Mistaken ID Nets Member $36,600

APPLETON, WIS. - A member of Fox Communities CU thought his number came in when he received a check in the mail for $36,624 from a mutual fund company Thrivent Financial Services.

The only problem was the check should have been sent to a Thrivent customer with the same name, Michael Hansen, who had sent the funds to Thrivent after cashing in his 401(k) retirement when he left his company.

By the time Thrivent realized the mistake and went to collect the misdirected funds, they learned Hansen and his wife had spent the unexplained windfall.

Thrivent, which repaid the funds to the proper Michael Hansen, is currently working on a repayment schedule to recover the money. Kevin Wilkinson, chief of police in New London, Wis., where the credit union branch that cashed the misdirected check resides, said he doubted the wrong Hansens were liable for any criminal charges because of their behavior, but suggested that Thrivent could pursue them through civil litigation if they did not voluntarily give back the money.

But that could be complicated by the number of jurisdictions involved in the case: Michael Hansen lives in Minnesota, Thrivent is in Missouri and Fox Communities CU in Wisconsin. "The whole question of venue has to be explored here," Wilkinson told the Credit Union Journal.