He Who Spends What Isn’t His’n Pays It Back or Goes to Prison

NORFOLK, Va. – A Chartway FCU members is in a quandary because of a February teller mistake that credit his account for $3,588–when it should have credited him $35.88 for cashing in a $50 U.S. savings bond. The member said he doesn’t have the money and shouldn’t have to pay it back because it was the credit union’s mistake. The credit union wants Vincent Falzone to pay back the erroneous windfall with a signature loan over six years at 11% interest. But Falzone is balking, insisting he thought the money was legitimately his. In one recent case in Florida a credit union member who spent $25,000 mistakenly credited to her account was sent to prison for theft. Chartway is suing Falzone in local court over the mistake. At least three other Chartway members are faced with the same dilemma after similar teller errors on savings bonds.