Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Work paid me someone elses wages.

18 replies

CBAforThis · 23/01/2018 14:08

I actually work for the same company as a family member but I've just left and moved away.

The old company paid me my relatives wages in summer, which I rang them up and they told me to just transfer them into her account.

Now this is the issue, they paid me her wages in November and we've only just realised. I don't have the money, I was working a few jobs as I needed the money to move, so much money was going in and out my account in December, I feel like such an idiot for not noticing.

It's not like we work for a small company, we technically work self employed so we're just a name on a system. Where do I stand legally as I literally don't have that money and it's going to take months of skinting myself to get it back.

OP posts:
lougle · 23/01/2018 14:12

It's very likely that you'll have to pay it back, but you should never have to directly pay it to anyone. You have a contract with your (ex) employer. Your relative has a contract with her employer. The fact that you both happen to know (and be related to) each other is irrelevant. They need to sort out the fact that they owe her money (I hope they did this?!) then recover the erroneous payment from you.

I do find it hard to believe that you didn't notice an entire month's wages going into your account though??

Original poster
CBAforThis · 23/01/2018 14:41

Thanks for your advice loungle

The thing is, is that I knew I'd be in my overdraft for the month of December as I had to have work done to my car and obviously Christmas.

I wasn't checking my back account as I knew i'd would have been in minus numbers but I knew that I was working extra hours at two jobs and that I was starting a much better paid job this month.

The only reason we realised what happened was because I've just download the lloyds app on my phone and it says how much you had in vs out each month. That's when I noticed that I had been paid when I wasn't working at that job. The same amount my relative has been chasing them for.

They seem to have three girls on apprenticeships doing the accountancy there. literally my relative has been chasing them for this money all month but all they do is 'make a note of it' and told her there must be an issue with her bank as they did pay it...

OP posts:
RiotAndAlarum · 23/01/2018 17:24

How absolutely incompetent of them! Totally agree with @lougle that they need to sort out these two issues separately. It's not fair to your relative for them to make you responsible for doing this... and not fair on you, either!!

TittyGolightly · 23/01/2018 17:27

Your relative needs to threaten them
With court for non-payment of her invoice and they need to chase you for repayment of the money you shouldn’t have had.

RedHelenB · 23/01/2018 18:03

Whichever way it's happened you owe the money back it isn't yours.

00100001 · 23/01/2018 18:06

Ehhhhh ... Let them take you to court for it, it will take them a while to do that and in the meantime save up what you owe them

00100001 · 23/01/2018 18:06

Ehhhhh ... Let them take you to court for it, it will take them a while to do that and in the meantime save up what you owe them

Labradoodliedoodoo · 23/01/2018 18:09

Ask them to pay your relative. Otherwise she will miss out on national insurance and tax payments. You can pay the company back over a 6 moth period by them deducting your monthly wage

Oooocrikeyitscold · 23/01/2018 18:14

Be careful it’s legally classed as theft if you knowingly kept it. It’s therefore a criminal not a civil matter.

Babyroobs · 23/01/2018 18:58

we have had the same problem recently. My ds2's wages were paid into his elder brothers account. His employer just told them to sort it out between themselves which is fine but I'm just worried as to whether it will affect the tax they pay as one won't earn enough to pay tax but the elder one whose account it was accidently paid into may do.

Original poster
CBAforThis · 25/01/2018 12:47

Mix messages but I know I have to pay it back. Just received a letter today with their bank info saying to pay it back asap. I literally don't have the money- I'm going to ring them up this afternoon and ask if I can do monthly payments.

I'm really surprised they noticed tbh as they're completely unless and that's one reason why I'm leaving. Being paid months late is completely normal with them so when I noticed I had more money in my bank than what I was expecting I presumed it must of been a back payment. Surely there should be some laws in place for this?

OP posts:
TittyGolightly · 25/01/2018 14:30

There is no generic law.

What do your invoices say are the terms for payment? 28 days etc? That’s your legal agreement.

Tstar27 · 25/01/2018 23:12

If you were using your care to pay for items and didn't notice the money going, assuming you were in overdraft, well surely you can pay the company back and go into overdraft?

Either way, you'd be in overdraft. So why not do the right thing and pay the company back?

MiniMum97 · 27/01/2018 00:36

If you were genuinely not aware you may not have to pay it back. Explain to the bank what has happened and if they don't agree, set it out in a complaint. Once they have responded you can complain to the financial ombudsman who will look at all the facts and then decide. See the link below. Keep scrolling down and you will come to an example if your situation...
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/wrong-account-payments.htm#s

00100001 · 28/01/2018 12:51

How could she possibly argue that she didn't notice?

It's different if, say your employer was overpaying you by mistake for 4 years by (let's say) £10 a month because your hours changed slightly, and then they said, if shit we made a mistake we want it back.
Then you could probably argue that you didn't notice.

But a one off large payment out of the blue? Nope. Reason would say you should have noticed.

EmmaC78 · 28/01/2018 12:58

In one of my old jobs I had to chase former employees for salary overpayments etc. It is fairly easy to raise a court action for the amount and we did use to do that if it was over £400 that was owed. They should send you a final warning 7 day letter before they do that though so at that point they are more than likely to accept a payment plan if you contact them They would likely prefer to get £50 - £100 a month from you rather than have the hassle of the court action.

BrutusMcDogface · 28/01/2018 13:08

This is incredible! How can you not notice, and spend, a whole month's wages?! I thought I was bad with money!! Shock

I think the only thing you can do is request to pay instalments and hope they take kindly to that? Presuming you are already overdrawn?

SandyDenny · 28/01/2018 13:13

How much is it? If it's a relatively small amount and you have differing amounts you get paid each month it could be reasonable that you didn't realise

New posts on this thread. Refresh page