BANK WOES

Last week Chuck got a check from his former employer and I deposited it in the bank. Yesterday I got a letter from the bank returning the check with the explanation that the payee to whom the check was made payable was not on the account! Yeah, right. It's a joint checking account that we've had for 30+ years! So this morning I headed to the bank ready to do battle. The guy at the bank was totally stumped because the account was showing it was a joint account and Chuck's name was there. I guess the bank uses 2 different systems and Chuck was on one but not the other, and they couldn't figure out why. In the meantime I discovered that there were several overdraft charges because of the snafu as well as a service charge, all totaling $211! At the end of the day, all was straightened out: Chuck's name is now back on the account, all the charges have been reversed and we're back in the black.

While at the bank an elderly man came in insisting that he wasn't able to access his account on the bank's website. He was very angry and was yelling so loud that the entire bank could hear him. He finally wandered back to talk to a banker in the cube next to where I was. I have to give the banker credit. He kept his calm and tried to help the old man figure out how to use the computer. The old man kept insisting that his computer in Arizona let him access his account but he couldn't do it in MN. He "doesn't make mistakes" and he knew it wasn't not his computer. He insisted it was the bank's fault. All he could get was "ads telling me how to spend my money." I sat there giggling to myself. After he left, the receptionist came back and was talking to the 2 bankers. I interrupted them and said I knew exactly what he was doing....he was entering the bank's web address in the search engine! Of course he was getting a whole list of things! The bankers started to laugh and said they'd be ready "WHEN" he comes back. Moral of the story.....don't let old men play with computers!!

Then this afternoon I tried to sign onto the bank's website to see if everything was kosher in my account and I couldn't get in! It seems I had been locked out for some reason so I was back on the phone to the bank to get that straightened out. I ended up having to change my password, but at least I finally got access.

A word of warning: If you are taking money in to a bank to deposit it, make sure the teller counts the money above the counter and in your view!! At work, my boss took down a deposit which had $1220 in cash ~ 12 - $100 dollar bills and 1 - $20. The teller counted it below the counter and told my boss that there was an error on our deposit ticket....there was only $1140, not $1220. He said there were 11 - $100 bills and 2 - $20s. My boss came back to the office and told me that there was an error. I said, "No there wasn't." I had counted that money right before he went down, I knew what the individual clients had given us, and I knew exactly what was there. He went back to the bank and told them that the deposit was right. They had the teller count his drawer and, of course, it came out "right". We know what happened ... the teller had switched a $100 for a $20 out of my boss's sight. So of course his drawer would come out right. Right it's a case of his word against ours and we can't prove what happened, other than I KNOW how much cash there was. Unfortunately my boss won't do anything about it. He'll just let it go.

It's not been a good day for banking issues.