reclaiming money

[greggo123]

how long can a company, who have overpaid you, take to reclaim the overpay. This was paid to me in 2001 to 2003 and it amounts to 4k-5k.i received a letter today wanting it back en-bloc ( all at once), ino longer work for this co. i am thinking of writing back, telling them to get stuffed

[Piper-AK]

How come it's taken them so long to notice? Did you know, or can it be shown you should reasonably have known, you'd been overpaid at the time? It sounds like you were overpaid in every paycheck as it is over a 2 year period - is it actual overpayment or was it for benefits in kind?

[kempie]

Firstly, seek proper legal advice.

I will, however, offer my non-professional take on this situation.

Was this letter the first time that the company made you aware of the debt? If not have you ever agreed with them that the debt exists?

I ask this because the Limitations Act 1980 allows creditors to commence action through the courts on an acknowledged debt up to 6 years after the last contact made in which you agreed you owed them money. (I should add that the six year rule does not mean that a debt disappears after this time, only that it becomes unrecoverable through the courts.)

Read here to get an idea of what they can do to reclaim their money.

[kempie]

Firstly, The Employment Rights Act 1996 provides that it is legal for employers to take deductions from wages/salaries to recover an overpayment provided certain conditions are met - link. This is not really relevant since greggo123 is no longer an employee.

Secondly, I did make overt reference to whether greggo123 had acknowledged the overpayment, in which case it becomes a debt and is therefore covered by law relating to debt. The link was in reference to the methods that may be used to reclaim the debt, not how the debt was incurred.

[kempie]

...I should also add that if you do not acknowledge a debt it does not follow that the debt does not exist.