Reversing merchant credit

Our fraud processor has a new program where they sometimes recover funds on verified by visa losses or charges <$25. When they "recover" the funds, the customer receives a direct credit from the merchant. It appears that this is occurring roughly a month or so after we have closed the dispute (if no chargeback rights and no other investigative routes, we close these normally within 10 days). I know that you cannot take back provisional credit once finalized, and I know that you can reverse merchant credit if it s a duplicate.

What I am not sure about is the timing. In these cases the dispute was in November; the merchant credit occurred in December, but the reports for the new program are not available until the following month. I just found out the customer received the credit in December. Is there any time limit on when we are allowed to reverse the merchant credit? The one I have currently is a little less than 60 days after the dispute was closed, but it has been slightly more than 30 days since the merchant credit. I am trying to determine if we can reverse the merchant credit even though it has been this long or if we need to alter our processing procedures..

Thank you.

From a Reg E perspective once you close your claim, final is final. I agree that when funds are paid a second time to a consumer, they should not benefit. Here is an excerpt from my Reg E manual:

"This is when many bankers claim that “unjust enrichment” can be claimed and that the consumer is not intended to profit off the claim. While this is true, unjust enrichment is for a court to decide and the bank must determine if it wants to take its depositor to civil court."

A customer could offer the funds to the bank, but I question legal authority for the bank to just take it.