Cheque Over-payment

onthelash

Basically i've recieved a cheque where i have reason to believe the company has over payed me, by a couple of hundred. I know what the ethical thing would be to do, but just curious where i stand legally ?

Kind Regards

Delancey

onthelash wrote: »

Basically i've recieved a cheque where i have reason to believe the company has over payed me, by a couple of hundred. I know what the ethical thing would be to do, but just curious where i stand legally ?

Kind Regards

To my knowledge its the same position as if you were in a shop and the till operator gave you too much change - failure to return the excess can be considered theft.

Are you sure this ' cheque ' is not part of a refund scam ?

BrianD

onthelash wrote: »

Basically i've recieved a cheque where i have reason to believe the company has over payed me, by a couple of hundred. I know what the ethical thing would be to do, but just curious where i stand legally ?

Kind Regards

What is your business relationship with the company? They will discover it sooner or later so you are better off letting them know sooner.

onthelash

BrianD wrote: »

onthelash wrote: »

Basically i've recieved a cheque where i have reason to believe the company has over payed me, by a couple of hundred. I know what the ethical thing would be to do, but just curious where i stand legally ?

Kind Regards

What is your business relationship with the company? They will discover it sooner or later so you are better off letting them know sooner.

an insurance company , but i am not too sure how much to expect, but i feel i recieved too much . but how long do they have before they can come looking for it , what if i just cash it and spend it ? is there any legislation in regards to this and where do i stand legally ? thanking any advice

Ken.

Ring the insurance company and say that you think you got too little. They'll either say you got the right amount,too much or agree and give more:D.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Delancey wrote: »

To my knowledge its the same position as if you were in a shop and the till operator gave you too much change - failure to return the excess can be considered theft.

I did not know that. Does mean that if a shop doesn't give me proper change that it can be considered theft as well

Milk & Honey

It can be theft is you know a mistake has been made and you fail to correct it. It is dishonest appropriation. There is also a resulting trust in favour of the person who gave too much money. They would be entitled to seek the return of it in a civil suit.
The o/p does not seem to know how much he should have got. The best thing to do would be to write back and say he was expecting more. That way they will have to explain the amount paid out. If he says he expected less they might reduce it down to the lower amount.

Ms Minnie Mouse

Or, alternatively, simply write to the insurance company and request details as to how the refund was calculated (breakdown/calculation method etc). The OP doesn't state whether this is a settlement or a rebate of premiums, quite often the recipients of either can be uncertain as to how a particular sum was calculated. It isn't always straightforward so the insurer should be used to this sort of query.

steveod

This happened a while ago and in the UK, but I think the principal applies to Irish law here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-522549/Four-family-members-jailed-135-000-spending-spree-bank-error.html

As it's a small amount in your case it's less likely to be detected, so if you decided to keep it, I'd put it away, not spend it for six months, but if they ask for it, give it back.

After a time, any claim the company might have on the money will go away.

This will be an accounting error in the company's debtors ledger which means that the amount was most likely due to another customer with a name or account number similar to your own and this was keyed in incorrectly. The real beneficiary of the money will notify the company at some stage to say that they've not received their funds.

As it's a small amount, the company will then need to make a call whether it's economical to pursue the money they've paid to you in error (and they will legally protected against such eventualities) or write it off.

If I we're you, put it in your savings account for 6 months, and if they don't chase it - treat yourself.

Milk & Honey

steveod wrote: »

As it's a small amount in your case it's less likely to be detected, so if you decided to keep it, I'd put it away, not spend it for six months, but if they ask for it, give it back.

After a time, any claim the company might have on the money will go away.

It is theft to do that. There is no time limit for prosecution for theft. There is no time limit for a civil suit where the cause of action is concealed by fraud.
What you are saying is that as you are not likely to get caught you should commit a crime.
It is the same as discovering that the coat you wore coming home from the pub last night is not your own coat. Your own almost identical coat was hanging at home all the time. It is not theft if the coat was taken by mistake, but once you decide to hold onto it, theft is committed.

Ms Minnie Mouse

Milk & Honey wrote: »

It is theft to do that. There is no time limit for prosecution for theft. There is no time limit for a civil suit where the cause of action is concealed by fraud.
What you are saying is that as you are not likely to get caught you should commit a crime.
It is the same as discovering that the coat you wore coming home from the pub last night is not your own coat. Your own almost identical coat was hanging at home all the time. It is not theft if the coat was taken by mistake, but once you decide to hold onto it, theft is committed.

Exactly. It's shameful how many people advocate even small-scale crime like this. To think people seem to place most of their blame on the banks. Even small amounts of money misappropriated add up!