Wages paid into the wrong account - company's fault

Ditzy_Mitzy

Mickey666 said:

Is the Santander overdraft authorised?  If so, can the payment not be transferred out again, leaving a little behind as the monthly repayment?

I think it depends on how much overdraft there is and whether the bank is willing to do it.  The bottom line is that the overdraft is a debt to Santander, which is under no obligation to return the money or otherwise assist the OP.  'Taking the money out' isn't possible as it doesn't belong to the OP any more, it has been used to service the debt so is now the property of the bank.  The bank would have to be willing to extend the overdraft again or, in essence, lend money to the OP.  It may do so, but the trouble is that overdrafts are often extremely expensive ways to borrow. 
It may just be worth asking the employer if it is willing to pay half of next month's wages in advance, however that would entail disclosing the matter of the overdraft debt.  

Savvy_Sue

You see, I think if we'd managed to do something like this, we would firstly try to see if we could reverse the payment to Santander and send it to the right place, and if that wasn't possible, we'd almost certainly be willing to come to some arrangement to give an advance, perhaps for the next several months. 

But then mine is an awesome employer. 

I agree that asking politely and pointing out the employer's error, again politely, with fingers and toes crossed ... 

unforeseen

Employer could, quite rightly, argue that yes, they had used the old account by mistake BUT that account is still owned and accessible by the employee.

The fact that the overdraft swallowed it up is a problem that the employee needs to deal with themselves. 

TELLIT01

If it was a case that the employee had provided information about a new bank account and that hadn't been actioned in time for payroll,I might have some sympathy with the employer.  In this case it would seem to have been a total ****up by the employer but the employee is the one suffering.  The employer should contact Santander and tell them the payment had been made in error and they need it returning.  The employee hasn't actually spent the money, Santander has set it against a debt so they don't have a 3rd party to involve in recovery.

jobbingmusician

I think that the employer has at least a moral responsibility to reimburse the employee for any losses incurred as a result of their mistake.  In this case I suspect that the cost to the employer would be very minimal - in fact the cost to the employer of working out what these losses actually are would far exceed the actual cost of putting the situation right!  Clearly the simplest solution is the one proposed by TELLIT01 and SavvySue (and perhaps by others, I haven't memorised the entire thread!) above.

So what are the ACTUAL costs to the employee?  My estimate is, assuming the amount concerned is £500:
Cost of getting/borrowing (£500 less the standing monthly order to Santander) minus the interest saved at Santander.  Of course, I appreciate that this may produce a result of zero, theoretically, if the employee owes S a lot, but obviously the employee cannot survive December on zero.  I do think the OP should think hard about what they actually want the employer to do.  If they can't reclaim the money from S, I would suggest an interest free loan of the money by the employer, repayable from salary over the next year.  The employer will probably moan about making an interest free loan, but if they say the dreaded words HMRC the OP should explain that HMRC will excuse an interest free loan when it is paid to sort out an error made by the employer.

General_Grant

Does the OP have a job or other source of income?  If so cannot they support their wife for one month when she doesn't have to make any other payment to Santander and will be paying less interest over time and could pay off the overdraft more quickly.

JReacher1

I don’t think you can do anything here. Although annoying from your employer they have paid your partners bank account so the money has gone to the right person. Unfortunately the money has gone to the wrong account and as a result it has been used to service a debt. 

Santander are unlikely to refund the money and I don’t believe your employer can reverse it either. 

AskAsk

as someone had said, the company had made an administrative error but they can't be held accountable as it is not their fault that your wife's account is in overdraft.  they have paid her, all be it, to an old account.  you could ask them if it is possible to retrieve the money and pay it to the right account.  if you explain the situation, they may be able to retrieve the money, but i think it is very difficult to do so.

make sure you explain the problem and kick up a fuss, so that they don't do it again!

Super_Whiskey

Have you tried talking to Santander as you could argue that the employer's error has left you in unforeseen financial hardship? Assuming you've been paying it off regularly and if they were to look at your bank statement to see where it's come from they'd see it's not your usual repayment method?

74jax

Have you asked why they still have bank account details from over 7 months ago of yours and why they haven't been destroyed?