Overpayment from lease company

[Donnapxr]

Hi,

i had a car from a lease company that was stolen in December 2022. It went through insurance as a total loss (my own insurance). The insurance company paid the lease company around February 2023 and I was sent a remittance notice and the funds were transferred in to my bank account.

prior to this I was advised by the lease company that they buy the cars in bulk for a low price and they are not allowed to benefit from my loss and therefore I should expect a payment. The payment I received matched the remittance advice that was emailed to me. everything else was done between my insurance company and the lease company.

yesterday I received a phone call from the lease company who advised me they have sent me too much money because of their own error. They are now discussing with me how I pay this money back. It is a significant amount of money that I do not have. I used the money initially to pay off debt, believing it was rightfully mine.

I am not disputing that I have to pay it back. But I am very concerned that they are suggesting a payment plan for me but have said this will not go to credit agencies. However, in law, how is this enforced? What if I become critically ill? Or separate from my husband? I lose my job and cannot pay? I need advice on how to address this because it is their error and this is going to cause me to go back in to debt

thank you.

[atticus]

If when you received the payment you did not think there was an error and had no reason to think so, then you appear to have a strong case to resist, particularly if you have spent the money believing it to be rightfully yours.

If I were you, I would make this argument. At the very least you can use it to negotiate a lower payment, spread over instalments.