I have been paid twice... can I keep it??

[Glenn UK]

Seems that at the least the money belongs to the Bank or whoever made the credit to the account.

 

Keeping it would mean you had been unjustly enriched by the mistake.

 

Going further if you made any money as a result of the unjust enrichment that would or could be forfeited to the owner as well.

 

Incidentally they have six years to reclaim under the limitations act unless they argue it was am mistake and then they have until they could have discovered the mistake.

 

Glenn

[indebtstudent]

"He didn't 'dishonestly obtain' anything...he mistakenly received it. "

 

Did he obtain it by legitimate means?

 

I think it's dodgy ground myself... He has the money in the account but he is sure it is not his therefore he did not honestly obtain it...

 

Probabably not beyond reasonable doubt but I wouldn't keep it myself. That is to say I would not spend it. Maybe keep it in the account as a nice gift to keep you well away from your overdraft... But I would never count on it. I just wouldn't feel right...

[lisa2393]

Hi Guys,

 

sorry to butt in but this has happened to a friend of mine who was credited an additional £1000 to her account.

 

After her initial ecitment and then dismay after knowing it wasn't her money she informed her company and the bank of the mistake by phone and by letter. Neither acknowledged the mistake as theirs until four months later when the company reclaimed it out of her wages, so basically she didnt receive any wages that month.

She had not spent the money so was ok to survive without her wages that month but it could have been a very different story.

I don't think there is any such thing as free money and honesty is the best policy, they will realise sooner or later and when they do you need to have it ready to give back.

 

Hope this helps

 

xxx

[Bookworm]

I have just moderated 2 posts referring to "dishonesty".

 

As stated before, OP asked about the legalities, not for moral judgment. I'll keep on moderating any posts of that nature.

[hagenuk]

Baron Parke stated, in the famous case of Kelly v. Solari (1841) 152 E.R. 24 at 26:

 

"I think that where money is paid to another under the influence of a mistake, that is, upon the supposition that a specific fact is true, which would entitle the other to the money, but which fact is untrue, and the money would not have been paid if it had been known to the payer that it was untrue, an action will lie to recover it back, and it is against conscience to retain it."

 

The law on the recovery of money paid by a banker under a mistake of fact was reviewed by Robert Goff J in the case of Barclays Bank Ltd v. WJ Simms & Cooke (Southern) Ltd & Anor [1980] 1 QB 677.

 

In that case the bank had overlooked the stop payment instruction of its customer in respect of a cheque but nevertheless, proceeded to honour the cheque. In allowing the banks' claim against the payee of the cheque, Goff J after a detailed analysis of the law deduced the following principles that:

 

(1) If a person pays money to another under a mistake of fact which causes him to make the payment, he is prima facie entitled to recover it as money paid under a mistake of fact.

 

(2) His claim may however fail if:

 

(a) the payer intends that the payee shall have the money at all events, whether the fact be true or false, or is deemed in law so to intend; or

 

(b) the payment is made for good consideration, in particular if the money is paid to discharge, and does discharge, a debt owed to the payee (or a principal on whose behalf he is authorized to receive the payment) by the payer or by a third party by whom he is authorized to discharge the debt; or

 

© the payee has changed his position in good faith, or is deemed in law to have done so.

[Nailz]

Once again thanks for all the help guys, seems pretty clear from a legal standpoint then, still 2 weeks and no contact,

 

I still think I will ride it out, rather than having to call my bank to see who initiated the transfer, then try to find a number for the company, then the right department, then the right person etc etc etc.

 

I am glad that I have managed to raise a topical debate on here though, makes for interesting reading every time I log on!

 

regards

[MrShed]

I have experienced this before, and as far as I know the legalities are:

 

- The company will be entitled to reclaim the money at a later date, UNLESS you can prove beyond reasonable doubt, and with good reason, that you would not have been aware of the overpayment(in other words, pretty much if the overpayment was so small as to not be noticable).

 

- The timescale on reclaiming it is only limited by the statute of limitations(6 years).

 

I could be wrong, but I'm sure this is the case!

 

With regards the moral debate , I may well get slated for this but I will admit I would not be rushing to return it either!

 

In my case, I was overpaid an hour a week for about a year. I never noticed, but my work did, but they said they would arrange for me to pay it back. We both forgot, and I left the job around a year later, having still not paid it back! In fact, totally forgot about it until I read this post lol.