Money in bank account

[andydingdang]

My Girlfriend was made redundant last year by a bank and recieved a pay off, funny thing is she has just received another large payment in her account of a simualr amount. Obviously it is an error and know we can't keep it, or can we?? - or is there someway that we can use this error to our advantage?

[smurfchops]

You more or less know the money isn't yours, if you spend it and they ask for it back, which they most probably will eventually when they do an audit, you will be in Trouble. Put the money in a high-rate account so you can get some interest. I am not sure how long you can keep it before you can legally say it is yours, I am sure someone else will answer this. Good luck .

[bednobs]

there is not set time before you can l;egally say it is yours, for the simple fact it isn't!

[mike11111]

As you obviously cannot spend it in case it is not yours, the simplest solution would be to contact the payer for an explanation. You might be surprised - it could turn out to be yours after all.

[janbee]

Was the redundancy to be paid in two parts? Maybe this is the second and final part? Just a thought....

[factor-fiction]

Unlikely janbee- I think most people know to within a hundred pouns how much redundancy pay they'll get.
How much is it andydingding? If it's tens of thousands then it's a mistake. If it's several hundred or a couple of thousand then it could be okay- it could be a deferred bonus entitlement (maybe paid annually), a tax rebate, outstanding holiday pay, a refund of pension contributions.
As others say, put it in a high interest instant access account while she queries it with the employer

[madmaggot]

I used to work somewhere that made a person redundant but took them on again through an agency, doing the same job! A consequence of this was that she continued to be paid by the company but of course was being paid by the agency as well. When the company finally realised this she had been paid £18000 in error.
She refused to pay it back, was taken to court. She stated that she had spent the money and did not realise that she shouldn't have received it. She had a young daughter so the courts, in their wisdom decided that she could only afford to repay the company in installments.
The decision was that she must repay - wait for it - .50p/week!

[bednobs]

there was somoene in the lacal news on thursday who had been sent to jail for keep 19000 she knew wasn't hers that was accidentally overpaid

[ABerrant]

http://news.bbc.co.uk.../magazine/6966683.stm

[spudqueen]

Surely if your girlfriend worked for a bank then she would know the answer - no, you can't keep it.

[Trotbot]

Unless she takes postive steps to inform the payer (presumably the bank), she could be charged with theft if she is not entitled. It's not worth the risk, because criminal convictions for theft stick around for ever, and impact your life in ways you can only guess at.

[Whoever]

No, of course she can't keep the money. It's theft. Presumably she knows the source of the money? She needs to contact them and make arrangements for it to be repaid.