<prompt> Human: Story goes like this. I was already 60 in the hole when this started. My wife received a check for 2,000 for a raffle she entered online. To me it seemed legit, not a loan, not asking to take most of the money and transfer it to John Doe so I told her to take it to the bank and have it verified. The branch manager said she would send it in to some other department that handles these sorts of things. A week passes and I get home from work early one day to check the account to see if it was closed owed the 60 for about a month, just started a new job so was going to pay it back and holy shit, available balance is 2,000. I know I should have contacted my wife first but she was not home I assumed she was shopping so I paid off some bills and made a credit card payment.My wife gets home and she says the bank said the check seems legit BUT to wait a week before using any of the money in case it bounces. Told her I already paid some bills and she was panicking. Then to make matters worse the bank calls. The branch manager gets sassy with my wife saying that she was not supposed to touch the funds in case the it bounced AND that my card was supposed to be locked during this time frame. Well the next day the bank calls and says the check bounced and we owe them 800.So, I will say right now I have no interest in paying the debt off. WHY would you make the funds available in my account in the first place if the check did not go through completely and how was my card not locked when she said it was? In my eyes it is the banks fault, I would pay off the 60 I do owe them but not a penny more.Other than paying, what are my options to defend myself against this?  <response>: The bank didnt mess up. They told your wife not to touch the money. You guys messed up by not following that direction. If you dont pay, they will probably turn you in to collections at which point your credit will take a hit. If it persists, your wages could be garnished thats like extreme though, often it just goes to collections. 