location: Washington State
I sold my car to a car dealership. Signed papers, was issued a check, and deposited the check in front of them via cell phone.
A day or two after, they call me asking me to come in as there was an issue, and that they would even uber/lyft me from wherever I was to them as the issue was 'on them'. I go and they tell me that they had some data issues the day I sold my car to them, and that the check they gave me likely won't clear and that I *have to* accept and deposit a new check. I mention to them that I already deposited the first check and an amount of it was already in my bank account with the rest not cleared yet and they say it's not an issue, and if I end up getting charged for for something bank-related to email them so I can get refunded. But I *have to* take their new check. So they print out this new check, I sign something that looks like something I signed before but I don't even remember what it was, and I go ahead and deposit the new check in front of them via cell phone. Before I leave I ask if there's anything I'll need to do later or if I need to be prepared for different outcomes and they just repeat that if I get billed to email them. They then call an uber/lyft to get me home.
The bank never reversed the first check. Instead it goes ahead and clears the rest of the money, then clears the second check. I figure I can't just send them the money back because I'd get bit later when the bank finally decides to reverse it themselves, so I leave it there.
A bit over 2 months later I get a letter with the dealership's header and signed by "Contract Resolution Group". It quotes the date of the second check's issuance and says I was inadvertently issued the check, and "Although you were not entitled to the money, you endorsed and tendered the Check on (day after, so probably when it cleared the bank)" and "hereby requests that you return the ($$$) you received in error." It then gives me two weeks to pay up/ discuss payment arrangements and ends with "This letter is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose."
Obviously I am not oppose to giving them the money and this would leave a nice legal paper trail I assume so I wouldn't get double charged or anything. But the statements the letter made are what bother me. It read more as if I was trying to defraud them and the writing suggesting I shouldn't have signed the check even though the car dealership made me do it and issued me the second check without me asking. Basically it was all their idea.
Will going ahead and returning them the money per the methods in the letter be the safe route, or will it inadvertently be an admission of guilt that they can then take other legal action on me for? As this is considered by the letter as 'debt collection', will it impact anything like credit score? Is this letter or it being 'debt collection' even legal or do I actually have more time to respond to it?