Previous employer overpaid me, now wants money back but I'm unemployed!

SpagBol

I'm sorry if this isn't the best place to ask, please point me in the right direction if there is a more appropriate forum!

I gave up work (NHS) about 3 months ago to stay at home with my children (this seems reckless given my debt but childcare was crippling and we are overpaying with every spare penny from DH's salary), my previous employer overpaid me by about £650 but I had a variable income due to shift work and didn't notice until they took £250 from my last pay packet (all of it!) and after contacting them they say I owe them about £400. I have no income now so can't pay it back, what will they do to try to get it back? They have asked to see bank statements but a) I have 3 bank accounts so feel the exercise is pretty pointless and b) All of my family incomings and outgoings are there, it feels like a huge intrusion tbh considering it was their mistake. Should I just give them my bank statements to show them my overdraft and loan payments? Would they leave me alone then or is it airing my laundry for nothing?

They want me to put in writing that I refuse to pay, but that isn't strictly true, I just can't pay! I am in the middle of an e-mail reply but just wanted to see what you MSers would do first, I know if I still worked for them I would have to pay it back and if I had gone to another job I would offer to pay back £50 per month or whatever but this is their mistake, I used it to pay off debt to enable me to be at home in good faith and I hate the thought of this hanging over me I should be enjoying my time with my children. I even cancelled my union membership since I wasn't working any more :mad:

I shouldn't be surprised, I have had so many problems with my ex-Trust's finance department it is untrue!!

Thanks in advance!

BitterAndTwisted

You need to contact them with a proposal for how you are going to pay the money back. Just because they made an error does not mean that you can keep it indefinitely. You have to balance the likelihood of them going to the expense of taking you to court for it.

McKneff

You dont really have a leg to stand on, you simply have to pay it back, as B&T says, contact them with a payment plan,

If you post up an SOA we can maybe help to see if we can help you to reduce costs in your monthly budget.
Its amazing wha fresh eyes can see.

I presume that they want to see your bank statements to see how much you can afford to pay them, not that they want to see if you can afford not to, if you see what I mean.
I cant see them leaving you alone for that amount of money to be honest.

SpagBol

I suspected as much. I have done all of the SOA stuff in order to stay home and things have been cut back to the extreme. I am ebaying things from the house (not a business!) and we have child benefit as income other than my husband's salary which is decent but we have £1450 mortgage per month and £45k non-mortgage debt which is well managed but steep, as you can imagine. All of our outgoings per month are about £2.5k including repayments, I used my last pay packet to pay off debt. Like I said, I would happily pay them back but I am stumped as to where the money will come from. We just don't have spare cash!

This is why I don't want them looking at my bank statement tbh, with around £5k of overdraft between me, my husband and our joint account- what are they going to tell me to give up? Can I give up my debt payments? Gas bill? Son's Beavers subs? I have no savings. The thought that they will look at a cash withdrawl and say I have to use that to pay off debt when it would have gone on something vital like milk or school fund (paid that in the last month) is bizarre! I would rather someone impartial looked at it.

How much could I offer to pay realistically? If I made it so low that I might not notice it (which even at £10 a month I would notice on the weekly shop!) that would be hanging over my head for over 3 years!

Whilst I appreciate I didn't invoice them for the money and should pay it back the whole thing is making me feel really sick :-( This is not something I borrowed and knew the consequence of beforehand iyswim. It just happened and at a really awful time!

SpagBol

Sorry, should say the debt isn't that well managed, or we wouldn't have it, but this was all from several years ago and we are paying it back without default and most is at 0% which is what I mean by well managed!!

SpagBol

D'oh, also should read £40k debt (mind is on kids dinner!!)

paulmapp8306

Offer what you SOA says you can afford. If its £1 per month then its £1 per month. If its £10 its £10.

As long as your SOA is reasonable (post it here and we can see if ti is - anything you need to include to have overestimated etc), then they will/should accept it.

loislane999

The same thing happened to me a few years ago. You are required to pay them back, even though it is their mistake, but they cannot take it from you in such a way to cause you hardship. You will need to send your SOA and bank statement and make an offer. If you can only afford £1 a month, then make that offer. They will have to accept it - i can't imagine that any court will ask you to pay more if you cannot afford it. Make sure that you don't underestimate your living expenses just to find some dosh to pay them back. Use the advice offered on this website (sorry, don't know the link - perhaps someone else can find) to know how much to include for groceries per week etc and what to include. It's not really any different from any other debt in terms of paying them back - the only difference is that you didn't have a pre-arranged repayment value.
I just saw it as an interest free loan! (which is also something else they shouldn't be charging you). Don't worry too much - if it takes a few years, then it takes a few years. You never know, they may even write it off at some point.

McKneff

An SOA would be best, just because you think something is essential, we can maybe show you that it can be done without.

The forum is anonymous so you really have nothing to worry about.

ie, Does OH take sandwiches for lunch and pay £3 a cup for coffee, DDs can sometimes be cut down, buying a hair clipper can
be cheaper than hairdressing fees etc etc.

omits

McKneff wrote: »

An SOA would be best, just because you think something is essential, we can maybe show you that it can be done without.

The forum is anonymous so you really have nothing to worry about.

ie, Does OH take sandwiches for lunch and pay £3 a cup for coffee, DDs can sometimes be cut down, buying a hair clipper can
be cheaper than hairdressing fees etc etc.

I find it strange how people even pay for all these things. My challenge every day if I need to buy is to look at all ways of doing it cheaper (including whether I really need it). PS if you bought an expensive car (on mortgage!) and servicing a loan to pay it off then sell the car and get something smaller and much cheaper. Cheaper all round.

McKneff

Oh, you'd be surprised at what is on peoples SOA, one lady had her daughters horse riding lessons on it and 'oh no, she couldnt possibly have to do without those' they were on the verge of bankruptcy. lol