Overpaid final pay, what are the consequences if I ignore letter?

TELLIT01

steampowered wrote: »

I don't think this is a criminal matter at the moment. Theft requires you to 'dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another'. Leaving the money sitting in your account is not appropriating it.

However if you spent the money, then it would become theft.

Agreed. The inference taken from the OP asking about ignoring the letter/e-mail is that they would be planning to use the money. I don't imagine their intention is to leave it in a bank account and note the balance on a regular basis.

Comms69

Samsung_Note2 wrote: »

Well im going to go against the "Its theft" and "You will get a CCJ"" type advise.

Can only speak from personal been there done it got the T shirt and kept it experience..lol

After receiving a significant sum of money circa £18,000..it turned out there was very little the company who had paid it out could do to reclaim it and that's coming from a big firm.

Bottom line was i offered to repay and they had very little choice but except the offer i made,questions of police involvement as assumed/told it was theft etc etc and turned out it was nothing other than a civil matter despite the Social media experts shouting very loudly it was theft etc.

Its only fair to pay them back the amount that's been over paid...but id make sure its paid at an amount thats suits you,if that's £10 a month for the next 30 years then that's tough !!!!!! on them,maybe they will be more carefull next time.

1: it is theft, just because the police decided not to pursue it
2: you could still get a CCJ

Manxman_in_exile

Samsung_Note2 wrote: »

Its only fair to pay them back the amount that's been over paid...but id make sure its paid at an amount thats suits you,if that's £10 a month for the next 30 years then that's tough !!!!!! on them,maybe they will be more carefull next time.

As the OP has the money sitting untouched in their bank account, they'd be daft to follow this advice. If the overpayment had been made over a long period of time (or if the OP was absolutely skint) then some kind of repayment plan would be reasonable - but not here.

Manxman_in_exile

steampowered wrote: »

I don't think this is a criminal matter at the moment. Theft requires you to 'dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another'. Leaving the money sitting in your account is not appropriating it.

However if you spent the money, then it would become theft. A number of people have been jailed for doing exactly that (e.g. click this link) though admittedly over much larger amounts.

If the employer can get your address, they could issue a small claim against you.

I would insist on the employer providing proper details of how much you should have been paid (e.g. a payslip). You should then refund the rest (less tax, until you have been able to reclaim the tax from HMRC - you should not be left out of pocket by their mistake).[/QUOTE]


Agree that the OP definitely needs a detailed calculation from the employer of how the overpayment is made up.


Also agree that it's not a criminal offence - yet.


Playing Devil's Advocate, if you leave an overpayment in your account untouched, and you accept it's an overpayment but you don't pay it back, at what point (if any) can you be argued to have appropriated it dishonestly?

badmemory

steampowered wrote: »

I would insist on the employer providing proper details of how much you should have been paid (e.g. a payslip). You should then refund the rest (less tax, until you have been able to reclaim the tax from HMRC - you should not be left out of pocket by their mistake).

I completely agree with this. Ask in writing, not a phone call, signed for. They sound extremely inefficient so you need to have some proof. You could even warn them that the balance could take half way through next tax year as it may well take HMRC that long to sort out their mess. It is also possible that you may get it back from your current employer so you should look out for that.

Samsung_Note2

Gavin83 wrote: »

Well they could just take you to court to reclaim it. However I do agree with you it is a civil matter, you won't be getting a criminal record for it or anything like that but it can result in more hassle than it's worth. It's far easier to come to an agreement with the company.

In the case of the OP yes probably correct...but what if the company sending money deposits it into a different account by mistake or the bank has recycled an old account that was shut down and reused by the bank (How on earth reusing an account thats been shut down in the past and then given to someone new,can be seen as a good idea..lol)

Company sending money cannot get your details from the bank without your permission...then it starts getting very expensive for original company to start legal proceedings to just find out who you are and where you live,to simply contact your and ask you to repay funds.

Samsung_Note2

Comms69 wrote: »

1: it is theft, just because the police decided not to pursue it
2: you could still get a CCJ

Well as ive said i can only speak from experience..and trust me i made damn sure i knew what was what regards it being a civil or criminal matter,social media is great to ask about this and that like saving on heating bills or bank switching,legal matters it is not the right place.

But your simply wrong..how can the company involve the police "Yes hello is that Officer dribble...yes id like someone arrested for not returning money in one go that i over paid by mistake,sorry whats that have i taken legal advice..well yes i asked on a internet forum...hello...hello..oh i think they hung up""

Again hows the CCJ going to happen...""Hello is that Northampton county court...yeah i want Mr Blob to get a cc j because he owes me money that he said he will pay back but i wont it all in one go.""

So the above is a bit tongue in cheek and not to be taken deadly seriously...point is Police wont get involved and you cant just get a CCJ until a length process has been carried out.

Samsung_Note2

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

As the OP has the money sitting untouched in their bank account, they'd be daft to follow this advice. If the overpayment had been made over a long period of time (or if the OP was absolutely skint) then some kind of repayment plan would be reasonable - but not here.

And id agree with you..however i did say make sure its paid back at an amount that suits the OP.

If he can pay it back and not be left short,then one lump sum is good..but the point was its not his fault the company doesn't know what there doing,so he should decide how he wants to repay,no one else as in the company.

Gavin83

Samsung_Note2 wrote: »

In the case of the OP yes probably correct...but what if the company sending money deposits it into a different account by mistake or the bank has recycled an old account that was shut down and reused by the bank (How on earth reusing an account thats been shut down in the past and then given to someone new,can be seen as a good idea..lol)

Company sending money cannot get your details from the bank without your permission...then it starts getting very expensive for original company to start legal proceedings to just find out who you are and where you live,to simply contact your and ask you to repay funds.

Well that's a completely different situation. However the company can just reverse the payment if it's gone to the wrong account, although it does involve a bit of work. There are also cases of people receiving a criminal record for spending money deposited into their account by mistake, this is more illegal that the OP's issue.

Samsung_Note2 wrote: »

And id agree with you..however i did say make sure its paid back at an amount that suits the OP.

If he can pay it back and not be left short,then one lump sum is good..but the point was its not his fault the company doesn't know what there doing,so he should decide how he wants to repay,no one else as in the company.

I'm almost certain the company would agree to a payment plan as long as it's reasonable. £10 a month isn't reasonable.

I do agree with the others here though, the OP does need a breakdown from the company in regards to how they came to this figure. That should be his first step, while making it clear he isn't attempting to dodge what he owes.

Manxman_in_exile

Samsung_Note2 wrote: »

And id agree with you..however i did say make sure its paid back at an amount that suits the OP.

If he can pay it back and not be left short,then one lump sum is good..but the point was its not his fault the company doesn't know what there doing,so he should decide how he wants to repay,no one else as in the company.

That's the ridiculously unreasonable bit. It's not what suits the OP, it's what is reasonable. The idea, which you suggest, of paying it back over 30 years is clearly daft. It's only £1300, it's been made in a single payment and the OP has not touched that money (by their own admission). They can pay it back straight away.


In different circumstances your advice might make more sense, but it doesn't here.