Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Debt Management Billing Error

I am associated with a debt management program. Back in October they made an extra unauthorized payment to my creditors. In December I got online and got my balances and paid them all in full. In Feb I got a letter stating that the last payment I made was not honored by my bank. It had cleared my account. I called them and found out that in fact they had made a mistake and paid my creditors twice and it took them 4 months to figure it out. With my cards being paid off I didn't feel that an un-authrized payment by them was my problem. Not only did they make a duplicate payment but they paid more than my contracted amounts. I first diputed this by phone on Feb 9 and then backed it up with an email on the Feb 10. I e-mailed them about ten times before a manager supposedly e-mailed me on March 10. I never got that email. He also says that he tried calling my home but no one answered and no machine picked up. I have an aswering mach. and caller ID and there was nothing from him. He sent me a letter March 26 stating that I was in default and owed them the money. If I wanted to dispute it I had 30dys to notify. I e-mailed him back to let him know that I had been disputing it since Feb. 9. It has been 8wks. Should I have to pay?


Asked on 4/06/04, 6:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Chris Johnson Christopher B. Johnson, Attorney at Law

Re: Debt Management Billing Error

It'll boil down to whether they paid the creditors for you and did not get reimbursed from you for that--they're not entitled to extra money (unless your contract may say otherwise) and you are not entitled to extra money if they paid on your behalf.

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Answered on 4/06/04, 8:24 pm


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