In A Bind II

england030

Well, I completed the punchlist on the mississippi home. House is perfect, the loan closed received my 52K, but guess what, the homeowner is threatening to put a stop payment on the final payment if I don't give her a 5K check from out of my final payment. The closing was on Thursday, I checked with the bank to see what the time limits were and my bank told me that legally anyone can place a stop payment on a check for up to 2 years. That's right 2 years anyone can receive their money back from any check they have written. Now the bank does go on to say that you could face civil or even criminal charges by stopping payment but that doesn't really help in my current situation.

I could sue her and probably win, but what do I do in the mean time when I have suppliers, subs, and my one employee who needs their checks.

It's so unfair, you do the work and you still get screwed. If this goes bad I may get out of this business all together.

dougchips

Sounds like some sort of black mail. "You kick back 5k or I will screw you and your subs".

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KillerToiletSpider

You have a lwayer right?

Let him play the word game with her, most HO's will back down from a lien that totals the entire cost of the job.

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england030

I don't really know how to fight it, I don't have all the money in the world to lawyer up and wait on a settlement.

Ed the Roofer

That would be fraud. Go ahead and talk to the bank that issued the check or the title company where the payment originated from.

Explain what she has threatened you with unless you give her a "kick-back" and see if they can intervene prior to her acting out her threat.

Contact the attorney generals office in advance and get a law to cite, which would go against her, if she chooses to fraudulently leverage herself against you in this manner.

Go to the police department in advance to make the threat on record, prior to her taking action.

You now have a paper trail of her itended coercement to commit fraud in the event she follows through.

Was the check from her personally?

Or, was it a bank check or title company check?

Are you telling the full and factual story?

Add more details, if there are any, even if it just a homeowner with a perceived animosity towards you.

Ed

mahlere

this sounds like the plot to a bad B-rated movie..

1 of 2 things are occurring here....

1) england is losing a battle of intelligence to an unarmed woman

or

2) he's not giving all the facts or telling the whole truth...

either way, i call bs to the story we've been fed

Celtic

hmmm...if it's good enough for the goose it's good enough for the gander.

Agree to the terms...and write her a postedated check....2007 ~ 2017...who would notice??? ....then give her the ol' "Stop Payment" and get your 5k back The HO gets double screwed, you deposit the check into a "fake" account then transfer the money into your "real" account.

Honestly, I can't see how it's possible to "stop payment" and get money back after 2 years....

Not knowing what State you hail from in this great country of ours....


From Wachiovia Bank site:
http://wachovia.com/helpcenter/page/..._11198,00.html
From a law firm in SC:
http://www.bqslaw.com/faqs-banking.htm
I think we are getting less than half the story sprinkled with some salt for good measure.

mahlere

must be a jersey thing

Celtic

You know it!

One way or the other, that money is MINE and I'm keeping ALL of it ...LOL.

KentWhitten

you have no control over what someone else is going to do. f*** her. pay your subs,pay yourself for a job well done and go to the next job.

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Ed the Roofer

Verbal threats are meaningless except to be used as a possible bluff.

Show her the legal ramifications and potential liabilities that Celtic had recently posted.

That should choke the threats and put them on the shelf for good.



Unless you have not been 100 % truthful and forthcoming about the situation with us.

Ed

Celtic

Maybe I wasn't clear....

Don't show her squat!

Do your job, get paid.
If she doesn't want to play nice, THEN get into the dirty deeds.
Why show your hand prematurely? She'll just concoct another scheme.

You know she wants to "play", that doesn't mean you have to play by her rules

Chris Johnson

What's your contract say and how good is it? What's the 5k for?

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Chris

Ed the Roofer

[quote=Celtic;245935]

Agree to the terms...and write her a postedated check....2007 ~ 2017...who would notice??? ....then give her the ol' "Stop Payment" and get your 5k back The HO gets double screwed, you deposit the check into a "fake" account then transfer the money into your "real" account.

quote]

I hope you were being tongue in cheek.

I just don't understand your justification in making this remark. Otherwise, I felt your advise about the checks and stop payment laws were very pertinent.

He already did do the work from my understanding.

He is just waiting to get paid and she is dickin him around with illegal fraudulent threats.

Expose her benign threats as fraud, as they justifiably are.

Once again, unless he is not being completely truthfull about the ENTIRE circumstances.

Ed

mahlere

i call shenanigans

Tscarborough

Once a check has cleared, then any stop payment order is useless. It remains in effect, so long as you don't cash the check.

england030

It's been resolved, the check came from the financial institution, not the owner, so she cannot stop it. I was a nervous wreck all weekend. And I can finally rest easy today. I guess she can still try to sue me, but that would entail her having to spend money and I don't think she's in the business of paying for things.

That stop payment thing is scary, wachovia is the one who told me that. 2 years. Every check you received, is in jeopardy for 2 years.

As far as this being a bs story, I can see why you would like to tell yourself that. But if it can happen to me, it can happen to any of you.

Ed the Roofer

The reason I asked if you were being completely upfront and honest about the "whole" situation, is that you never mentioned for what reason the woman stated she wanted $ 5,000.00 back.

Was it just as a 10 % discount she feltr she deserved or tried to pry out of you?

Was there some additional item she wanted to add to the "completed" punch list, even if it was far fetched?

Was she just trying to play hard-ball and see if you would be a push over?

Was she and has she dealt with others in the same manner and gotten away with it?

You never stated her reasoning, even if it was from bizzarro world.

Thats what I was fishing for, the other side of the story, even if she had no legal leg to stand on.

Glad you got paid though.

I am going through the legal system for over $ 21,000.00 myself right now. It sucks and it is hurting me tremendously too, so I can symphathise with your angst.

Ed

Dustball

I believe this is where the $5,000 amount came from-

Celtic

I guess you missed my link:


True...BUT...it DIDN'T really happen, did it ?:
As far as this being a bs story, I can see why you would like to tell us it isn't ....but it sure smells like one