Funds put into my account in error

tinkerbellgem

Dear all,

I need help please.

A company that i worked for previously have put funds into my account, i'm presuming in error, this is one of my bank accounts that only my wages go into and my bills go out of.

What i need to know is as they still have me on the payrole, and i left last may - well they lost the contract they had secured to pay me.. do i have to legally pay this money back? They have no proof that i still have this account, and if i hadn't of been checking my internet banking i wouldn't have known it was in there.

Is there any legalality in regards to this?

PLEASE HELP!

Trow

You will have to pay the money back. They will be able to trace where it went, and if you don't they can take you to court. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095350/Mark-Rafferty-accidentally-paid-31k-firm-blew-money-New-York-break-Xbox-iPad.html for a recent example (although the scale is presumably a little bigger!)

jonas123

Depends how honest you are - you could notify the company or keep it in a separate account. You can probably assume if they haven't chased you for it after a few years, they probably won't.

(but I'd notify the company just to get rid of any potential stress!)

Antispam

Yes if money doenst belong to you them morally and legally you do. If you dont pay then they may chase you for it, is that a risk you want to take?

AdmiralX

tinkerbellgem wrote: »

Dear all,

I need help please.

A company that i worked for previously have put funds into my account, i'm presuming in error, this is one of my bank accounts that only my wages go into and my bills go out of.

What i need to know is as they still have me on the payrole, and i left last may - well they lost the contract they had secured to pay me.. do i have to legally pay this money back? They have no proof that i still have this account, and if i hadn't of been checking my internet banking i wouldn't have known it was in there.

Is there any legalality in regards to this?

PLEASE HELP!

Notify them in writing of this error and sent it recorded delivery. Do not forget to write that you would like to return this money when they request it. You will be fine. Then wait, They may come back and congratulate you for honesty. They should. Your problem is to notify the error. One of their problems is this: they should sort out where they send money and should not make errors, and they need to know it happened. You could send them 2 copies from 2 different post offices, keep the records safe.

cottonhead

Yes it will be easy for them to see where the money went and of course they will want it back. I would pay it back asap - the longer you keep it the more tempting it will be to spend it and you might find yourself in debt as a result when they do catch up with you ( which wont be long ! ).

geordie_joe

AdmiralX wrote: »

Notify them in writing of this error and sent it recorded delivery. Do not forget to write that you would like to return this money when they request it. You will be fine. Then wait, They may come back and congratulate you for honesty. They should. Your problem is to notify the error. One of their problems is this: they should sort out where they send money and should not make errors, and they need to know it happened. You could send them 2 copies from 2 different post offices, keep the records safe.

Hang on, we don't know if it is an error, it might be money the op is entitled to. The company may have genuinely owed the money and discovered it when doing their end of year accounts.

I wouldn't inform them that they have made an error, the person who gets the letter may just see the words "money paid in error" and panic and demand the money back asap.

I would simply inform them that they have paid money into my account and ask why they have done in. That way the person will find out why it was paid and not just go ahead thinking it was an error and try to get it back.

andyproc

This happened to me about 7 years ago. I was temping with an agency and left them to go permanent and around a grand went into my account. Id had a tax rebate 6 months earlier and all my wages were up to date. I had only been with them a few months so couldn't have built up much holiday credit. I just kept quiet and kept it in a savings account for 2 years then spent it, It may have been legitimate but I have no idea what for. I'd keep quite, move it into savings account and earn the interest and see what happens.