Money paid into my account by mistake

nicolac34

Hello,

Hope you can help me with a quick question. I've just received a letter from a well known Company who have admitted that for the previous 3 YEARS they have been paying dividends into my bank account by mistake. Apparently my Direct Debit mandate (for my own shareholding) had been mistakenly attached to someone elses and they've realised they mistake and are demanding that I repay them within the next two weeks by cheque.

It's not a huge amount, each dividend was around the £10 or under mark, so comes to about £65 they want back.

Now, I did notice these payments and I called my bank at the time to let them know. They weren't interested and said there was nothing they could do about it. When I asked if I could be made to pay back the money at a later date, they said 'no'.

So now I'm not sure what to do. I don't live in the UK anymore so don't have a UK cheque book even if I was inclined to pay them back, there's not really any money in my UK bank account, it's all over here in Aussie Dollar now. I only know of the letter because I have a re-direct to my parents house and they opened it.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Gromitt

You could refuse to pay the money back, or you could pay it back. The later would be the right thing to do - you knew the money wasn't yours, but similarly, they should have noticed before 3 years they were paying the wrong account!

I doubt they are going to be chasing you around the world for £65 however. It'll not be worth their while.

McKneff

If you noticed the error, you should have contacted the company,I dont understand why you rang the bank.

For the sake of £65 and your conscience I would just pay it back,

You are legally required to and your parents will get all the chasing letters.

silvercar

Contact them and remind them that the error was there's. Tell them that you are prepared to return the money provided there is no cost to yourself for doing so. Tell them you live in Australia and you have no sterling account, so the payments have been converted to Aus dollars and you have no sterling cheque book. With a bit of luck they will write off the amount.

Rupert_Bear

silvercar wrote: »

Contact them and remind them that the error was there's. Tell them that you are prepared to return the money provided there is no cost to yourself for doing so. Tell them you live in Australia and you have no sterling account, so the payments have been converted to Aus dollars and you have no sterling cheque book. With a bit of luck they will write off the amount.

If the OP is happy enough to lie then sounds a good idea.
As usual let your conscience be your guide!

pinkdalek

Considering the company made the error and the amount is £65 I am somewhat surprised they are wasting time chasing this amount of money.

I would explain your situation to them like others have posted, stress it was their error initially and the time it has taken them to address the issue.

silvercar

Rupert_Bear wrote: »

If the OP is happy enough to lie then sounds a good idea.
As usual let your conscience be your guide!

How is it a lie?

OP said:

So now I'm not sure what to do. I don't live in the UK anymore so don't have a UK cheque book even if I was inclined to pay them back, there's not really any money in my UK bank account, it's all over here in Aussie Dollar now. I only know of the letter because I have a re-direct to my parents house and they opened it.

IanManc

nicolac34 wrote: »

Hello,

Hope you can help me with a quick question. I've just received a letter from a well known Company who have admitted that for the previous 3 YEARS they have been paying dividends into my bank account by mistake. Apparently my Direct Debit mandate (for my own shareholding) had been mistakenly attached to someone elses and they've realised they mistake and are demanding that I repay them within the next two weeks by cheque.

It's not a huge amount, each dividend was around the £10 or under mark, so comes to about £65 they want back.

Now, I did notice these payments and I called my bank at the time to let them know. They weren't interested and said there was nothing they could do about it. When I asked if I could be made to pay back the money at a later date, they said 'no'.

So now I'm not sure what to do. I don't live in the UK anymore so don't have a UK cheque book even if I was inclined to pay them back, there's not really any money in my UK bank account, it's all over here in Aussie Dollar now. I only know of the letter because I have a re-direct to my parents house and they opened it.

Any advice would be appreciated!

I've highlighted three parts of your opening post.

The first shows that you were aware that money which did not belong to you was paid into your account.

That money still belonged to the payer who made the mistake. You were not entitled to it, and you are still not entitled to it.

The second quotation shows that you contacted the bank, and were told that you couldn't be made to pay the money back at a later date. The person who told you that was wrong.

The third quotation shows that you have almost emptied the bank account into which the money was wrongfully paid - even though you were aware that some of the money did not belong to you.

By taking money out of your bank account and using it as your own when that money has been paid into your account in error and does not belong to you is theft. People get prosecuted for doing that.

The payer company is entitled to its money back. If you do not pay then it could either enter a county court judgement against you - which would be inconvenient if you ever intend to come back to the UK, or make a complaint to the police. Although it is only a relatively small amount, do not be under an illusion that a company registrar will walk away from this. They have their procedures and they pursue them like automatons.

You know that you were not entitled to the money. The payers will continue to hassle for the money. As your parents are still here, the simplest thing would be for them to send a sterling cheque to the payers for the sum owed, and get it over with. You can then settle up with your parents afterwards somehow.

You need to sort this out because it won't just go away.

duchesspink1

contact them telling them you live in NZ and it will cost you to recitify their mistake. Its on £65 so hardly a great deal to them as a company. The poster above talks about ccj's etc. for 65quid and with you not being a uk resident, thats hardly likely to happen.

agrinnall

duchesspink1 wrote: »

contact them telling them you live in NZ and it will cost you to recitify their mistake. Its on £65 so hardly a great deal to them as a company. The poster above talks about ccj's etc. for 65quid and with you not being a uk resident, thats hardly likely to happen.

I agree in this instance, although I think you'll find that in NZ they use the NZ Dollar, the Aussie dollar referred to by the OP is used in.....Australia. :beer:

olly300

OP as already suggested the commonsense option would be to politely ask your parents to pay the money for you. You can in turn pay them back either by paypal, when they visit you (or vice versa) or in kind.

BTW if you are using your parent's house as a redirection address some companies can turn nasty and apply any credit information to you at that address even though you don't live there. However before that they are likely to hassle the occupants with letters and phone calls - I've been on the receiving end of it. I suggest you don't create debts at other people's houses otherwise you may find yourself with out an address to use for this purpose.