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 love this idea that if we were just all honest, then things wouldn't be so expensive.

Prices are higher in anticipation of theft and mistakes, at an individual store level we can't just put prices up when someone nicks half a case of washing up powder. As an independent we already sell at the cheapest price we can afford so we can remain competitive with supermarkets, but even then there's an anticipated allowance for shrinkage and wastage built in. It's a different % per department because some stuff (fruit and veg) has naturally higher wastage and some stuff (household, alcohol) is stolen more often, but it's a tiny bit of wiggle room for us, compared to the actual level of theft

Ok… 😂

If only you knew.

Its their mistake, you set up the dd, if they decided not to take the money, then thats not your fault. I wouldnt say anything. It could be that they notice their mistake and start charging you, or it could be that they dont. For now I would hold back from saying anything but prepare yourself that they might realise their mistake and start charging you. If I was in a similar situation, I wouldnt say anything. Gooduck

.

This really.
I couldn't sleep at night knowing this and would want it sorted ASAP😎

It may feel like your sticking it to the Man, and You're feeling a bit euphoric, but this might come back to bite you, What if they do some kind of a six monthly audit, and the error comes to light? You might incur further charges, and it might impact credit. I would be anxious about it till it was cleared up.

It will just go on the credit card and OP will make the minimum repayment until just before the 0% offer ends and then pay the balance, just means a bit bigger balance at the end because of less time. What further charges are you thinking, only charges will be if OP doesn't make minimum repayment on time which at the moment is £0

Which at the moment is zero, but might not remain at zero. It just feels like storing up trouble. I have no real moral issue with this, And honestly I'm not a financial advisor. I can only broadly speculate on the outcome. It's just my view that it may become troublesome, if ignored indefinitely .

Chances are there will be an audit at some time in the future and it will be found. Suggest you put the money aside each month in case. If they don’t catch up with you - have a good holiday 😊

Of course it won't remain at zero if the item goes on there. OP might have loads of money but prefer to keep it in savings and use the 0% card, isn't it called stoozing when you do that

I've been in similar quandries throughout my life, but I am superstitious, to a degree, and worry about karma. I'm not gonna give you a moralistic, trite response, for I haven't always chosen ethically. Still, beware of karma ;)

If it's not a huge amount of money and a large company, then sod it. You've done your side of the bargain, and they can afford it!
If it's a small family company, then I would pay it. For example, when I buy in my local little tesco, I never scan my carrier bag. Yes, that is stealing, but tescos can bloody afford it.

Personally, I'd ride the freebie wave but put the monthly DD amount into a separate account and be prepared to pay what I owed when they do an audit.

I suspect it will be taken eventually and with any accrued interest. I would chase it so you don't end up with a much larger bill for the item.

I would be over the moon. I've successfully defended CCJs on legal technicalities; and this is definitely the sort of thing I relish. Debt is for suckers.

The term 'snowflake' was invented for this kind of statement.

I really don't get it - How does anyone know you cut up your card? Did you report it lost or stolen? The credit agreement you signed, is not dependent on the card you cut up. The direct debit payment does not care if you cut up your card. So, you've done something else, for the payment not to go through? Did you give false or someone else's information in store?

Are you sure it’s not six months interest-free credit and then you start paying it back. We’ve had this before with a High Street store tech item..

Cutting up the card is something people do when they have a credit card and don't want to put any other borrowing onto it not to avoid paying for what they have bought. There are some weird ideas about credit/store cards on this thread

Some people pop the card in a block of ice

what sort of card is it? on mastercards it can only be pending for up to 10 days

This happened to us 8 years ago. We bought our son the bike of his dreams as a Christmas present. New cashier somehow didn’t put the credit agreement through properly. We realised when the payment never went out and logged on to check our account. Had nothing to pay and no purchases. Husband called to question it as we are honest folk. We told them we had the paperwork and asked what we should do. Advised to see what happened next month as payment may have been delayed over the festive period. By this point we contacted the bank to see if there was a DD and there wasn’t. Called up a few months later again to question it and told we’d need to go to the store to sort it out. Went to the store and they basically said to leave it. We let it slide. We had our signed documents, receipts and DD plan and kept the money aside for a few more months but nothing ever came of it. We did try to resolve it. Family were saying to keep it quiet and enjoy the free bike but we just couldn’t.

Try and chance it I would 😂 you might know most people will tell you to own up though