Banks and checks

[Ted Brown]

Hard lesson... learned?? To those who deal in checks from customers or?
I was Day dreaming the other Morning about the time (years back) I quit dealing with Banks...
I had made a $2.600.00 deposit, (Just glad it was not MORE!) give or take a few dollars... and after about a Week I started getting bounced check notices, plus a few calls from people that I wrote checks to... Well I was very upset, to say the least, as I am not one for writing bad checks, never was... If I did not have the money, I would tell them and ask for credit, which I most always got...
Anyway, I went to the Bank (Wells Fargo) and asked why my checks were bouncing, and showed them my deposit slip... They said that their down town main check reader/photo copier system had eaten most all on my checks, along with other's a guess... Well I found that in the small print (somewhere in their policies) it says that the Bank is not responsible/liable for my money UNTIL it is IN my account... I asked how I could possibly protect (be responsible for) my checks when they had them??? They told me I had to make copies of all my checks to be deposited, myself, so if something like this happened, I now could call the writers of the checks and have them cancel that check and write another (for the exact amount) ... I was really ticked off! because I had no idea who all those checks were from and the exact amounts, a few yes, but not all... As I used to cash checks for people buying small stuff, way more that I should have...
Well needless to say, I asked the teller just what my exact balance was at that time, they told me, and I wrote a check and cashed it on the spot! That move closed my account right there, no other thing was needed to end my business dealings with them! FOREVER!!! When you write or withdraw all your money, to the penny, that closes your account...
I have not dealt with Banks since, this made my life a bit more hectic, but I was satisfied and glad from then on, no one can find out what I had any more, or just take it any time they wanted... I was now a cash or trade person... I really don't trust the system, it is not for the people...
SO; Fair warning, copy (scan- photocopy - a real picture, if nothing else is available) all your checks from other people, both sides if needed, to protect yourself from this ever happening to you... That cost me a few hundred dollars over a Thousand in the end... I was not a Happy Camper...

 

[deckofficer]

Ted,

That post could cause a lot of activity. I'm sure everyone has had some sour dealings with banks. I only use "brick and mortar" banks for my convience for auto bill pay and auto deposits. I move all my savings to internet banks that pay upward of 10 times the interest. My only real issue was many years ago (1971) when I had a personal account with B of A. I was running a photography business and depositing checks written to "Primo Photography" to that account. In the beginning, after showing them my business license, they had no problem but would keep asking me to open a business account. Then they stopped and said "no more", I must open a business account. I left to go over to Tahoe National Bank and asked them if I opened a personal account with them would they have any problems cashing this Primo Photography check? The teller said "I know you, your the ski instructor at Squaw Valley that takes all those skiing pictures". She opened my new account with the check B of A would no longer cash. I then drove back to B of A and closed my account and moved it all over to Tahoe. End of problem.

Bob

 

[Ted Brown]

What I believe I HATE most, is small print, I call it the we screw you print, and that goes for most anywhere, especially on a window ad you see as you are driving by,,, big lettering to show the food and the price, then when you spend a lot of time and effort getting turned around driving back and getting parked... Go inside and order and they tell you , oh that is between 3 and 4PM only, it is painted on that window, but so small you are lucky to be able to read it while standing right there... I told them I would never come back, as that was not at all customer friendly...

 

[Mike]

A lot of banks are going to be in the business of making up lost ground by dropping their 'free' banking policies. So don't be surprised when you start seeing all the sundry, new charges when you open your statement.

I deal with a fairly small and extremely solvent regional bank. When I walk in the door, every employee knows me and addresses me by my first name and I know all of them, as well. The branch manager will generally come out of his office to say hello and will at least smile and wave if he is otherwise engaged. No more of the big banks for me. I had a couple of accounts at a local credit union and they even got too uppity for their own good, so I transferred away from them.

I still have some deposits with the Royal Bank of Scotland, but when (if?) the exchange rate ever squares itself away, I'll be moving that money back to the States.

 

[jesse]

In 1969 i lived in ft lauderdale fla. I was moving back to tenn so i ask the bank what i had to do to close out my account that i was leaving the state. She said to write a check for the amount i had in the band so she looked it up and i wrote the check for that amount.Account closed right. not really , after about a month i got two statements saying i owned the 15 cents for cashing a check, they spent a lot more than that on office personel,envolopes and stamps. Guess with 15 cents owed since 1969 I will own they 150,000 dollars interest.

 

[rooster57]

SO now i know what your mattress is stuffed with TED. HA HA

 

[Keeper]

How about trying to deal Internationally with your local bank...

When finally sold our house in North Carolina a couple years ago (a month before the market dropped...lucky) We tried wiring money, didn't work as my local branch couldn't find their ....... anyway, that didn't work. So we figured, okay a certified bank draft, my bank told me "Sure we can do that, but we have to hold it for 60 days to clear"....ummm isn't that the whole damn point of a CERTIFIED draft? Call the damn phone number on the draft!!

So then we walk into my wifes bank, she has dealt with them since she was about 12 years old, "Sure we can do that" they called the number verified the draft, deposited the money.

Okay so now the funds are in Canada, my wife gets her bank to create a draft so I can take the money back to my bank. "Sure we can do that, but we have to hold it for 30 days" Now I am getting pissed, I ask to speak to the bank manager. Finally she relents and calls the damn bank we just left and verifies its a valid draft.

Needless to say I left that branch and never returned......

 

[Ted Brown]

And people ask why are so many people POed now days.. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa the whole system is broken...

 

[Mike]

The banks are all so puckered up over all the drug money and the terrorist money moving around out there, it is getting difficult to do much of anything without umpty-eleven forms of photo ID and a handful of notarized statements stating you are who you claim to be.

Trying to communicate with the RBoS from here in the States can be pretty frustrating, I can attest to that.

 

[T-Odd]

Here's my worst story...

I retired from IBM back in 1999 and moved to California. Before leaving, I needed to close a loan that was being automatically deducted from my checking account for a couple of years and only had a couple of months left on the loan.

I cashed in a CD and had them deposit it in my checking account, asked for the payoff for the loan and wrote a check. Packed up and moved to CA.

When I moved back to TN a year later (that's another long story) I had been turned over to a collection agency for $150 that was not paid on the aforementioned loan.

Remember I asked for the payoff on the loan and the loan HAD BEEN automatically deducting all other payments from my checking account. This is the same bank that told me how much to write the check for to pay off the loan. This is the same bank that had been deducting the loan payments without any work for me. This is the same bank that I kept a very large amount of money in my checking and savings accounts... yet they goofed, told me the wrong payoff amount (and I even questioned the lady when she told me the payoff amount, "That's all?" I said) they previously had the ability to deduct the payment for the loan, they had all my contact information because I was still a customer and still had a large amount of money in their bank.

Now here's the kicker, they sold out and changed names... and on my credit report there's a $7,600 loan that shows as "unable to collect" and I can't get it removed.

All because some stupid lady told me the wrong loan payoff amount, and they somehow couldn't deduct the $150 from my checking account after I tried to close the loan.

Yeah, I'm still mad. I had almost perfect credit - two "30 days late" credit card payment notifications were the only bad things on there, and those could have been challenged. I tend to make payments on my credit cards on the first day of the billing cycle. I later found out the cycle CAN fluctuate and if I'm too early, the payment applied to the previous month, so I had two months with multiple payments and two months with 30 days late payments.

It's a game and I'm just trying to play it by their rules.

Wish I could figure out how to get that Bravo Sierra removed from my report though.

 

[Corley]

Here's one that will frost your b____. My wife was taking lot's of trips to Bangkok Thailand at one point n her career, and I encouraged her to only take one credit card with her for theft protection. We always keep a zero balance on all plastic accounts, so that should not have ben any problem. On one trip, she stayed at the Orient Hotel in Bangkok for 4 nights, and then moved to the regular hotel the company used (the Landmark), when a room became available there. As it happened, the Orient in their wisdom put holds on her CC account each day, for $2,500 US, for a total of $10,000. They said it was "standard practise". That almost max'd out that card, since a hold is just about the same as a charge until it is removed. So, when she tried a week later to check of the Landmark, they rejected her card as over limit. Seems the Orient didn't remove the holds on her card.

I didn't even know that hotels put holds on cards, so when she called me all panicked, I called the bank and was told the account balance was fine, but there were a bunch of holds on the card from the Orient hotel. A call to the Oreint didn't help, as they wouldn't remove the holds until they had actually gotten the amount of her bill there paid into their Bank of Siam account, which they said took about two weeks. I wound up calling and calling until I was finally talking to a vise president of B of A, who finally saw the light and increased our limit on the spot so she could pay her bill and come back home. No one else at B of A seemed to give a fig. The only other option was to wire her some money, which in case you didn't know is expensive to do, and can take a day or two to get there. She had checked out of her room, and then been invited to no longer stay at the Landmark since she couldn't pay her bill, but basically not to leave the lobby until she had a solution and could pay her bill. (It was actually nice of them to NOT call the police and have her taken to jail.) It only took me half a day and about 20 long distance calls to get a solution put in place. To make it worse, I could no longer call her to let her know what was up since she was now out of her room, and sitting in the lobby waiting for me to do something to rescue her. Of course she missed her flight, and that cost us more $$...

Luckily for us, her company took care of all costs, and after that they issued employees traveller's check advances whenever they traveled to Asia so they could pay their hotel bill with those.

 

[Steve R]

I have also had my nighmares with banks until about 20 years ago. I have been managing a Credit Union for the past 20+ years. I would recommend that you check out a Credit Union in your area. It is a lot different being a member of a credit union than a customer of a bank. Just my .02 cents.

 

[sschutze]

Here's one that will frost your b____. My wife was taking lot's of trips to Bangkok Thailand at one point n her career, and I encouraged her to only take one credit card with her for theft protection. We always keep a zero balance on all plastic accounts, so that should not have ben any problem. On one trip, she stayed at the Orient Hotel in Bangkok for 4 nights, and then moved to the regular hotel the company used (the Landmark), when a room became available there. As it happened, the Orient in their wisdom put holds on her CC account each day, for $2,500 US, for a total of $10,000. They said it was "standard practise". That almost max'd out that card, since a hold is just about the same as a charge until it is removed. So, when she tried a week later to check of the Landmark, they rejected her card as over limit. Seems the Orient didn't remove the holds on her card.

I took a business trip to Madrid last year (35 day trip) and had something similar happen. I don't keep a large amount of money in my checking account, so I had enough to pay for my entertainment expenses and the company took care of all the accomodations (gotta love an expense account). But the hotel said they needed my card for "incidentals" (pay-per-view movies, mini bar, etc - standard practice) so I gave it too them knowing I wasn't going to be using any of it. 3 days later I am locked out of my room and they say my card has been declined. Apparently they thought the Corporate card (which I don't have, it's used by our travel coordinators) was only used to HOLD my room and I was paying for it with my card. I check my bank account online and I am $1500 over drawn because of their "hold" process. We got it straightened out, but not before a slew of really bad nightmares of being stuck in a foreign country with no place to stay. Of course this happened on a Friday after business hours (U.S. time).

This was during the Soccer finals in Spain (June 2010), so we had to vacate our hotel room for 3 days because they were booked before we made our reservations. We returned to the hotel a few days later and I checked back in with no problems. They never asked for the credit card again so I figured they had it figured out. I even explained that the room was to be paid for with the same card that was used to hold the room. I checked my account online again the next day (I was there 35 days, had to pay bills at home) and I was over drawn AGAIN!!! This time not before a few bills had cleared. Only took a few phone calls this time to get it straightened out, but the company agreed to pay the overdraft fees ($111 worth). Ruined what should have been a very nice trip abroad.

 

[Gerry]

I must have been one of the lucky ones. I had a company credit card with a high enough limit to get me out of these situations ( I must add an American Company) plus I always carried my own Amex with a limit that was enough to buy a plane ticket home. Told my MD that if I had a credit card and a passport I would always get back. There is one from Poland many years ago that invloved a late night train ride, a dash to the airport and a 36 hours without sleep journey. But thats another story.

Would be good at this point to get my Old MD to tell about the trip to Prague and the race along the streets at 2 am in the morning behind a Police car dodging the potholes. Maybe I will ask him to write it up cause I only remember my side of things

Gerry

 

[sschutze]

I must have been one of the lucky ones. I had a company credit card with a high enough limit to get me out of these situations ( I must add an American Company) plus I always carried my own Amex with a limit that was enough to buy a plane ticket home. Told my MD that if I had a credit card and a passport I would always get back. There is one from Poland many years ago that invloved a late night train ride, a dash to the airport and a 36 hours without sleep journey. But thats another story.

Would be good at this point to get my Old MD to tell about the trip to Prague and the race along the streets at 2 am in the morning behind a Police car dodging the potholes. Maybe I will ask him to write it up cause I only remember my side of things

Gerry

Our company does offer an unlimited "Corporate" credit card, but Am Ex changed thier policy a few years ago. Now days a "corporate" Am Ex card only carries the company's name on it, you have to get it on your own credit now, they are no longer backed by the company you work for. I dislike the hidden fee's and fine print on credit cards so I have ONE card in my name and refuse to have any more. If my company wants me to travel they have to issue me an expense account or pre-paid card, or I don't travel. They tried to require a card to be issued several years ago to be eligible for travel, but quickly figured out they lost too many qualified people and dropped the restriction when Am Ex changed the policy.