Legal Question in Banking Law in California

My mother recieved a credit on a credit card account from a deptment store of $4000.00. She called the department store and informed them of a mistake (she had only made $125.00 payment). The representative insisted she had made the $4000.00 payment. She asked for a supervisor, who told her the same thing. She insisted he look into it further. He put her on hold for a few minutes and returned to tell her that he would be mailing her a check for the difference ($4000.00- $300 she owed= $3700.00). She asked him not to do this it wasn't her payment. When she ended the phone call she was sure they would find the error and straighten it out, instead she recieved the check in the mail. Holding unto it she figured they would call, when she hadn't heard from them she gave the money away and forgot about the incident. She recently got a letter in the mail stating that there was an error and that she now owed the department store plus inerest. She has been on the phone with them explaining the situation. Does she now need to come up with sum even though she went through the hassle of trying to get it straightened out before hand but they insisted it was her money?


Asked on 9/02/10, 5:09 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Yes. Your mother's mistake was giving the money away. She had no right to do that. All she had to do was destroy the check and there would be no problem. Instead, she gave someone else's money away. Yes she owes it.

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Answered on 9/07/10, 9:33 pm


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