Money Moral Dilemma: Should I repay money wrongly paid into my account?

MSE_Sarah

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

A former employer has wrongly paid me over £1,000 even though I haven't worked there in six years. I've put the cash aside in case it asks for the money back, but should I contact the firm to repay it now?

Unfortunately the MSE team can't always answer money moral dilemma questions as contributions are often emailed in or suggested in person. They are intended to be enjoyed as a point of debate and discussed at face value.

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Got a money moral dilemma of your own? [URL="mailto: mmd@moneysavingexpert.com"]Suggest an MMD[/URL].

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lozzy81

of course you should!!

Poppy1984

Yes, what a stupid question.

phryne

Wait till they ask for it. You might even get a bit of interest on the £1000 (probably not much, but still). It might even become statute barred eventually, if they don't acknowledge the payment.

Similar thing happened to me many many years ago. In fact they kept paying me for about 3 months after I'd left. It wasn't worth their bother chasing me for their c*ck-up, I presume, as I didn't hear any more from them after the initial phone calls and threats

(I should point out that it wasn't £1000, I was only a Saturday girl in a kitchen. Oh and I wasn't relying on them for a reference!)

mrschaucer

MSE_Sarah wrote: »

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

A former employer has wrongly paid me over £1,000 even though I haven't worked there in six years. I've put the cash aside in case it asks for the money back, but should I contact the firm to repay it now?

Unfortunately the MSE team can't always answer money moral dilemma questions as contributions are often emailed in or suggested in person. They are intended to be enjoyed as a point of debate and discussed at face value.

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

Got a money moral dilemma of your own? [URL="mailto: mmd@moneysavingexpert.com"]Suggest an MMD[/URL].

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Just quoting the original post in case (or should that be "when") the staffers decide to alter it again ...

Gavin83

Essentially it depends on if you're a thief or not. Clearly some people in this world don't mind being thieves so if you fit into this category then keep the money.

marliepanda

There is an old obscure banking law which means any money paid into your account is yours once a full moon has passed. Now the next full moon isnt until 24.10.18, so hopefully they don't notice until then, but you may have submitted this to MSE at some date in the past, so a full moon may have passed already.

Now you may think 'oh hopefully I did submit it before the last full moon' but that would actually be a bad thing, because you have to call your bank at the stroke of midnight in order to claim the funds legally, and if you didn't do that on the night of the full moon you have to pay back twice the amount to the person who sent it...

NBLondon

marliepanda wrote: »

There is an old obscure banking law ....
because you have to call your bank at the stroke of midnight in order to claim the funds legally,

But your banker has to be wearing a periwig and have a freshly sharpened quill to note the claim in the correct ledger.:D

But as I've been in this situation with a temp agency - the sensible approach is:

1) Tell them they have made a mistake.
2) a) If your account would go overdrawn by them reversing the transaction - leave it there and don't dip into it.
2) b) If you have sufficient funds already to avoid 2) a) - move it to the best interest-bearing account you can for the time being.
3) Keep an eye out for the payment being reversed. A decent company will tell you when they are going to do it so you can move the funds back. Many will just reverse the transaction and tell you afterwards.
4) If the mistake is repeated - go back to 2)

Fireflyaway

Contact the former employer just in case they did this for some reason. Unlikely i suppose but they could have realized there was a historical error that needed correcting? In my last nightmare job one poor guy was being underpaid for 3 years! Only on checking something else did it come to light. If not then obviously pay it back. If you accidentally dropped £1000 on the floor right by someone would it be ok for that someone to take it?

Robisere

Depends upon your previous working relationship with the employer. I can think of one real swine who made almost 5 years of my life a misery, then refused me Holiday and severance pay. I would certainly have taken his money, but kept it in a small savings account in case he noticed. (He probably would not have noticed the loss - he was as useless a businessman as he was a human being.)


Thief? No, appropriate justice. I really do not care what anyone thinks of that.



My real justice came when I joined a new organisation two streets away from that evil swine, and took dozens of customers with me.

BISCUIT1

Yes you should let them know and repay it as you are committing a criminal offence if you don't..retaining a wrongful credit.