Banking and Bad Customers

[kittiebaker]

So...I am going to call the bank teller "B" and the bad customer "SC" and the bad customer's wife "SCW".

I was standing in line behind the customer and his wife at the time that this happened and it made me almost feel like crying and or punching the guy. I feel really horrible for the lady teller.

B: Welcome, how may I help you today, sir?
SC: I want to take the money out of my account, please
B: How much would you like to take out sir?
SC: I want to take out the amount that my wife deposited for me yesterday.
B: I'm sorry, sir but since you deposited that money after 4:30 on Friday, it will not be available until Monday morning.
SC: But my wife deposited it.
B: I am aware of that sir. Like I said, it will be available to you on Monday morning.
SC: But I need to pay my bills. Why can't I just have it now?
B: Sir, if you wanted your money, you could have had it cashed.
SC: *turns to his wife* Why didn't you cash it, bitch?
SCW: *looked down and then up at B* They told me that I couldn't get the money because my name was not on the account or the check.
SC: Then you shouldn't have put it in my account.
SCW: You told me to put it in your account when I went to the bank.
SC: you should have thought about it
B: Sir, you don't need to be angry at your wife, since it is bank policy that we would not have been able to release the money to her. Her name is not on the account.
SC: Then I want to close my account. Now!!!
B: I'm sorry sir, but it's Saturday and we're only open for a couple of hours. A bank manager needs to close your account and will be able to do that on Monday.
SC: I have been in the hospital for 3 days and have a broken foot (okay??? So???). I want to close my account now. Close my account!
B: I'm sorry, sir, but like I said a bank manager needs to...
SC: *interrupts* All of my family banks here and I will close my account and get my wife to close her account
SCW: We can come back Monday.
SC: I'm also going to get my son to close my account. he had a problem too a year ago and it took a week to get it fixed.
B: I'm sorry there was such a huge problem for your son. If you'd like to close your account I'm sure we can help you on Monday. Your money will have gone through and we can transfer it as you like.
SC: My nephew is going to be leaving and so is the rest of my family.
B: That's there choice sir.
SC: And then you won't have any of our business and you'll have to close all of your banks and no one will ever have another problem. Bitch.

And thankfully, after that, he left. The next lady to step up to the teller was an older woman who smiled, offered her apology and said she hoped the rest of the teller's day went well.
The teller replied, "It's fine. I am sure he'll calm down and realize that Monday he'll be getting his money and then losing it for another 3 days while it transfers to his new bank."

Everyone laughed.

[bankworking]

Question for you: did I read this right: if the money from the check is deposited, then it's not available right away, but if the check it cashed, they can get the money right away?

If that's how it works at your bank, I suddenly understand why so many of my customers, when informed that a check will have to go on hold for a few days, ask if they can cash it instead. I've never understood why they would ask that. If we say the funds of the check have to go on hold, how would the funds be available for cashing? If we are putting a check on hold, it is because we feel like there is a need to give the funds time to (hopefully) clear before we hand out the funds. Either
1) the check is unusually large for the customer's average account balance, 2) we believe the check might be a scam but the customer insists on depositing despite warnings, or 3) the account is new.

If the check is one that we could cash immediately, then the funds would not go on hold, so it would be available immediately if deposited.

[bacchinalus]

the way its worked at any bank i've been to is this...

you deposit a check (assuming its from an outside bank, and not from another account at the same bank, which is available immediately) and the funds are on hold, until they confirm that the other bank's account actually has the money, and whatnot

you deposit cash, and the funds should be available immediately, because its cash and they don't have to check that you don't have the funds to put in (cause, hell, they can just count the money in their hands)

if you try to cash a check, however, the amount that you're trying to take from the check is put on hold against your account until the check clears the system, as long as you actually HAVE that much already in your account

so basically, you're not beating the system or anything, cause the money will still be on hold, cause it was a check- no matter how you try to deposit it

maybe its different at other banks, but thats how i've gotten used to it

[Midorikawa]

I don't know where kittiebaker is, but here in the US, it's common policy that any checks deposited after 4:30 won't be available until the next business day. That means if I deposit my check Friday at 4:45, I don't get access to the money until Monday at 8 or so. Most banks have signs up everywhere advising of this, not that SCs read signs.

As far as putting money on hold, some smaller banks tend to do that. Our new bank does that to physical checks, even my wife's paycheck, if it's over $100. Fortunately, they don't hold funds for my direct deposited paycheck, so that's available immediately. :-D

[BrenDAnn]

midorikawa is correct, or at least that's how my bank does it as well. I have to say I feel sorry for the SCW in this post. She obviously takes a lot of abuse from her husband. Poor woman!

[Chromatix]

There are, I think, two potential issues:

- Clearing the cheque. This traditionally takes 3 working days, even though modern networks allow it to be done in the time it takes to type in the details.

- At many banks, the transactions on each account are only fully resolved at close of business on a weekday. There is a separate running total of withdrawals, which are subtracted from the balance during withdrawal checks in the same day. Deposits are not credited to the balance until the resolve cycle, but are kept in a separate queue. Once again, modern computers and networks can do better than that, and some banks do take advantage of them, but it's not common yet.

[Andara Bledin]

My bank takes rather more advantage of modern technology than most, it would seem.

Anything deposited by 8pm is on the same day's reconciliation, and they're open and transactions are cleared until 2pm on Saturdays, too. Then again, they also have image scanners for deposited checks and cash, so nobody is actually required to even really look at what's come in, since the system either cleared the cash already, or took pictures of the checks and printed endorsement info on them as they went through.

Considering that my company has been electronically depositing checks for the last decade or so, I'm not sure what took so long in getting that technology into ATMs.

^-.-^

[UncleImpy]

I bank with Wells Fargo, and when you 'cash' a check, one of two things is happening:

The check you are cashing is either written on a Wells Fargo or Wells Fargo networked bank where they can check the balance immediately, in which case you really are 'cashing' the check and it has nothing to do with your account, or...

You are technically depositing the check and withdrawing an equivalent amount out of your existing account. Not technically cashing the check, but you still get the money instantly. (You've just now tied up those funds in your bank account until the check actually clears) WF usually gives you $100 of the deposit immediately and the rest has to wait for it to clear.

Dont know if that's what the situation was there, but voici.

[Javarod]

My bank takes rather more advantage of modern technology than most, it would seem.

Anything deposited by 8pm is on the same day's reconciliation, and they're open and transactions are cleared until 2pm on Saturdays, too. Then again, they also have image scanners for deposited checks and cash, so nobody is actually required to even really look at what's come in, since the system either cleared the cash already, or took pictures of the checks and printed endorsement info on them as they went through.

Considering that my company has been electronically depositing checks for the last decade or so, I'm not sure what took so long in getting that technology into ATMs.

^-.-^

You bank with USAA, don't you? They're the only one i know of that ofers electronic deposits.

Speaking of bank policies, most make sense even if modern technology should have rendered them obsolete, but i can think of two banks that go (or went) out of their way to negatively impact the customer, Provident (i think they've been assimilated) and US Bank. Typically they'll cash the check if there's enough funds in the bank to cover it, so say you've a payroll check for $400, and $450 in your account, you can cash the check, then use all $850 to pay a bill, its sorta like check kiting i suppose, but its not like your paycheck is opt to bounce, and its not your fault that your bank is a dinosaur.

[Ironclad Alibi]

You bank with USAA, don't you? They're the only one I know of that ofers electronic deposits.

Electronic deposits are very common. As is the electronic clearing of checks. I've had direct deposit of my paychecks ever since 1967. I don't know if it was electronic back then or not. I probably been at a half dozen banks since then.

[Aethian]

You bank with USAA, don't you? They're the only one i know of that ofers electronic deposits.

I bank with a postal credit union...and I have electronic deposits.

[Javarod]

You're both thinking direct deposit, or more correctly ACH deposits (this system can also be used for withdrawals). If we're talking USAA, they have something far more interesting according to their website:

Qualifying members can deposit checks with a computer and scanner with USAA Deposit@Home

I can't find anything that clearly explains it to non-members, but it sounds like you can scan a check you receive, and deposit it via the website. Very interesting, though i do wonder how they avoid fraud, and definitely something i've never seen from another bank.

[Ghel]

Actually, if the bank he transfers to does new account holds, he might not get his money for 9 days!

Here's how it works in the US: (I'm assuming that the bank does automatic holds, not case-by-case, like my bank does.) Funds must be made available on the second business day after the day of deposit. If there's an exception hold, such as a large check (over $5000), reason to doubt the check will be paid, repeat overdrafts, or emergency situations (such as equipment failure), then the funds can be held for 5 business days. Business days, of course, don't include Saturday, Sunday, or federal holidays.

Up until February 27 (this last Saturday), longer holds could be done for "non-local" checks, but that's done now. The only longer holds that can be done now are for new accounts and checks drawn on banks outside the US.

If a bank chooses to use the new accounts rule (first 30 days the account is opened), they can hold funds for 9 days, or 11 days for an exception hold.

[EricKei]

Actually, if the bank he transfers to does new account holds, he might not get his money for 9 days!

My roomie recently opened a new bank account, with a deposit made up of all paychecks, and the bank is holding them for 11 business days.

Actually, unless I'm mistaken (it's quite possible ), the "Check 21" structure/regulations currently in effect allow ANY deposit to be held for up to 21 days AFTER it has already technically cleared and the cashmoney is in the bank's vault...It's just that no banks go quite that far, in my experience.

As for checks by FAX -- the firm I work for accepst those as payment. There are programs out there like CheckWriter which work like this: The client FAXes us a filled out, signed, but VOIDED check. We re-create the check in the software and submit it to our bank as part of our next deposit. We hold on to the FAXed "original" just in case, and the payor holds on to the voided check while recording it as a normal, non-voided one.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Qualifying members can deposit checks with a computer and scanner with USAA Deposit@Home

Navy Federal Credit Union has a similar program. I can deposit checks over the Internet, but I have to mail the checks to them within a certain time.