I know it’s stealing….but…..

[VidalSass]

Im going to be Annihilated here……

i took out a store card to pay for a large tech purchase, interest free, over 36months. This was four months ago

I set up a direct debit straight away for the monthly payment and then cut up the card.

I checked my account and noted direct debit not come out, so I logged on to the store card account and the charge is still ‘pending’ - therefore minimum payment is 0 as the charge has not been processed by the merchant.

would I be unreasonable to just ignore it and therefore avoid the repayments? Surely it would eventually just be cancelled? Although it’s already sat there for four months….

i don’t want to call the merchant as obviously they will then just process the charge…..

im worries that eventually it would just be charged but a part of me is excited at the thought that an error may have occurred resulting in me getting free stuff. I know it’s technically stealing but it’s a huge company (probably not paying corporation tax in the uk) and I’m not exactly rolling in it

AIBU - should call the merchant to process the charge and start paying it back

NBU - technically it’s stealing but fuck the man and ride the freebie wave

I would make sure to have the money handy when they figure it out and want paid. Until then, let your conscience be your guide.

Comparing not calling up a store to charge me for something they should have charged me for four months ago to peadophilia ??? Um ok.

People need to read the OP though, ignoring all the words added for drama like theft and annihilation to get the facts, there seems to be a lot on here that is nothing to do with the OP

due to the Op!

OP doesn’t think remotely unreasonable
yet starts a thread about being unsure what to do
and then launches in to multiple follow up posts about how reasonable she would be not to do anything

weird

I would wager something like this would come back to bite me in the arse, so I would absolutely call and sort it so I didn’t get hit with a big debt to clear plus interest.

Regarding your question about being overpaid by a million in one’s account, no, I would not keep it and say nothing, because I would be absolutely sure it would be found out and I’d be liable to pay it all back. As a real life example, I was once signed up to teach four university courses but ended up dropping the fourth as I was a student at the time and couldn’t hack it. I was paid for all four classes. I had a suspicion I would be liable to repay this fee if I kept it, so I phoned the university and informed them immediately.

Some of us are far too anxious to steal! Nothing to do with morality as such, everything to do with not wanting to owe back lots of money we have now spent.

I was not comparing the crimes, merely showing that most criminals will justify their crime because, as you are doing, they weigh up the pros and cons/circumstances/perceived level of crime

I honestly wouldn't do the same at all.

I'd be briefly tempted not to pay, because the idea of free stuff due to error is a bit of a thrill, but, my conscience would get the better of me and I know id always be checking over my shoulder for it to come back and bite me so for me personally, its not worth it and I would ring them and start making repayments.
I think errors like this are finite, it will be discovered eventually, and I wouldn't want any black marks against my name, particularly not financial ones.

You couldn't live with yourself? Really? Seems quite dramatic.

I'd contact them ASAP and try to get it sorted. While a tech freebie sounds good, it won't be ''free'' when they catch up with you and do you for fraud! You'd end up paying a lot more in court fee's etc. and a criminal record! Babe, It's not worth the risk!

it was an utterly daft analogy

Honestly this will likely come back to bite you and I think you’re being very foolish.

I guess I’m just not sure how it comes back to bite me? If they work out it’s not been charged, surely they would just charge me and then I pay? I have no issue with paying for it…I know some people think I will get charged with fraud, or go to gaol (one poster seemed to think I should get the death penalty….) but I can’t see how just waiting (perhaps indefinitely…) for them to charge me would lead to dire consequences…. Perhaps I am being naive….

Ignoring the dramatics from people who think you’re on par with a mass murderer, there have been actual helpful posts from people who have explained the situation. It’s fine if you want to ignore them but why even ask if you are BU?

I totally get you not caring about a big company, but don’t you care about your own finances and credit score?

I would just plead ignorance, say you never noticed the payments weren't being taken and of course you will pay. But do keep the money aside so that you can pay as soon as they ask you!

But how does it affect my credit score? Atm I have a zero balance on a store card? I’m genuinely not understanding how it can affect my credit score

You are in possession of item(s) you have not paid. This means either you have stolen said items or you still owe money for those items.

If you take the view that you still owe money for those items, then your debt is with the company you got the items from, not the credit card company. That company has every right to take action against you to recover the money you owe them. They might just ask for immediate payment. Or they could pass the debt on to a debt recovery agency. Or take legal action against you. The latter will affect your credit rating.

Your sit and wait approach is very risky.

Normally you can go on your online banking and enter the card details to make a payment to the credit card company. Could you not do that? Or You could sit on it and wait to see what happens but I don’t think I could cope with the wondering. People always seem to assume it’s ok to steal from big companies like that makes it any better than stealing from a small business, it’s still stealing

I can’t make a payment on a zero balance, as far as the credit card is concerned there’s a pre-authorisation on the account that hasn’t been finalised.

I have a receipt for the purchase from the supplier. I’ve actually been in and exchanged one of the items as faulty using the receipt - obviously prior to discovering they haven’t actually charged me…

I agree that yes it could be classed as stealing but on paper I haven’t done anything wrong… I once transferred a large sum of money overseas and the bank teller processed one of the digits wrong, the money ended up being returned but I was still charged a processing fee. The bank refused to refund it. That’s technically stealing too….

Of course you've not done anything wrong, OP. I suspect the vast majority of people who are criticising you are really just jealous that this hasn't happened to them!

Do people not understand how store cards work, you can only pay what is on there, it only affects your credit score if you don't pay the minimum payment on there, there is £0 on there to pay as of yet. No point in OP making a random payment to a credit card with £0 to pay.

I wouldn't voluntarily send a payment while the balance says £0 - I suspect that would lead to all sorts of "computer says no" confusion. If you wanted to do that, then you probably would need to speak to them to get the pending stuff sorted first. But keeping the money aside and waiting for them, rather than doing their admin for them, seems fine to me. After all, you've set the DD up, so they could see you're intending to pay.

<Vaguely wonders if something similar has happened with ISP, as they appear to have successfully cancelled the old DD, but not yet taken anything for the new one, but they got the old kit back and the new is installed and working...>

It could really fcuk up your credit rating, is it worth it?

Was the offer something like buy now pay in 6 months as well as interest free? In which case the pending charge might be just be that, pending, and appear later.

I was always under the impression that if you used a credit card, it is the credit card company you owe. They pay the company for the goods and then you have to pay the credit card company back with interest.