Over paid?

richardhomer

dbphoto said:

In my early 20’s £2500 appeared in my account one day.

I had been self employed since I was 18, so not an employer making an error.

To this day I have no idea where it came from but I sure as hell kept my mouth shut at the time and didn’t question it with my bank.

Funnily enough, I’ve been checking some old bank statements seem to be £2500 adrift....

57Deluxe

If anyone does get advised of being overpaid and the money is not available to meet the demand, go to the Citizens Advice and get them to help you negotiate 'terms' for its repayment. A body like this behind you often adds weight.

Jalapeno

I'm not convinced that an ex-employer can do much other than ask for the money back.  They could in theory go to the small claims courts I suppose. Unless you have signed a direct debit (which would be very odd), they can't go raiding your bank account,

Paul7926

Years ago some money appeared in my account at about the same time I was expecting a payment.  I wasn't very good at keeping track of things so as it was roughly what I was expecting I thought nothing of it.  A few days later the real payment arrived.  Turns out the first one was a bank error.  They asked for it back, which they are legally entitled to do as it simply wasn't my money.  Anyway the point was I negotiated to pay it back in instalments which their legal team agreed to immediately.

So basically if it's not yours then legally they can reclaim it.  This idea that if it's not your mistake it's free money doesn't stand up in court.  However I think there is leeway to insist that you thought it was yours and spent it so can't afford to pay it back in one go.  As with most things financial it's very hard for a company, even in court, to bully an individual who is making a reasonable attempt at paying.

So if you really feel like annoying them then when they ask for it offer to pay it back over a year. 

dbphoto

If you can tell me the exact amount I will transfer it over right away @richardhomer ;-)




(it was an amount I probably won't ever forget: £2543.21)

richardhomer

dbphoto said:

If you can tell me the exact amount I will transfer it over right away @richardhomer ;-)




(it was an amount I probably won't ever forget: £2543.21)

It was £2543.21, IIRC....

dbphoto

Spot on, now what is your account details?

beed84

Turns out to be worse that what I thought. Not only did they overpay me for November, they overpaid with three extra weeks' pay in October too, which I didn't realise, and not convinced is entirely true – I have no breakdown or evidence of my holiday pay, so for all I know it could be that.

Regardless, I now owe just shy of £1500. They've sent me a letter apologising for the error and don't want to cause any financial hardship, so I've offered £10 a month – they want £50 a month, which, with all my other outgoings is too much IMO.The woman I spoke to was nice to begin with but was then passive-aggressive and tactfully putting the responsibility on me. At this point I'm not sure what to do. I don't know whether I should fold or stick to my guns. It's their error, and it feels like I'm paying for it. I can seriously do without it. Thoughts?

richardhomer

Given that you suspected you’d been overpaid, why did you spend the money? Sorry, but this was bound to be the outcome....

mbe

Ask her, "can you whistle?"

beed84

richardhomer said:

Given that you suspected you’d been overpaid, why did you spend the money? Sorry, but this was bound to be the outcome....

I’d spent the October overpayment as I genuinely had no idea, but November’s is stowed away. It’s the error, conflicting we don’t want to bother you but we do, and the bullying tactics that bother me the most. Even if I did pay back November’s, I’d still owe £600 at £50 a month which would be a financial hardship.

Shrews

Years ago about half the employees where I worked found out our Payroll Office had cocked up their tax and they all had to pay about £500 back.

Unfortunately, not a leg to stand on, they did have to pay it all back. 

That went down well.

-----------------

I think £50 a month is a reasonable request from them, ultimately that's 30 months or 2.5 years. Unfortunately, your request is 150 months or 12.5 years.  There are mortgages that have finished earlier!

They would win any court case on this.  I think I'd go for a compromise of £25 a month and a 5 year pay-off.

Ultimately you don't want daft bills like this hanging over you anyway and if you're not careful they'll send the sheriffs around to flog off all your guitars.  

beed84

Shrews said:

Years ago about half the employees where I worked found out our Payroll Office had cocked up their tax and they all had to pay about £500 back.

Unfortunately, not a leg to stand on, they did have to pay it all back. 

That went down well.

-----------------

I think £50 a month is a reasonable request from them, ultimately that's 30 months or 2.5 years. Unfortunately, your request is 150 months or 12.5 years.  There are mortgages that have finished earlier!

They would win any court case on this.  I think I'd go for a compromise of £25 a month and a 5 year pay-off.

Ultimately you don't want daft bills like this hanging over you anyway and if you're not careful they'll send the sheriffs around to flog off all your guitars.  

Thanks for this. It’s a fair point and supports some advice I received from CAB. I’ll try £25 a month with a view to review in 6 months. As you’ve rightly pointed out, I don’t want this hanging over me, and the reality is there’s no way around it.

Shrews

@beed84 ;

Yes. I'd also be careful about any 'references' that might still be pending. It's common for new employers to ask former employers for references once you are employed and not before you are employed. This is for the obvious reason that job seekers can be reluctant to allow potential new employers for references as this would put them in a difficult position should they not get the job or decide they don't want it.

What you don't want is your old employer to refuse giving you a reference as this can be a sign that all was not well between you, leaving it up to your new employer to work out if it's something or nothing. 

Don't forget you are likely to be on a probation period and nowadays an employer can dismiss any employee within the first two years with no need for a tribunal that might be against unfair dismissal.

Not sure if there's any payroll people on here, but there might be an issue with your tax because of the overpayment which might be picked up by your current employer, warranting an explanation from you i.e why are you being taxed on two wages? 

Veganic

The issue is whether you think they can be arsed to take you to court for such a small amount.  Unfortunately this is usually inversely proportional to how much they need it.

Send them £22.44 and see if they accept it.  Their accounting seems so shit thst if you send a different amount every month the will get confused. 

Wait for a letter saying they want their day in court before you take requests too seriously.

Offer them good to the value of to save them calling baillifs.

Offer to work it off.


Source: not a clue about the law.

Snags

No idea about your wider circumstances, but you're probably best off getting out from under it as quick as possible. Can you offer to pay the November bit in one hit, and the balance at £25 a month? Shows willing, but hopefully doesn't stuff you up.

Also, if they reckon they stuffed up in October I'd be asking for a full breakdown, and also an assessment of whether that's caused you to overpay tax/NI etc.

I'd also be furious, that they could stuff up that badly

duotone

Old chap I used to work with, when his role was terminated he drove off in ‘his’ company Jaguar.  Months later the company tried to argue that it was still theirs, but he argued that it was his and the director had agreed he could keep it when he left.

He went to citizens advice and they told him to put it in writing what he could pay & to always pay on time every month.  He paid just £20 a month for this Jaguar always on time.  Another year goes by and the company go out of business...he keeps the Jaguar.  

duotone

beed84 said:

Turns out to be worse that what I thought. Not only did they overpay me for November, they overpaid with three extra weeks' pay in October too, which I didn't realise, and not convinced is entirely true – I have no breakdown or evidence of my holiday pay, so for all I know it could be that.

Regardless, I now owe just shy of £1500. They've sent me a letter apologising for the error and don't want to cause any financial hardship, so I've offered £10 a month – they want £50 a month, which, with all my other outgoings is too much IMO.The woman I spoke to was nice to begin with but was then passive-aggressive and tactfully putting the responsibility on me. At this point I'm not sure what to do. I don't know whether I should fold or stick to my guns. It's their error, and it feels like I'm paying for it. I can seriously do without it. Thoughts?

You need to dig out some pay slips & put some time into sorting out if this part is correct or not....add it all up so you are correct on the actual true figure you owe them, then go from there.  At the moment it’s a £1500 bill that might be correct & might not be correct.

From this point on, put EVERYTHING in writing. Personally I would avoid doing things with your old company over the phone...much better to have it as an email or letter.