Refund error, help and advice needed please

jillymit

Hello, Sorry it's a long one,
I wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience or how other people would approach this situation.

At the beginning of last month I had 4 transactions show up on my Bank credit card adding up to just under £900 from a large insurance company.
I rang the CC company and all 4 transactions were refunded, I was issued a new card and sent a declaration to sign to say that they had nothing to do with me.
Sorted! or so I thought.....
A few days later the refunds were credited again leaving my credit card in credit.
I left it a couple of days thinking the bank would sort it out but after a week it was still there or so I rang them and was told the original refund was given by the bank who would then seek to reclaim the money from the company and the second refund was from the actually company therefore the bank would take it back from me and all would be straight.
Bear with me..........
Fast forward to today the CC is still in credit, another phone call to the bank and they say they will not be seeking to reclaim the money from me and the original company only has 45 days to reclaim the refund by charging my card again but could at any time write to me seeking the money.
Obviously the money is not mine but I can't say I wouldn't be thrilled to have it to spend at some point. Any ideas???
I've tried to google about my rights to keep this money but it's so complicated I can't find anything.
Ideas anyone?

molerat

The company can chase you for the "debt" for 6 years so best to contact them.

jillymit

molerat wrote: »

The company can chase you for the "debt" for 6 years so best to contact them.

or maybe wait six years?

Herbalus

So the bank has issued a refund to you, which they would be chasing the insurance company for. They must have this money from the insurance company if they don't want you to give them the money back i.e. they paid you and got this amount from the insurance company.

If the insurance company have paid the bank and you then they've effectively paid twice. Right? Perhaps write to them and ask. Everyone would doubtless like some free money but the likelihood is that it won't happen, so I would write and ask how you can pay them back.

jillymit

Yes that's right.
I know the 'right' thing would be to contact the insurance company to ask how they would like me to pay them back but it would be lovely to think that one day it could actually be mine to spend plus a bit of me says they inconvenienced me in the first place.
I think I may wait a while

Dogger69

jillymit wrote: »

Yes that's right.
I know the 'right' thing would be to contact the insurance company to ask how they would like me to pay them back but it would be lovely to think that one day it could actually be mine to spend plus a bit of me says they inconvenienced me in the first place.
I think I may wait a while

Shameful behaviour, no better than a thief. Arrange to return the overpayment.

Herbalus

jillymit wrote: »

Yes that's right.
I know the 'right' thing would be to contact the insurance company to ask how they would like me to pay them back but it would be lovely to think that one day it could actually be mine to spend plus a bit of me says they inconvenienced me in the first place.
I think I may wait a while

If only the world were that simple. I'll make you a bet. If you manage to keep it, I'll double it.

bris

The money will never belong to you so spending it is called "retaining wrongful credit" and is a criminal offence. People have gone to jail for this so best to either do nothing and let them chase you or be proactive in giving it back.

After 6 years the money still wouldn't be yours but they can no longer chase you for it, so it would be safe to spend it then.

dalesrider

So lets get this right. The bank has treated it as fraud and refunded you. Then the ins co realised that they were fraudulent transaction and refunded the card used.

The answer is simple. The bank can not have charged the 4 trans back as fraud. That requires you to sign a form.
As such the bank has refunded you themselves. So its a simple task of redebiting you.
I can only think they have returned the payments back as unrecognised. As such the ins co has the right to reject the chargeback on the basis they have already refunded. 45 days from chargeback.
Even then the bank can/should redebit you the refund they gave you and then monitor the account.
If the chargeback is rejected it comes back to internal accounts. So can be redirected to where ever needed.

Go back have moan and tell them that you want one of the credits removing now and that they can monitor the account to ensure it is not redebited.

udydudy

I agree with Dalerider except for the last sentence. As you mention that the initial transaction took place early April. Expect that the bank at some point take back the credit they gave you when you informed them of the fraudulent transactions.
The chargeback process is pretty long winded. Having worked for a financial services company I know for a fact that it takes approximately 3-4 months from when the customer raises a chargeback request for the customers bank to know if the chargeback has been rejected by the vendors(in this case insurance company) bank.
Once your bank as Dalerider said receives the rejection they would reverse the credit they issued you in the first place.

So the money in 99.9% of cases like this would be taken back. so if you spend it then you would need figure out after a few months how you are going to repay your bank when they reverse your credits.

If the credit is not reversed(does happen the remaining 0.1%) then it is as good as yours(not legally though) but sometimes(though rarely) it does happen where the chargeback gets lost in the murky financial industry!! And they would never realise it. once it goes over a year or two they would never figure it out. Remember £900 is peanuts for the bank when they deal in billions and once a transaction gets lost they do not bother.

But it is only 5-6 weeks so you have a long wait before you can decide it is safe to spend the money.

I am sure there would be a lot of moral police here who are going to jump at the mere suggestion of spending the money but why should you have to bother chasing them to take the money back? As long as you have called the bank and told them that you have received the credit back from the insurance company for the fraudulent transaction.

After that it is their "JOB" and responsibility. if they cannot do that it is not for you to chase them!!