Statute Barred ?? Hopefully...

[Enzo Morales]

Hi,

I'm new to this site and have found it very informative so thanks to everyone who contributes.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this: A salary overpayment was apparently made which I attempted to pay back to the bank who made the overpayment error - they did not process the payment and no communication was subsequently made to or received from that bank ie. nothing heard about the matter since. This was all more than 6 years ago. I've recently had some DCA's sniffing around trying to get "the occupier" of my address to make contact. Is it likely that this would be transferred as a debt to a DCA to chase after such a long time ? Is it statue barred ? I want to be ready for them.....

Thanks

[comanche]

On the face of it that sounds like it's statute barred.

[sequenci]

has there ever been an official demand for payment for the money?

[Glenn UK]

i believe that money paid under a mistake can be recovered and the six years runs from when the mistake was discovered.

You could argue that the cause of action accrued when the mistake was made. However, if you wrote to the bank and not the payee I'm not sure you could argue that they should have discovered the mistake then.

If the DCA is after the overpayment, then you should argue Section 5 of the limitations act and the Doctrine of Laches.

FWIW I don't think the acknowledgement of the debt is an issue here, this is not a debt under the CCA or any other such act, its simply an overpayment which is recoverable i believe.

Be interested to hear if anyone has another view.

JMHO

Glenn

[Enzo Morales]

Hi,

Thanks for replies. All that happend was the bank wrote me a rather rude letter a month or two after the overpayment requesting that I pay the money back or they might look at going through the courts to reclaim. I did attempt to pay them, they just never cashed the cheque...The letter from the bank pointing out their mistake was over 6 years ago and was the last I heard from them.

Thanks

[Glenn UK]

Hi there if the bank was the payer ie it was their moeny then it might be your defence.

Hoqwever, if the oeny was somoen esles then im not sure whether your defence based on the letter and the passage of six years would stand.

It may be that the banks made the mistake and the customer they paid out on behalf of never knew there had been an overpayment.

The fact they acknowledged their mistake six years ago does seem compelling though.

Glenn

[Enzo Morales]

Glenn,

Thank you for your replies. I think it was the banks money - they asked for the money to be paid back to them. My employer never said anything about a mistake or attempted to recover the money.

If I'm approached at this stage many years later about repayment of these funds (and any interest or charges they try to add....gulp...) do you think my response should be along the lines of the standard letter "m" for statute barred ? or would I need to do more research and incorporate a more specific response / defence including, for example, the Doctrine of Laches thing that you mentioned before (sorry, I'm not up to speed on these things at all!)....I had hoped that the timescale involved would make it unreasonable for them to chase but I guess this doesn't quite fit into the same category as all the other things I've been reading on statute barred for credit agreements....
Thanks

[Glenn UK]

Enzo

My first response would be to say that they are time barred by virtue of section 5 of the Limitations Act.

unless this has been turend into some kind of debt on your bank account which i presume it hasnt/cant be.

If you have a copy of your letter and the cheque (unlikley i know) then i would include this and show you acted in good faith and they faile d to respond and left it six years.

JMHO

Glenn

[Enzo Morales]

Cheers Glen, appreciate your advice on this. I should have clarified that the bank I've been referring to is the bank used by my employer to pay out wages and is not the bank which I personnaly hold accounts with...ie. the bank acting on behalf of my employers paid the funds into my own personal bank account.

The bank acting for my employers has no way to manipulate my personal bank account and turn the payment into a debt or anything like that.

I do still have thier origional request for payment, my letter stating I would pay the money back and the cheque which I sent and was subsequently returned to me. Attached to my returned cheque was a note from my employers bank saying "we don't know what this is for?"....given there original rude approach to the matter, I thought I'd just wait 'till they asked for it again, which they didn't......Thanks again for your help - I feel a little more relaxed that I have a defence....

[Glenn UK]

The only query in my ind is the use of the DCA.

If you get any corrspondence or phone calls from them i would avoid givign them your details or signing anyhting which could be descirbed as 'acknowledging' their claim.

I dont know enough about DCAs to know if simply because they pursue you for a debt whether the clock can be restarted with respect to the limitations act. i know ordinary debts can be under certain circumstances but even so the defence of Laches would be available to you because this is not dependant on a pseicif period of time but rather based on the impact of the passage of time.

Hopefully someone who knows of such things will come along.

HTH

Glenn