If they paid me in error, do I have to pay it back?

dokmeg · #1 Feb 22, 2006, 11:19 AM

I was just told that my catastrophic health insurance sent me an $11,000 check last May, that was an accident. The money is long gone.
What is my responsibility to repay them when I don't have the money any more. It took them 9 months to tell me.
thanks.
gail

RickJ · Feb 23, 2006, 03:22 AM

Yes, if it were an "actual" error, then you can be pursued to pay it back.

On the other hand, if you were due money from them and it is the amount that they said was wrong, you may want to get an attorney to look over it to see if a case could be made that the amount was due you.

Were you due something from the insurance company?

dokmeg · Feb 23, 2006, 05:17 AM

Thanks. It was a different form in terms of a summary so it wasn't the usual check. According to them I wasn't due anything, so I suppose you're right.
The problem is, I don't have any money. How does that get handled?

RickJ · Feb 23, 2006, 05:26 AM

With humility and tact.

Plea for a payment arrangement that you can afford, in the hopes that they will not go for judgment, garnishment, etc...

If I were you I'd communicate with them by email so that you have a written record of any promises they make.

dokmeg · Feb 23, 2006, 08:24 PM

thanks, that's good advice.
gail

wynelle · Feb 24, 2006, 08:16 PM

Did you attempt to communicate with the insurance company when you received this unexpected bonus?

I seem to recall an incidence of criminal theft charges being filed when someone failed to report a deposit (of a large amount) incorrectly made to his checking account. He spent the money-quickly- and when the bank discovered the error, they not only sued to get the money back; but the police filed charges, also.

How do you spend $11,000 that you knew you weren't supposed to get? Were there no "red flags" here?

dokmeg · Mar 17, 2006, 08:25 PM

I did not know that I wasn't supposed to get this check. It was the end of the five years that the contract was for. It looked like it was a summary of what had not yet been paid.
I finally got a letter from them, and they said they had a new computer program that made out the check in error.
Someone asked what we did with the money. We had just retired and moved to Florida and purchased a house. It was quite a bit more than we had hoped to pay. We had an equity loan which was almost that amount, so we paid it off. It's not like we went to Europe or the race track.
We are living on our pensions, our taxes just went up 300 bucks a month and we truly do not have money.
Ten months later they think it's okay to just say, oops.

zonecontrol · Nov 7, 2007, 05:53 PM

contact the insurance co and advise them you are unable to pay... see if they will reduce or wipe out the balance... unfortunately most insurance policies include right to recover language...

you can always file a insurance dept complaint if you feel the insurance company is unreasonable about it



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