
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 25, 1994                   TAG: 9412270115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.                                 LENGTH: Short

BANK WANTS WIDOW'S PENSION BACK

A bank wants a 75-year-old widow and 12 other people to pay back $60,000 in pension benefits mistakenly mailed out for almost eight years because of a computer glitch.

Natalie Hudson of Hurt, Va., said she received a letter in October telling her she had received 78 checks totalling $3,815 by mistake. She had been receiving benefits from her deceased husband's pension after it expired, and now Wachovia bank would like to be repaid.

A total of about $60,000 in excess payments was sent to the 13 people.

``It's not my fault, and I don't have money to pay,'' Hudson told Friday's USA Today. ``I'm so upset I can't sleep.''

While the bank hopes to get its money back, a spokesman said Friday it's not playing Scrooge.

``We did send out letters to some people, but we're not going to come get them or sue anybody,'' Ken Brown said. ``There won't be any retribution if they don't pay.''

by CNB