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Customer comes in wanting his checkbook reconciled because his records show his having $100 plus dollars left while the bank shows him being $200 plus in the negative. So, I ask him when the last time his checkbook matched up with what the bank statements showed and he tells me last month. (Important. One month's worth of reconciliation can be done in relatively short time, thus is free. You need your checkbook balanced against the bank statements for, say, a year and a half, it's going to cost $12 a hour and you need to set an appointment.)
So, I go over his checkbook records versus the bank statements since the last time they "matched" and discover two math errors in his records, plus a check for $325 that he doesn't have listed in this section of his checkbook, but which cleared the account. He objects that he did write down the $325 check and shows me... but he wrote it down BEFORE his balance supposedly matched the bank balance.
Simple example to make this make sense:
Your records say you have a $100 balance. The bank balance shows $100 balance. HOWEVER, in your records, that hundred dollar balance is AFTER a $325 check has been cleared, while in reality that check has not yet cleared your account. This means your records do not match the bank's. As soon as that check hits the bank, the bank records will actually have a balance of -$225 (plus overdraft fee) while your records say you have $100. That is a rather big discrepancy.
So, the customer wants me to find where the $325 discrepancy occurred. (At this point I have been with him for over a half hour, and, as mentioned, found two math errors in the past month.)
I ask him some questions and it turns out that he hasn't REALLY been able to match up his book with the bank statements for the entire year and a half that he's had the account with us. I let him know that that amount of reconciliation costs $12 an hour, and he'll need to set up an appointment since management will need to schedule extra coverage to manage one person being held up for that long.
OR, he can choose to simply accept the bank's balance and start over. If he does that and comes in once a month, I can help him stay balanced. This, he is not willing to do, because he is convinced that the error is the bank's fault. He wants me to prove that it is not. I point out the two math errors I found in ONE month and he states that they only added up to $27, not $300 plus and that his "minor" math errors are not the issue here. Yes, it is true $27 does not equal $300, however if you consistently make "minor" math errors over a year and a half, they can easily add up to that over time.
He is insistent that he wants the full year and a half reconciled, but he doesn't want to pay for it. He wants to just leave his checkbook with me, but even if I reconcile it without him there, I STILL have to charge the fee, because it is still going to take up my time that I need to have available for other people. I will be happy, however, to print out the last year and a half of statements for him and he can go over them himself or hire an accountant to go over them (if he really thinks $12 an hour is outrageous, good luck finding cheaper).
At which point he tells me that he IS an accountant.
Really? You're an accountant and you cannot balance your OWN checkbook? Okay, this is retirement income coming in, so retired accountant. Thank goodness for that at least.
Despite the occasional belligerence, I kinda feel sorry for the guy. He's been getting overdrafts every single month because his checkbook doesn't balance with the statements (he does, at least, record the fees), and while management has refunded far more fees than normally allowed, it's still rough for someone on fixed retirement income. There's no one else waiting to see me, so I decide to print out his first couple months on his account and get him started on reconciling the whole thing.
The first half-month actually balances.
Second month he has a $100 ATM withdrawal that he forgot to record. Also a debit card transaction that he DID record, but which never showed up on the account. He says he thinks that was from his old account which he was in process of moving over. I also find another math error.
Okay, surely he gets the point now. HE is making errors. So, I let him know his options one more time. Pay to have us reconcile the rest. Take it home and do it himself (with a CALCULATOR please... wish he had a computer because we offer free budgeting software) or hire someone else. Or, accept the bank's balance and start over.
Customer: "How do I know I did that $100 ATM withdraw and it wasn't a bank error? I was an accountant for 20 years! I wouldn't have forgotten to put a withdraw in my checkbook!"
(despite having just admitted having put a debit card transaction on his records for our bank when it belonged to another bank account).
ONE: ATM withdraws require your card and PIN number. Your card has never been reported lost or stolen. In fact, you are still using it.
TWO: You never came in at the time to complain about a $100 being taken out of his account. You never reported going to an ATM and it not giving you the money you asked for or being shorted or any sort of error.
THREE: After a year and a half, even if the transaction was somehow a mistake or stolen or whatever, you have timed out of any possibility of disputing the transaction.
Anyway, I go firm on him and get him out of my office. I did my best to help him over what ended up being an hour and a half time frame. My sympathy is at an end.
Best part: as he leaves, he threatens to take his business to Chase.
Really? Have fun with that. That's one of the banks we specifically compare our fee schedule to, just because their fees are so outrageous. I let him know that if that is what he feels he needs to do, it is his choice.
So, I go over his checkbook records versus the bank statements since the last time they "matched" and discover two math errors in his records, plus a check for $325 that he doesn't have listed in this section of his checkbook, but which cleared the account. He objects that he did write down the $325 check and shows me... but he wrote it down BEFORE his balance supposedly matched the bank balance.
Simple example to make this make sense:
Your records say you have a $100 balance. The bank balance shows $100 balance. HOWEVER, in your records, that hundred dollar balance is AFTER a $325 check has been cleared, while in reality that check has not yet cleared your account. This means your records do not match the bank's. As soon as that check hits the bank, the bank records will actually have a balance of -$225 (plus overdraft fee) while your records say you have $100. That is a rather big discrepancy.
So, the customer wants me to find where the $325 discrepancy occurred. (At this point I have been with him for over a half hour, and, as mentioned, found two math errors in the past month.)
I ask him some questions and it turns out that he hasn't REALLY been able to match up his book with the bank statements for the entire year and a half that he's had the account with us. I let him know that that amount of reconciliation costs $12 an hour, and he'll need to set up an appointment since management will need to schedule extra coverage to manage one person being held up for that long.
OR, he can choose to simply accept the bank's balance and start over. If he does that and comes in once a month, I can help him stay balanced. This, he is not willing to do, because he is convinced that the error is the bank's fault. He wants me to prove that it is not. I point out the two math errors I found in ONE month and he states that they only added up to $27, not $300 plus and that his "minor" math errors are not the issue here. Yes, it is true $27 does not equal $300, however if you consistently make "minor" math errors over a year and a half, they can easily add up to that over time.
He is insistent that he wants the full year and a half reconciled, but he doesn't want to pay for it. He wants to just leave his checkbook with me, but even if I reconcile it without him there, I STILL have to charge the fee, because it is still going to take up my time that I need to have available for other people. I will be happy, however, to print out the last year and a half of statements for him and he can go over them himself or hire an accountant to go over them (if he really thinks $12 an hour is outrageous, good luck finding cheaper).
At which point he tells me that he IS an accountant.
Really? You're an accountant and you cannot balance your OWN checkbook? Okay, this is retirement income coming in, so retired accountant. Thank goodness for that at least.
Despite the occasional belligerence, I kinda feel sorry for the guy. He's been getting overdrafts every single month because his checkbook doesn't balance with the statements (he does, at least, record the fees), and while management has refunded far more fees than normally allowed, it's still rough for someone on fixed retirement income. There's no one else waiting to see me, so I decide to print out his first couple months on his account and get him started on reconciling the whole thing.
The first half-month actually balances.
Second month he has a $100 ATM withdrawal that he forgot to record. Also a debit card transaction that he DID record, but which never showed up on the account. He says he thinks that was from his old account which he was in process of moving over. I also find another math error.
Okay, surely he gets the point now. HE is making errors. So, I let him know his options one more time. Pay to have us reconcile the rest. Take it home and do it himself (with a CALCULATOR please... wish he had a computer because we offer free budgeting software) or hire someone else. Or, accept the bank's balance and start over.
Customer: "How do I know I did that $100 ATM withdraw and it wasn't a bank error? I was an accountant for 20 years! I wouldn't have forgotten to put a withdraw in my checkbook!"
(despite having just admitted having put a debit card transaction on his records for our bank when it belonged to another bank account).
ONE: ATM withdraws require your card and PIN number. Your card has never been reported lost or stolen. In fact, you are still using it.
TWO: You never came in at the time to complain about a $100 being taken out of his account. You never reported going to an ATM and it not giving you the money you asked for or being shorted or any sort of error.
THREE: After a year and a half, even if the transaction was somehow a mistake or stolen or whatever, you have timed out of any possibility of disputing the transaction.
Anyway, I go firm on him and get him out of my office. I did my best to help him over what ended up being an hour and a half time frame. My sympathy is at an end.
Best part: as he leaves, he threatens to take his business to Chase.
Really? Have fun with that. That's one of the banks we specifically compare our fee schedule to, just because their fees are so outrageous. I let him know that if that is what he feels he needs to do, it is his choice.
Hell with that noise.)
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