they have made a financial error which they should bear the brunt of, not you, you did not make this error.

If they try to force repayment on you, say you will pay a sum like 10% of the amount owed and no more because you did not make the error.

A few sternly worded letters to the customer service dept seem appropriate here!

Which bank is it?

sonee2405

is it lloyds bank?

realaledrinker

Why are you blaming the OP's bank - it is 'a' building society (not 'my' building society note) who are in error.

I would threaten to go to the newspapers myself.

jonesMUFCforever

Debts are not enforceable over 6 years are they?
Maximum building society can claim IMO is 6 years.

AngelinaB

Sorry if I caused some confusion, it was a building society that wrote to me, they said a standing order had been mistakenly paid into my bank account for eight years. They said please accept our apology for this error on our part, then in the next paragraph, 'we ask you to return these funds to us without delay'.
I sent back £100 and told them that was all the money I had, and have just got another letter back saying that I should ring them so they can discuss with me the most suitable way to pay back the outstanding £700.
I'm not very good on the phone so I am trying to pluck up courage to do it.

oldfella

tell them you are not prepared to discuss on the phone, you dont accept the debt, and to put their proposals in writing

Mike