Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Check that Was Cashed Twice

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The Check that Was Cashed Twice

    A weird, frustrating thing is happening. Well, frustrating for the teller who's having to deal with it. I'm not actually involved, but I've overheard enough to get the gist of the situation.

    It seems a customer of ours (probably of the SC variety) deposited his paycheck via remote deposit into his account at Big National Bank. Then, a couple weeks later, he finds the check again, forgets he already deposited it (probably) and brings it to us to cash it.

    The check was drawn on Local Credit Union, but the customer had a savings account with us at the time (I don't think he does any more), so the teller cashed it for him.

    Fast forward 9 months. BNB contacts us and says we need to pay them the amount of the check. They accuse us of not "properly securing" the check after we cashed it. But, teller protests, they processed the check first. If anything, they should have noticed that SC didn't endorse the check with "deposited by remote deposit" or something when he remote deposited it. (I'm not sure if that's actually required by law or BNB's policies, but it seems like good practice.) She also points out that it's been 9 months. Why didn't they notice this long ago?

    So this teller had to call up SC to see if she could collect the amount back from him, after 9 months. He claimed he had settled things with his employer. But that's not who's trying to collect it now.

    The entire thing is a huge cluster and I suspect much of it actually depends on whether LCU charged back the check amount to either BNB or us, both, or neither. I don't decide these things, but it might make more sense to pay BNB the $1XX rather than spend all this time trying to track down who really owes who the money.
    "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
    -Mira Furlan

  • #2
    What's there to say that the bank (not yours) is trying to scam you... Or maybe the bank doesn't know that it was settled privately?

    Comment


    • #3
      You might simply need to have your boss check with the company lawyers. My guess would be that the customer is responsible, as he cashed a check twice (which is probably Bank Fraud); whether he realized it at the time is likely to be legally irrelevant. You may be able to just reduce his account balance by the amount of the check and mandate that he pays your banck back.
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

      Comment


      • #4
        I don't see how the 2nd deposit could have cleared. Wouldn't the clearing system have bounced this as a duplicate check #?

        I'm wondering if it isn't just a SC, but actual fraud.

        Comment


        • #5
          I think the problem here is that it didn't actually clear the second time.

          I am guessing, but this appears to be the timeline:

          BnB gets e-deposit, automatically credits the account because it is a payroll check, puts the task of transferring funds from the bank it was drawn on in a big pile of "things to be handled".

          Weeks go by.

          Customer presents physical check at at OPbank. Again, the account is credited immediately and processing the transfer of funds in the "things to do" pile.

          OPbank processes their pile and receives funds from LCU to cover the check.

          BnB processes their pile and DOES NOT get funds from LCU, since that check was paid already.

          BnB contacts OPbank and says "You didn't keep the physical check so this clown tried to deposit it with us, too." and "We gave him money, so you owe us." OPbank tries to explain that that isn't what happened at all, and BnB needs to talk to their customer. (And incidentally if they had processed their pile on next-business-day like a reasonable bank then it would be OPbank who didn't get paid.)

          Meanwhile, that customer seems to have realized he cashed his paycheck twice, and thought the money had been paid by LCU so he gave the money to his employer.

          What needs to happen is the employer gives the money back to the employee, who gives it to BnB. But try convincing anybody involved of that.
          Last edited by SpyOne; 04-26-2019, 06:48 AM.

          Comment


          • #6
            SpyOne, you're probably right.

            One of the weird things, though, is that BNB took over 9 months to try to collect the funds from us. Once checks are submitted for deposit, the bank it's drawn on (LCU in this case) is required to process it and send the funds to the bank of deposit within 2 business days. So if LCU told BNB "we can't pay that because that check already cleared at My Bank and we sent them the funds" I would have expected BNB to be contacting us within weeks, not months.
            "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
            -Mira Furlan

            Comment


            • #7
              If the customer and employer already figured it out amongst themselves, this belated exchange between the banks may be due to the employer's accounting department making a few inquiries and complaints. Since people (employer and customer) can work at different speeds than institutions... the problem got solved on one end, but the other is still trying to grind out a fix.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Ghel View Post
                SpyOne, you're probably right.

                One of the weird things, though, is that BNB took over 9 months to try to collect the funds from us. Once checks are submitted for deposit, the bank it's drawn on (LCU in this case) is required to process it and send the funds to the bank of deposit within 2 business days. So if LCU told BNB "we can't pay that because that check already cleared at My Bank and we sent them the funds" I would have expected BNB to be contacting us within weeks, not months.
                I would expect that to be conspicuously faster than weeks...

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Ghel View Post
                  One of the weird things, though, is that BNB took over 9 months to try to collect the funds from us.
                  No kidding, file that one under: WAIT!!! You admit that?!
                  I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                  Who is John Galt?
                  -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X