That's the problem, he won't be able to get away with it. The bank WILL catch the mistake sooner or later. I've had money deposited into my account by mistake before and I just left it there without saying a word to anybody. Low and behold, 3 months later the bank sent a letter to my house and the money was taken out of my account. The bank may not catch it now, but they will catch it.

 

I know that. ive posted before that they will find out. but he shouldnt tell them just for the sake of doing the right thing, he should only tell them so it wont hurt him in the end. if he thinks he can get away with it, he should try to. if it was a friend or something who lent him the money id say do the right thing, but not with a bank.

 

+1 ^ they are going to realize $20,000 is missing sooner or later. Noone's that dumb.

 

heres a question.... what IF... you had the money deposited or loan paid off and you close your account with that bank... think they will still come after you once they realize they lost their money??? even though you no longer bank with them

 

That's theft...So, its okay to steal from a bank? Great advice you are giving to him. If he decides to get the title and sells it and profits. Guess what happens when they come back and ask for it? If he doesn't have the money then he's screwed. Great advice. This is not like someone finding 100 bucks on the street. All of this is documented. If he can't provide proof that it was paid by him then he will still be liable for the 20K...All he can do is to make sure he doesn't get screwed by them later if they decide to report it to the credit reporting companies...

 

i didnt tell him to steal or not pay it. i said if you think you can get away with not paying it, dont. obviously its likely he is going to have to pay it. and it is not stealing, its just him not going out of his way to make a payment. whats it like never to take a risk?

 

So, what's the news?

I don't see how anything can lead to the op getting bad credit out of this whole ordeal. I don't even see how the hell the credit company is going to charge for late fees when they figured out they messed up. It was their mistake. I'd sue the crap out of them if they did this to me, then came at me with either bad credit or late fees.

 

wtf? It's not stealing? What kind of bizarro world logic is that? Just because this is a bank and not a buddy does not change anything. You can get away with murder or any crime but that doesn't make it right. Money was borrowed and it needs to be paid back. That is what you call right. Taking something that is not yours is wrong. I suggest you think about that.

 

have thought about it. if it was a friend of mine or family member i borrowed from, id ensure it was paid back. if they said no and would not let me pay them I would not say thats stealing. If a bank did the same, I certainly would not go out of my way to get them the money if I thought I could get away with not paying it. Again though, I agree with everyone here when its said that they will find out and charge you the money. They always do. I disagree when its said you should pay it off because its the right thing to do, I say only pay it if you feel you will be held responsible and not becuase it is the right thing to do.

 

I still dont see how you can call that stealing. If he were to refuse the payment, or forge documents or something of that nature id say it was stealing. but having a loan balance wiped clean and not being held responsible by the lender, and making an effort to resolve the situation before deciding he got the best of it is not stealing. how much time exactly is he supposed to spend sorting this out?

 

i dont think that would work though. Ive heard stories of people selling cars and they get the bank to clear a check, only to have it bounce later on after theyve given away the car. Banks always cover their ***. if anything i would wait until the new year before i did something like sell the car just in case they do a year end review or something. then get that letter.

 

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but if I sign my name and make an agreement, I keep it. It seems perfectly acceptable these days to rip off the govt., businesses, insurance companies, or any institution for whatever reason. Costs for everyone go up because everyone of this greed. Do what you want, but I don't see this ending well if you ignore it.

 

Let me try to clear this up...Your example about borrowering money from parents is not a good example. If your parents don't want the money back that's their money and their decision. Banks are lending insitutions. A worker at the bank doesn't have the authority to give money away. They hire people to do all the paperwork etc. If one or more person in the bank makes a mistake. Does that automatically void the contract? NO...Even, If the bank told you not to pay right now. 6 months or more down the line and they find out. He is still liable for the money.

Take this to court and the judge will look at you and tell you to pay. Why? You have a contract that has an outstanding balance of 20K... Do you have proof that you paid? NO...Then you have to pay...But they told me I don't have to pay. Doesn't it matter. Any letter that they send to him will be considered a mistake. Those letters and his attempt to resolve this will only help him from avoiding late charges or anything else. People working at the bank have computers and all they do is look up if the account is paid. They don't do the research because they didn't get the actual check that was written to clear the title.

So, banks are not regular people you borrow money from. Hey, if someone can make a mistake and give away 20K. I can see so many people getting their cars paid off because an "Oppss"...I highly doubt a bank will give 20K free just because one person in the bank made a mistake. Sooner or later they will come back and get their money. Even if they don't want the money now. Accounting will catch it for sure. He should still side aside the payments in his account so when they do want it back he doesn't get screwed because he spent it all. If he receives the title and sells the car. It can be proved that he didn't pay the full amount. It is stealing because he didn't fully pay for the car and he better be sure to not spend that 20K because they will come running for it.

 

If he sends in the checks and they send them back, what's he supposed to do?

If calls everyone involved and they still claim it's paid, then what is he supposed to do?

If he makes every reasonable (and maybe some unreasonable) attempts at correcting the situation, then I don't see him being held liable.

If he made NO attempt at correcting the mistake, then yes, he would be held liable.

 

weird. my account always look like the balance due is 2x more than the actual amount..