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.

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.

AndyinLondon_2

You may potentially have a claim against the bank, if you could argue that, based on the incorrect information they gave you, you had changed your position. However, you would need to prove that the bank told you the money was yours, and would need to demonstrate that you had spent it on things you wouldn't otherwise have bought. For the sake of £65 it's a bit of an academic debate.

The easiest option for all concerned would be to pay it back - it was, after all, never yours to spend in the first place.