Fresie

Well done, Jay! And so they should.

I've just received an answer at a French legal forum: apparently,  the statute of limitations in this particular case is TWO years [:D] So they can stuff their claims. Thank you very much, guys, you've been very helpful!

Sue, how awful. What a bunch of sharks. I can't understand how the French system allows such shameless bullying... preying on the elderly and vulnerable... bastards.

[quote user="idun"]Remember french banks have been known to reopen closed accounts and debit them. Banks in France, well, I am thinking very bad thoughts about them whilst typing this.[/quote] [:D] Especially la Banque Populaire! Apparently, they're currently rated as the worst bank in Europe. Wish we had known it at the time. [quote user="Patf"]good advice from Norman (as usual.) I thought debts unpaid for more than 7 years were regarded as "forgiven", but maybe that's my imagination. There's some rule about not needing to keep financial documents more than 7 years. [/quote] I think so too. But apparently (luckily!) this doesn't happen very often.

Chancer, Norman, thank you very much! Luckily, for the last couple of years this account was as good as dormant as I'd stopped all operations and withdrawn all the funds but I never got around to actually closing it. So there's zero funds in it, period. By closing it they'll save me the trouble [:)] I'm just curious if they have a leg to stand on in their case. Somehow I have my doubts, but you never know with their system. [:)] Norman, this is very important what you're saying about the huissiers, I had no idea! Thank you very much!

[quote user="woolybanana"]Perhaps legal advice might be a route forward here; perhaps a lawyer for half and hour might make things clearer?[/quote] Yes, you're probably right, but I tend not to trust French lawyers (from experience). They're all adamant they're going to win your case... until they actually lose it and they can't even understand how it happened [:D]

Thank you very much, Paul and idun! Yes, I know I should have been more careful at the time but it must have been marked down as a payment from either Pole Emploi or other such institution so I never gave it much thought. I probably just presumed it was an accidental one-off payment from Pole Emploi - it had happened to me before. It's not my fault they processed it twice [:D]

Hello everyone, Nice to meet you. This is my first post here. I wonder if anyone is knowledgeable (or experienced) enough to answer my question, please? Early this year 2015, we were suddenly contacted by our bank, Banque Populaire, demanding out of the blue that we pay back 500+ euro. Apparently, in 2006 they made a mistake by paying this amount wrongly twice into our account (we never even noticed!) Now they send us threatening letters promising to take us to court if we don't pay it back. My question is, do you think the statute of limitations applies in this case and do they have a claim after all these years? As far as I know, the statute of limitations in case of commercial debts is 5 years in France and this isn't a debt even but their very own mistake. We didn't even know we had the money! [8-)] Thank you very much! Irene