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Normajean2013 Asked March 2017

After 4 years the bank says I owe back my late mothers last social security check.

Do I owe this back to bank? Why has it taken so long to tell me about this ?

igloo572 Mar 2017
Four years later..... This is some kinda POS bank. Stuff like this should come up in annual routine auditing if it's a regular commercial bank, FDIC & federal reserve member.

Is this a credit union or co-op or community bank?

Whatever the case, if you don't bank there, there's nothing they can attach.
$ 700 debt.... Kinda low to interest debt collection.
Plus it's not your debt. The SS $ was moms. It's a debt of mom so debt of her estate.
I'd send them a certified letter stating that and that after 4 years (do exactly to moms DOD) any debt against her estate should have been done within a year of her death so family could responded to in timely manner.

If you did probate, you cite the probate court #. Claims by creditors would have to been submitted to court or executor within a period of time set by your state law. Like for TX, done within6 mos of Notice to Creditors printed in newspaper.

Countrymouse Mar 2017
Bank error in your favour...

Hm. So essentially they credited the payment to your account, reimbursed Social Security, and then failed to debit your account...

I'm quite surprised they were able to do that. And $700 is a fat lump of money to find all at once. Can you make an appointment to go and see them and come to some kind of compromise arrangement? It is their fault, and at the very least they ought not to expect you to refund them just-like-that, all-in-one-go.

Ask for copies of all the relevant statements, clarify exactly what happened, and then - letting them do the talking - ask what they plan to contribute towards correcting *their* error.

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Normajean2013 Mar 2017
I think Social Security got the check back and the bank messed up by letting me have the money left in my moms account. It was around $700. If I would have know about the mistake right away my siblings would have helped me pay it back but after 4 years no one now is financially able to.

Countrymouse Mar 2017
Normajean, I haven't heard of anything exactly like this but I would be very, very wary of unexpected calls from the bank. How did you verify the identity of the caller? The first thing I'd do is make sure it's not a scam. The next thing I'd do is pop in to the bank and ask them for reference numbers, claimant's details and an explanation for the delay in SS's claiming back the money.

But if it's all kosher, and you can check that there was an overpayment, and your SS office confirms that there isn't a cut-off point for correcting errors, you might have to pay up. Is it a lot of money?

Normajean2013 Mar 2017
Yes the bank called me not Social Security.

geevesnc Mar 2017
The bank says this? It's not Social Security? SS usually just takes back what is owed, without asking. Please clarify.

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