Recovering money paid accidentally

Jamie Mac

I hope this is the right place for this question, although it is more legal than financial I guess. I was paying a child minder by direct debit and forgot to cancel it after our agreement ended. My fault I know but now she wont pay the money back because she said she didnt know she had been overpaid and has spent it. And now its the non returning of phone calls battle... Any advice would be much appreciated.

exaisle

I suspect that seeing a solicitor is your best bet...sooner rather than later.

Jamie Mac

That's what I was afraid of but I guess you are right. Im not from here and at home we have a small claims court where you dont have to pay hefty solicitors fees so was wondering about options like that but will make some enquiries! Thanks!

aw

Not sure if that would be covered by the small claims court but you could contact the Citizen's Information service to get better advice.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/courts_system/small_claims_court.html

Toots

I feel for you OP, this could work out being a costly mistake. If you don't mind me asking, how much are we talking about here? And was it just the one payment or were there multiple payments?

I'd say if she's at the stage of avoiding your phone calls you're probably going to have to go down the legal route. I'm assuming from your post that she's someone who isn't set up as a 'business' so I don't think the Small Claims Court would be an option, but it couldn't hurt to get in touch with them.

Another thing you could do before actually getting a solicitor involved is send her a letter by registered post stating that since she has not returned your calls or your money you are forced to communicate to her this way. Seeing as it was partially your fault for not cancelling the payment, and if she's stuck for money, you might have to take the money back in 'installments'. Set out some terms in the letter ie: she has 14 days from the date of the letter to make a full or partial repayment, otherwise you will be taking legal action.

Now I'm not sure what a solicitor could do for you, but sending the registered letter might be enough to 'scare' her into paying you back. She might be genuinely stuck for money and is burying her head in the sand and hoping that if she just ignores you you'll just go away, or she might be pulling a fast one. If you're getting in touch with a solicitor make sure you get a quote from them before asking them to do anything, because the cost of hiring one might work out to be much more than she actually owes you.

Jamie Mac

Thanks AW for that suggestion I will have a look! Really appreciate your feedback Toots - I think that's what I will do next. That's the worst part, that it is my fault but still! Its note a huge amount, but just under 2k so would like it back! Let me get started with a registered letter and take things from there. Thanks for all advice!

homer911

Just to clarify:
A direct debit is where the money is pulled from your account to that of a 3rd party, at the request of the 3rd party, for fixed or variable amounts.

A standing order is set up by you to push a fixed amount of funds to a 3rd party account and is entirely within your control

Jamie Mac

Thanks for the clarification, probably good idea to get the terminology right

Marcusm

OP: the first thing to do is to get the recipient to formally acknowledge, whether by email or in writing that she owes you the money. If yo don't get this, you're going to have a whole lot more trouble recovering it in that you will need to prove that she knew she received it in error and should have returned it to you. How much is the 2k compared to what you were paying her per week? Did you give her notice in writing?

johnners2981

Do you know if she was paying tax on what you where sending her? Somehow I doubt she was, so if things start getting nasty you could use that to your advantage

StillWaters

johnners2981 wrote: »

Do you know if she was paying tax on what you where sending her? Somehow I doubt she was, so if things start getting nasty you could use that to your advantage

If the Childminder was earning under 15K from childminding, she is exempt from tax.