Tuesday, 24 December 2013 - 04:32
Amsterdam still 4 million short after error
Of the 188 million euros that was paid out in error for living expenses contributions, the City of Amsterdam still needs to retrieve 4 million, reported alderman Pieter Hilhorst Monday to the City council.
The City made an error with the payouts of the contributions on December 12, resulting in people receiving a hundred times the amount they were entitled to. So far 184 million has been retrieved. For the remaining 4 million, the City has claims outstanding with 861 Amsterdam citizens.
Money / Wikipedia
The City visits this group of people at home. In fact, the City already made 441 house calls and 1,842 phone calls. Every case is reviewed to determine whether the people involved knowingly decided to keep the money, according to a spokesperson for the City. The money may be transferred to a different account, but in some cases debt collectors confiscated part of the money. In such cases the people are not to blame for not being able to return the money to the City.
The people who returned the living expenses contribution in whole, have already received the correct amount. There are twelve reported cases, where people returned the contribution, only to have it transferred from their account again as a recovery payment. This way that paid the amount back twice. The City is taking steps to correct the problem.