Reply to: Paid too much....they got the decimal placing wrong

[d000hg]

Well just withdraw it all from your Ltd and fold the company.

In the old days that might even have worked.

[CryingSheep]

Move to somewhere they can’t touch you and start a new life

maybe if the mistake was made with 2 more zeros...

[dx4100]

Move to somewhere they can’t touch you and start a new life

[Mordac]

Quite an experience this morning when checking my business account. I've been paid £74k for a months work....not bad going. It looks like the agency have got the decimal place wrong in the invoice. Being the honest man I am I have informed them
Not sure how it will work paying it back but i think it'll be messy as i'm paid in Euros and its converted by my bank along with other charges.

INKSPE.

[scooterscot]

FTFY

"pleading ignorance is unlikely to work in your favour."

But if you're an MP claiming dodgy expenses or publishing dubious record win-falls before an referendum robbing future generations, ignorance is king.

[scooterscot]

Theft.

Not surprised. It is not lawful to offset one payment against another without agreement of the creditor. If they really owed you the money, then your accountant could have got it back for you, notwithstanding any statutory time limits.

That overpayment was closely followed by the termination of services from SJD accountancy.

[CryingSheep]

It's doable, slightly different situation in my case as it was between my accounts both in HSBC, but they reverted the transaction and no deductions for fees or exchange rates.

In my case I accidentally transferred the GBP equivalent of 10k USD to my USD account instead of the other way around when I was emptying my USD account. It was mostly the atrocious UI of the HSBC website combined with my inherent lack of attention even during important moments like this. I called HSBC minutes after the transfer asking them to reverse the transaction, initially the guy on the phone told me to just transfer the money back. I tried to explain to him that it would incur another round of currency conversion fees, leaving me £100s out of pocket, poor chap couldn't wrap his head around it, so I asked him to consult with his supervisor. The supervisor tried to fob me off, saying that this is not possible, at that point I bluffed and told him that I have done this before, so if he can double check I would be grateful. He refereed my case to a specialist team within HSBC, that managed to revert the transaction in about 10 days.

I'm not sure if they are obligated in any way to do this or whether it's only at their discretion, but if both parties agree and can demonstrate the transaction was a genuine mistake a transaction can be reversed.

That's a very specific situation where the bank probably took the bullet for you, since it was between accounts from same bank and you are probably a good costumer (telling them on the same working day, might have made the difference too as banks usually work with a daily exchange rate rather a live one)! Banks don't have foreigner currency laying around specially +70k they have to get it from the 'market' what have costs and it obviously fluctuates from one day to the other.

I'm pretty sure they are legally obliged to reverse a transaction made by mistake (agreed by both parties), but not to refund fees and other costs incurred.

Anyway, in the OP situation the only reasonable thing to do is to keep exactly the money owed and send back the rest deducted of any fees and costs, as mentioned before...

[sal]

How that would work? The bank exchange the euros into pounds on the day X. Day X + 4 (for example) bank reverses transaction. At this point the exchange rate would be different. Who would take the hit (or the profit)? What about the fee already charged for the currency exchange?

It's doable, slightly different situation in my case as it was between my accounts both in HSBC, but they reverted the transaction and no deductions for fees or exchange rates.

In my case I accidentally transferred the GBP equivalent of 10k USD to my USD account instead of the other way around when I was emptying my USD account. It was mostly the atrocious UI of the HSBC website combined with my inherent lack of attention even during important moments like this. I called HSBC minutes after the transfer asking them to reverse the transaction, initially the guy on the phone told me to just transfer the money back. I tried to explain to him that it would incur another round of currency conversion fees, leaving me £100s out of pocket, poor chap couldn't wrap his head around it, so I asked him to consult with his supervisor. The supervisor tried to fob me off, saying that this is not possible, at that point I bluffed and told him that I have done this before, so if he can double check I would be grateful. He refereed my case to a specialist team within HSBC, that managed to revert the transaction in about 10 days.

I'm not sure if they are obligated in any way to do this or whether it's only at their discretion, but if both parties agree and can demonstrate the transaction was a genuine mistake a transaction can be reversed.

[NotAllThere]

Clarify for me, what law was broken?

Theft.

I've made overpayments to the HMRC vat man in error, worst case was £5000. Never got it back, they point black refused and kicked up hell when I tried to deduct the difference from the next payment.

Not surprised. It is not lawful to offset one payment against another without agreement of the creditor. If they really owed you the money, then your accountant could have got it back for you, notwithstanding any statutory time limits.

Errors and errors and they come with a cost. Size is irrelevant.

Wrong. If the OP had millions going into their account, it might be feasible to argue that they didn't realise. But when it's a huge overpayment in comparison to other payments, that argument isn't going to work, since it'd be impossible to argue you didn't know it was an error.

In OP's case, keeping the money would be theft. Generally, even if you didn't realise the overpayment, you are obligated to pay it back once the error becomes known, with few exceptions.

[vetran]

pleading ignorance is unlikely to work in your favour. but it worked for me the Thistle even gave me back the 10p tip for room service

FTFY

[Old Greg]

Whatever you do, don't do that. There have been plenty of cases of people going to prison for keeping and spending the money.

Theft by finding.

[scooterscot]

Whatever you do, don't do that. There have been plenty of cases of people going to prison for keeping and spending the money.

Clarify for me, what law was broken?

I've made overpayments to the HMRC vat man in error, worst case was £5000. Never got it back, they point black refused and kicked up hell when I tried to deduct the difference from the next payment.

Errors and errors and they come with a cost. Size is irrelevant.


Here's the Theft Act 1968. It say you could be guilty of an offence if a wrongful credit is made to your account and:

1. You know the credit has been made incorrectly

2. You don't take steps to to cancel the credit


There have been some exceptional cases where individuals have been allowed to keep money accidently paid to them. This can happen in two ways:

1. If you have a credible argument as to why you should keep it: For example, a part time bank worker who was overpaid £7,500 a year for three years won a court case to keep her windfall. A tribunal ruled in her favour after she successfully argued she had assumed the increase was a pay rise that she had been promised by her employers.


2. If you did not realise you were given money in error: This argument was used successfully in 1950 in a case between Lloyds Bank and Cecily Kate Brooks. Ms Brooks, expecting a similar payment to the amount wrongly credited to her, argued that she spent the money believing that it belonged to her. This sort of case is the exception not the rule, and pleading ignorance is unlikely to work in your favour.

[GhostofTarbera]

Go to Vegas spend it all - live life die young


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[NotAllThere]

You pay them back the money that's owed, less your costs. So they paid you £74,000. Of which £7,400 is yours, the rest belongs to them. Overpayment is £66,600. You transfer that back to their account and convert to Euros. You choose the option that the recipient pays all costs. If your bank doesn't let you do that and insists you pay, e.g. £25, then you transfer back to the agency £66,575.

That's it.

You just make sure you have in your account exactly the amount you would have had without their mistake.

[TestMangler]

Explain to them the charge, and due to their error they shoulsd take the hit for transaction costs. It’s illegal to withhold. Than call your bank, explain your situation and see if they can do some goodwill considering error. Free money. (As long as fee is worth it)
Or
Put it all on black and make your money no time!

Even by the standards of this forum, that is pretty awful advice.

If the OP wants to make some money out of this situation, he should at least bet it all using some scientific method, like maybe throwing it all on a number based on his wife's birthday or summat.