Interesting thing I've heard in the past couple of months about not paying back a signing bonus without repercussions. Know 2 people who left early at my MM and they apparently just ignored all calls / emails about paying it back and didn't see anything negative come about from it (hated it so no concerns about burning bridges). No hits to credit score or anything. Is this unique? Guessing any individual instance of 10k isn't worth it to litigate and hire a lawyer or something to have it be settled in civil court for less than that most likely, but surprised these aren't just transferred to a collections agency or something.
FYI doesn't even apply to me as i'm a 3rd year, just wondering what others have experienced.
Not a banker but contacts of mine that have moved around or left industry heard about this stunt and ultimately decided against it. The problem with a civil suit is that IF it is in fact filed, you HAVE to respond or it will go into default judgement in favor of the plaintiff, being the bank. Once the judgement is set, THEN you would presumably begin to see impact on credit, wage garnishing, etc. as is necessary to recoup the funds.
Imagine how much of a PITA it would be if your debt gets sold off to those crooked debt collectors, changing hands every few months as it trickled down.
Interesting, this is helpful insight. Risk is just too much to give up $6k post-taxes IMO.
I managed to negotiate my way out of repaying my singing bonus at a F250 firm. Had a technical skill that they valued and told them that I would answer their calls after I left, if they had any questions, and they agreed to not force me to repay. Also helped that I solid relationship with people and left on a good note
Good man. +SB
Wouldn't the bank just withhold the last paycheck to get paid back at least that amount?
Nothing to withhold if you quit same day as you get paid, plus the signing bonus will be > single 2 week paycheck.
I wouldn't be so sure. I'm not a lawyer, so take my speculation with a grain of salt. While it would make sense to laypersons like you and me for the company to just offset by withholding the paycheck, I think employment law makes this a bad idea. The law is generally set up to protect wage earners. The signing bonus may be in dispute, but the wages earned during the last two weeks are not, and they're separate issues. I think the courts would take a pretty dim view of employers who withhold wages for leverage in other cases. I expect there's a lot of legal nuance to these types of situations, and that generally, most corporations would avoid the risk of running afoul of employment laws over 2 weeks of someone's pay.
Two weeks notice? I think the bank would withhold.
You're not required to give 2 weeks notice. Even if you're willing to stay I've seen people get pushed out the same day regardless.
Especially if you're going to a direct competitor. Compliance will force you out the door (politely).
At least in banking.
My roommate worked at Jefferies.
He quit early and kept his signing bonus, and moved out. Jefferies sent like 5 pieces of mail, and then stopped. Met him at another roommate's wedding recently and they basically let it go. Was $10k
Yeah, but it’s Jefferies. I think they need every k they can get. Refer to Leveraged Sellout for more info
My bonus had a clause where you give them rights to pull from the same account where you direct deposit is. Regardless of when you quit and if it was payday or not, they basically could withdraw. Also, you were on the hook for the full pre-tax amount.
Both myself and another buddy of mine left a BB and neither of us even got asked for it back despite it being contractually obligated within the time frame we left.
I know that if you work at a BB that also has a retail branch (e.g. HSBC/Barc/Deutsche) the contract 'recommends' you to have your compensation be deposited in an account at their retail branch. Then a bit further the contract will state that in case you leave early they are allowed to claw back any payments they made to you from any deposits you hold at at one of their group companies. So my advise, get an account at an other bank then you work.
If you quit early and management doesn’t do anything, then presumably they don’t have an issue. Meaning, there’s nothing for a collection agency to collect. And nothing to report to a credit agency.
If management has a problem with you, they’ll be in touch.
Seems like a shortsighted move, and one that you don’t know when it could come back to haunt you.
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I was working as a Devops engineer at a company. I quit in a month. My offer letter said, if I quit the job or they let me go within 6 months, I have to return the 10k I received. it's been almost 2 weeks. Haven't heard anything from them. How long do you think is a safe time to think that they won't contact me for the sign in bonus?
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