Are we still legally liable for this debt after 3 years?

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

Sorry you should have never posted without taking basic reading comprehension 101 and reading at least 1 or two replies into the thread.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

They were direct deposited electronic payments. The only thing we ever got in the mail was the paystubs whenever they made a deposit to our account.

You have tried to return the money, you say. If you have proof of this, and proof of paying taxes over them, they have no case in court.

you my friend have no clue!!
The bottom line is they will not take him to small claims court.....but they will screw up his credit!
Why? Because he spent money that was NOT his.
He tried to give it back? OK....thr money still was NOT his!!
He should have left it in the bank-- end of story!!

i bet they will take him to court and they will win.

then they will garnish his pay and he will then have a judgment on his credit. rightfully so.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

They were direct deposited electronic payments. The only thing we ever got in the mail was the paystubs whenever they made a deposit to our account.

ok....you should have never spent the money....just let it sit and collect interest...then give it back minus the interest..lol

That is essentially what I did. I did however pay taxes on the income already and now I will have the hassle of dealing with the IRS to amend our 2003 return.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

Read the first page, dumbass. They were electrically deposited.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

you my friend have no clue!!
The bottom line is they will not take him to small claims court.....but they will screw up his credit!
Why? Because he spent money that was NOT his.
He tried to give it back? OK....thr money still was NOT his!!
He should have left it in the bank-- end of story!!

Uhh not take him to small claims? Ta hell they wont. It'll cost them $100 to recover a few thousand. It is guaranteed he will see small claims. We puts hundreds up a month for much smaller balances.

They will NOT take him to small claims court......they will screw his credit as long as he owes the debt!!!

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

Read the first page, dumbass. They were electrically deposited.

so thats your contribution to the thread is to correct somebody else...how sad...lol

 

[Homerboy]

I tried to give it back 3 years ago and they didn't want it you sanctimonious douche bag. Take a walk through a garbage incinerator. Now they send a collections agency after me with having only made half assed effort at best to notify me they were now looking to get their money back. Now they come back at probably the least opportune time possible looking for their money and bringing all this bvllshit into our lives. May the bird of happiness fly straight up your asshole. I am not going to dick around at all because I want this in the past but I am sure as hell not going to bend over and reward somebody elses rank incompetence with charity. So you can ESAD.

I'm sure you weren't bitching too much with that extra $5800 3 years ago though were you? Did you ever TRY to get the bank to reverse the direct deposit? Should I call right now and just see if its possible? I'll bet you $5800 it is.

Look you took money that was not yours. While TRYING to give it back is perfectly fine it is NOT equal to ACTUALLY giving it back is it?

 

[Homerboy]

They will NOT take him to small claims court......they will screw his credit as long as he owes the debt!!!

yes... yes they will. Did you read any of my posts? Or are you too selective reading? It will cost them pennies to take him to court to get an easy default judgment and a garnish on him.
We do this ALL DAY LONG

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

They were direct deposited electronic payments. The only thing we ever got in the mail was the paystubs whenever they made a deposit to our account.

ok....you should have never spent the money....just let it sit and collect interest...then give it back minus the interest..lol

That is essentially what I did. I did however pay taxes on the income already and now I will have the hassle of dealing with the IRS to amend our 2003 return.

so what? its a hassle.

that does not get you out of paying it back. you owe them the money so pay it back.


but i would make sure it was deserved. my wife was a teacher. she works 9 months and paid over 12. but it is something to look into. but if it was a overpayment then pay it back. it really does not seem much of a problem to me.

 

[ultimatebob]

You didn't promise to pay the collector anything, did ya? If you did, the clock on your statute of limitations just got reset.

Honestly, I wouldn't pay them a dime. Those bastards already damaged your FICO score by sicking a collection agency on you. I would just let the statute of limitations expire, and tell them where they can stick their request for the money.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

They will NOT take him to small claims court......they will screw his credit as long as he owes the debt!!!

yes... yes they will. Did you read any of my posts? Or are you too selective reading? It will cost them pennies to take him to court to get an easy default judgment and a garnish on him.
We do this ALL DAY LONG

I agree.

if he shows up to fight it he will still lose. then they will give him a set time to pay it back. if he does not they will then garnish his pay.

either way he will have a judgement on his credit. i really wouldnt want that.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Actually it isn't really known whether the collection agency has bought the "debt" (if that is even the right term for this) from the school system. If they have, I have come to find out that the way this kind of thing works, they probably paid pennies on the dollar to the school system on what the actual amount was. Which means I can probably make them go away for much less than what they actually claim we "owe" them. Anything they can manage to claim from us above what they paid the school system to assume the debt is just gravy for them. That's assuming the agency owns the debt now, which we don't know at this time.

The collection agency takes on the debt in 2 ways: They either buy it outright (for pennies on the dollar... likely ~20%) or they are hired by the school board/state on a contingency fee basis... meaning the agency will get x% (averaging ~20%) of the total collected. In most cases you are right... you will more than likely be able to get away with less than the $5800. But don't think you're going to get off scott-free. The lowest I see debts settled for is ~50% of placement value... and those are usually during end of quarter/year "specials"

Long story short, you took the money for services not rendered. You don't have concrete proof of your attempt to NOT take the money. They have concrete proof of you taking the money and your wife not working during that window.

Media coverage? BUAHAAHAHH. Maybe if you live in a small town. But exactly what are you going to tell that media? "I asked them to take the money back... but they wouldn't... so we kept it." Please PLEASE if this hits the media, please record the TV segment or link us to the article I think it would be fully entertaining.

What you SHOULD be thankful for is they aren't hitting you for interest on the money too.

Settle the bill, or prepare to be garnished.

The media coverage would not be exposing only our case but all the cases of the rash of rank incompetence that apparently happened during that time period. As I said, the collection agent let it slip that they have many cases for the same thing from the same school district in their office. Public officials do not like to have their incompetence exposed to the light. The government enjoys their unaccountability in never having to deal with the consequences of their own mistakes. From my point of view, they should walk away from this glad that we brought the matter to their attention as soon as we did and that we tried repeatedly to get it to stop. Otherwise who knows how much more they would have continued to pay out to us and others? They didn't want the money when we tried to give it back. . .not my problem. But no, see. . .they had to push it. And now they got me pissed off.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
You didn't promise to pay the collector anything, did ya? If you did, the clock on your statute of limitations just got reset.

Honestly, I wouldn't pay them a dime. Those bastards already damaged your FICO score by sicking a collection agency on you. I would just let the statute of limitations expire, and tell them where they can stick their request for the money.

yeah and his score will be reset once judgment is settled. How are THEY the bastards? The ignorance in this thread and the ARROGANCE is astounding.

 

[Homerboy]

The media coverage would not be exposing only our case but all the cases of the rash of rank incompetence that apparently happened during that time period. As I said, the collection agent let it slip that they have many cases for the same thing from the same school district in their office. Public officials do not like to have their incompetence exposed to the light. The government enjoys their unaccountability in never having to deal with the consequences of their own mistakes. From my point of view, they should walk away from this glad that we brought the matter to their attention as soon as we did and that we tried repeatedly to get it to stop. Otherwise who knows how much more they would have continued to pay out to us and others? They didn't want the money when we tried to give it back. . .not my problem. But no, see. . .they had to push it. And now they got me pissed off.

HAHAH great so report it. Let me know when the segment airs/article runs.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

As I have already explained, I never dreamed it would have taken more than one call to get them to STOP paying us. So I didn't think going to the bank to shut off the funds transfers from the school district would be necessary. But it did take at least 2 calls. Naive on my part to assume the school district actually wanted their money, but that is all hindsight now.

But you KNEW it didn't stop coming. and you KNEW the money was in the account wrongfully.

I'll put it this way. In my previous job I was GROSSLY overpaid on my commissions one year. To the tune of $20K... entirely their clerical error. I never even noticed it as it was spread out over 12 months and mixed in with other large checks. Come audit time at the end of the year they found their error and decided to dock my next years commissions until that ~$20K was paid back.

Obviously I was not happy with this. Guess what? My brother is a collection lawyer! So I go to him and explain to him in detail the situation, show him the records etc and he basically says "Your screwed... "

Your situation is slightly different though. You continued to be an employee for the company who overpaid you the first year. My wife had formally terminated her employment with the school system.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Actually it isn't really known whether the collection agency has bought the "debt" (if that is even the right term for this) from the school system. If they have, I have come to find out that the way this kind of thing works, they probably paid pennies on the dollar to the school system on what the actual amount was. Which means I can probably make them go away for much less than what they actually claim we "owe" them. Anything they can manage to claim from us above what they paid the school system to assume the debt is just gravy for them. That's assuming the agency owns the debt now, which we don't know at this time.

The collection agency takes on the debt in 2 ways: They either buy it outright (for pennies on the dollar... likely ~20%) or they are hired by the school board/state on a contingency fee basis... meaning the agency will get x% (averaging ~20%) of the total collected. In most cases you are right... you will more than likely be able to get away with less than the $5800. But don't think you're going to get off scott-free. The lowest I see debts settled for is ~50% of placement value... and those are usually during end of quarter/year "specials"

Long story short, you took the money for services not rendered. You don't have concrete proof of your attempt to NOT take the money. They have concrete proof of you taking the money and your wife not working during that window.

Media coverage? BUAHAAHAHH. Maybe if you live in a small town. But exactly what are you going to tell that media? "I asked them to take the money back... but they wouldn't... so we kept it." Please PLEASE if this hits the media, please record the TV segment or link us to the article I think it would be fully entertaining.

What you SHOULD be thankful for is they aren't hitting you for interest on the money too.

Settle the bill, or prepare to be garnished.

The media coverage would not be exposing only our case but all the cases of the rash of rank incompetence that apparently happened during that time period. As I said, the collection agent let it slip that they have many cases for the same thing from the same school district in their office. Public officials do not like to have their incompetence exposed to the light. The government enjoys their unaccountability in never having to deal with the consequences of their own mistakes. From my point of view, they should walk away from this glad that we brought the matter to their attention as soon as we did and that we tried repeatedly to get it to stop. Otherwise who knows how much more they would have continued to pay out to us and others? They didn't want the money when we tried to give it back. . .not my problem. But no, see. . .they had to push it. And now they got me pissed off.

yeah they had to push it. damn them for wanting the overpayment back! DAMN THEM!

oh and sure it might make local papers. but thats it. its not going to get you out of the paying it back.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

They were direct deposited electronic payments. The only thing we ever got in the mail was the paystubs whenever they made a deposit to our account.

You have tried to return the money, you say. If you have proof of this, and proof of paying taxes over them, they have no case in court.

you my friend have no clue!!
The bottom line is they will not take him to small claims court.....but they will screw up his credit!
Why? Because he spent money that was NOT his.
He tried to give it back? OK....thr money still was NOT his!!
He should have left it in the bank-- end of story!!

I did leave it in the bank. I still have it. But that doesn't mean that after the way they have handled this I'm going to just give it back any more without a fight after they essentially told us to take a walk when we originally tried to return it.

 

[Homerboy]

Your situation is slightly different though. You continued to be an employee for the company who overpaid you the first year. My wife had formall terminated her employment with the school system.

no its not. My idea was to simply quit the job right there and then, and technically walk away with $20k in my pocket... or basically work for free for the next X months while I paid it back. My brother quickly pointed out that they could in-fact easily sue me/collect on me for the $20K

 

[Homerboy]

I did leave it in the bank. I still have it. But that doesn't mean that after the way they have handled this I'm going to just give it back any more without a fight after they essentially told us to take a walk when we originally tried to return it.

Wait so you actually still HAVE the money.... and you STILL are being a prick about paying it back? MUAHAHAH

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

They were direct deposited electronic payments. The only thing we ever got in the mail was the paystubs whenever they made a deposit to our account.

You have tried to return the money, you say. If you have proof of this, and proof of paying taxes over them, they have no case in court.

you my friend have no clue!!
The bottom line is they will not take him to small claims court.....but they will screw up his credit!
Why? Because he spent money that was NOT his.
He tried to give it back? OK....thr money still was NOT his!!
He should have left it in the bank-- end of story!!

I did leave it in the bank. I still have it. But that doesn't mean that after the way they have handled this I'm going to just give it back any more without a fight after they essentially told us to take a walk when we originally tried to return it.

so what? they asked for it back.

the moral, ethical and legal thing to do is pay it back.

fighting it would be a mistake. you will lose.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Vegitto

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: Vic
Sorry, you should never have cashed the checks.

They were direct deposited electronic payments. The only thing we ever got in the mail was the paystubs whenever they made a deposit to our account.

You have tried to return the money, you say. If you have proof of this, and proof of paying taxes over them, they have no case in court.

you my friend have no clue!!
The bottom line is they will not take him to small claims court.....but they will screw up his credit!
Why? Because he spent money that was NOT his.
He tried to give it back? OK....thr money still was NOT his!!
He should have left it in the bank-- end of story!!

i bet they will take him to court and they will win.

then they will garnish his pay and he will then have a judgment on his credit. rightfully so.

They aren't gonna garnish ****** because I still have the cash. But I'm not just handing to some collections agency without a fight. In fact, no matter what I will not give it to a collections agency. I will pay it to the school district directly but nobody else. The kids in that school district benefit in no way if I pay back the collection agency. The school should really have made a better effort to get hold of us about this before just ignorantly sending the the matter to collections.

 

[ultimatebob]

Seriously, dude... Get a lawyer. Asking ATOT for legal advice is like asking Slashdot for tips on how to get laid.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Seriously, dude... Get a lawyer. Asking ATOT for legal advice is like asking Slashdot for tips on how to get laid.

so hes going to pay a lawyer that is going to tell him to "pay it back"

 

[Homerboy]

In fact, no matter what I will not give it to a collections agency. I will pay it to the school district directly but nobody else. The kids in that school district benefit in no way if I pay back the collection agency. The school should really have made a better effort to get hold of us about this before just ignorantly sending the the matter to collections.

Well there is another problem. In most cases, if its already in the collection agency's hands, they get a cut no matter who you pay directly. If you wanted it to go to the children so badly you should have made a greater effort 3yrs ago.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

I tried to give it back 3 years ago and they didn't want it you sanctimonious douche bag. Take a walk through a garbage incinerator. Now they send a collections agency after me with having only made half assed effort at best to notify me they were now looking to get their money back. Now they come back at probably the least opportune time possible looking for their money and bringing all this bvllshit into our lives. May the bird of happiness fly straight up your asshole. I am not going to dick around at all because I want this in the past but I am sure as hell not going to bend over and reward somebody elses rank incompetence with charity. So you can ESAD.

I'm sure you weren't bitching too much with that extra $5800 3 years ago though were you? Did you ever TRY to get the bank to reverse the direct deposit? Should I call right now and just see if its possible? I'll bet you $5800 it is.

Look you took money that was not yours. While TRYING to give it back is perfectly fine it is NOT equal to ACTUALLY giving it back is it?

So what should I have done, just slipped it under the office door and walked away? That'd be about equivalent to leaving it lying on a sidewalk somewhere. I am going to contact my bank about reversing those deposits as you suggest but I have a feeling after all this time it won't be possible any more.