Money paid wrongly to my account

caramel0

I am in a sticky situation.
I am in college and I am getting the grant. It is the first time ever for me to get the grant and I do not really know how it works. Anyway I was paid a sum in December and i belived it was a grant payment until February, when the admissions office got in contact. They asked me if I received money in December and I said 'yes'. I received my fees back and 5 days later I got another amount, which I believed to be a grant payment. Well anyway they said that I was not meant to get that sum, that it was a mistake and that it was meant for someone else. So now they want me to pay that money back. I don't have it any more, because I believed it to be mine. So now in April I am getting my grant of 1085 euro and I have to add another 420 euro from my pocket to pay them back the 1500 euro they wrongly sent to me :eek:
The admissions are also ringing me now and offering to go to the bank with me when I get my grant and I think this is very rude :mad:, it's not like I have done anything wrong and why do I have to suffer.

I am wondering are there are any regulations or laws around financial mistakes like that, and where do I stand?
Hope someone has some suggestions or similar experiences.

Blackjack

caramel0 wrote: »

I am in a sticky situation.
I am in college and I am getting the grant. It is the first time ever for me to get the grant and I do not really know how it works. Anyway I was paid a sum in December and i belived it was a grant payment until February, when the admissions office got in contact. They asked me if I received money in December and I said 'yes'. I received my fees back and 5 days later I got another amount, which I believed to be a grant payment. Well anyway they said that I was not meant to get that sum, that it was a mistake and that it was meant for someone else. So now they want me to pay that money back. I don't have it any more, because I believed it to be mine. So now in April I am getting my grant of 1085 euro and I have to add another 420 euro from my pocket to pay them back the 1500 euro they wrongly sent to me :eek:
The admissions are also ringing me now and offering to go to the bank with me when I get my grant and I think this is very rude :mad:, it's not like I have done anything wrong and why do I have to suffer.

I am wondering are there are any regulations or laws around financial mistakes like that, and where do I stand?
Hope someone has some suggestions or similar experiences.

From the Bank's perspective, its not your money if the remiting party states it was paid in error, although they should not take it out of your account without your authority to do so.
From the Perspective of the Admissions office, its not your money either.
I don't see there being any way for you to overcome this other than come to some arrangement with the admissions office. While the additional payment was their error, they are entitled to all of the money back.

muboop1

I had something similar to this a while back...

Legally you have to pay them back.

They cannot just withdraw it from your account, however you do still have to pay them.

Most people arrange a plan to say pay them back over number of weeks or whatever.

However if they are not happy with your proposed payment plan, or whatever... they can seek legal action against you.

Tom Young

Yes, this is a mistake on the part of the Bank or indeed the grant authority. This mistake is there mistake. As subsequent poster states, nothing should be removed from your account without your express authority.

However, the money was not yours and you were made aware of it at a certain point in time and innocently construed the amount in your account to be the grant without checking.

Effectively though mistakenly, you have been unjustly enriched and also spent or taken the monies albeit in error which was not your.

What you need to do is resolve matters as equitably as possible.

Legally doing this is called conversion. A conversion is a voluntary act by one person inconsistent with the ownership rights of another. Now, this only becomes voluntary once you were advised of the mistake and failed, neglected or refused to rectify the position.

If you are in any doubts, get the parties together and resolve it. If you are due some element of grant payment I suggest parking it, or not taking it to resolve the issue with the college and then have then sort out the balance on the basis of their mistake. Though I get the impression that it might be the local authority who pay for some of this on a means basis.

Anyway, you need to resolve it legally once you're aware of it liability in civil law arises and technically, although unlikely criminal elements might arise if matters are allowed to drag on.

Tom

MagicSean

muboop1 wrote: »

I had something similar to this a while back...

Legally you have to pay them back.

They cannot just withdraw it from your account, however you do still have to pay them.

Most people arrange a plan to say pay them back over number of weeks or whatever.

However if they are not happy with your proposed payment plan, or whatever... they can seek legal action against you.

You must have gotten a lot more than your grant amount if you have to pay it back and then some more. Did you not have any idea how much you were supposed to get?

caramel0

the difference in the grant amount is because the budget changed the grant amount in january, so my grant was reduced, but the one before january was bigger.

I am planning to pay it back, because I do not want any hassel, but I am pissed off about them hounding me like I did something wrong. When I last spoke to them they said to me to pay it back in my time. So thats why I have waited till now, I am waiting for my grant to pay it back to them. But what annoys me is that I have to add another 500 euro which I really don't have.
The college should have kept an eye on their transaction and not send me money in the first place, this would have saved me a lot of hassle.

Cunsiderthis

caramel0 wrote: »

the difference in the grant amount is because the budget changed the grant amount in january, so my grant was reduced, but the one before january was bigger.

I am planning to pay it back, because I do not want any hassel, but I am pissed off about them hounding me like I did something wrong. When I last spoke to them they said to me to pay it back in my time. So thats why I have waited till now, I am waiting for my grant to pay it back to them. But what annoys me is that I have to add another 500 euro which I really don't have.
The college should have kept an eye on their transaction and not send me money in the first place, this would have saved me a lot of hassle.

While its irritating to be in the situation, the admissions office just want their money back and you, presumably, want to pay it back also as it's not your money.

It's possible that the admissions office will take pity on your predicament, as a student, and will consent to being paid back at a monthly rate to spread it out and avoid giving you hardship. Go and meet them and discuss it with them and try to agree something which will pay their money back and which will be acceptable to you too. I imagine they'd accept €125 per month which means you have 12 months to pay it back.