A Bank Error----HUGE

[calico1597]

Talk about banking mistakes - my mother recently sold her house and bought a $100K CD from her bank. She wanted my sister and I on the CD. The bank sent the CD to sis for her signature, then it was forwarded to me. The bank listed the amount as one million dollars in two separate places instead of $100K. I KNOW mom does not have that kind of money.

I emailed the bank and asked them to look at the CD (assuming they had kept a copy). I told them it had an error. They wrote back and asked what was wrong with it. Then I emailed back and told them the amount was probably wrong. Their reply was, Yep, we'll issue a new CD. And I was not asked to return the original CD.

Think I'll frame it. Or try to cash it when mom passes.......

[Senator]

They would have caught it sooner or later. Within a month.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senator They would have caught it sooner or later. Within a month.

+1

[pb4uski]

+2.... perhaps you should have cashed it in accepting the early withdrawal penalty and moved the money to an offshore bank and moved to a contry with no extradition treaty.

[Blue Collar Guy]

You did the right thing, A) it was the moral thing to do, b) some how if and when they caught the mistake, they ,might have caused problem for you. Awesome story to tell folks especially with the framed CD.

[Senator]

I cashed $2400 in checks at a bank recently. They gave me the cash, and listed it as a deposit. It took six weeks, but the deposit was reversed.

Banks account for every penny. Sometimes they let amounts under ~$50 go to a "not worth it to track" bucket, but I can assume you they would have found that mistake.

I had a new co-worker that started at a company. They listed his pay as $41K per hour, rather than $41K per year. The company caught that too - after the pay period. The pay advice said over $900K, but the leading '1' was made the amount too long. It was actually a $1.9M deposit.

[pb4uski]

I wonder if anyone in payroll got fired for that one.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I wonder if anyone in payroll got fired for that one.

My guess is no. Branch office bank employees get fired for actual cash variances, not paperwork mistakes.

[scrabbler1]

Back in 1986, I had a small bank error in my favor. I made a cash deposit of $100 but there was a problem with the printer ribbon on the device the teller used to process my deposit. What the teller did was to stamp each copy of the deposit slip with the following message I had seen tellers use before: "Deposits subject to collection, unless cash". He then handed me my copy of the slip.


I wasn't particularly worried because my deposit was cash. But when I received my next monthly bank statement, I saw that the $100 deposit had been credited twice to my account, perhaps because they had 2 stamped copies of the slip? I figured the bank would figure it out so I made sure to leave it in the account. At the time, I had just bought my first car so I had very little money at the time, so this was a welcome windfall. But the bank never undid their error. I remember being reminded of the Community Chest card in Monopoly which read, "Bank Error in your Favor - collect $200" and how this was a real-life version of that welcome card.


So when some little thing happens to me and I feel I got ripped off by a few dollars without recourse, I don't get too upset about it because I am still in the black thanks to this bank error.

[calmloki]

You don't get to keep the money - but you get a great story and framing the million dollar CD is outstanding!

Lucky. Years ago I deposited some rent money and someone had passed me a couple hundred counterfeit bills. Little local bank called me in and reduced my deposit and showed me the bills and let me inspect them but not keep them. Would have liked them as souveniers.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senator ...but I can assure you they would have found that mistake.

I forget the guy's name, but one of the first major computer crimes was a guy who embezzled exactly $1 million from I think it was Chase Manhattan Bank in New York via a wire transfer using an unauthorized code. The funny part of it was the bank spent months looking for the misplaced decimal point and didn't find out about the theft until the guy couldn't stand the stress anymore and confessed to a lawyer, who got him a good plea deal.

[FUEGO]

DW's coworker once stole $99 million from the major investment bank they worked at. Had she kept the amounts to a reasonable $30-60k at a time she might not have been caught for a long time (because she in fact wasn't caught for a long time, bought a luxury condo for cash, and spent tons of $$ for many many months IIRC). Eventually she increased the amount to high eight figures and someone finally paid attention to the break in the reconciliation process.

She (the coworker, not my incorruptible DW who wouldn't even delay her quit date by 2 weeks to use up her vested vacation time!) only got 7 years in Club Fed so it's not entirely unreasonable to take your chances at stealing six or seven figures considering the potential payoff.

Her group would routinely have large breaks sometimes in the eight figures in their group and the boss or boss's boss would say "it's okay we'll fix it with a ledger entry" (or whatever the appropriate accounting term is for what must have been reckless accounting, well documented in DW's emails to the higher ups). This was eventually noticed when there was a $15 million break in the books. I believe they had to restate earnings. DW's employee (not the thieving one; a different one) was transferred but otherwise not disciplined. DW was out on maternity leave and warned the higher ups about the nonsense in the years leading up to this but zero action was taken.

I understand audit time was somewhat stressful ( ) for them and I think I understand DW's decision to quit since it was a lot of stress (even working half time) for a pretty average $70k/yr paycheck.

So I would believe you if you told me a measly $900,000 bank error went unnoticed.

[brucethebroker]

You know how easy it is to daydream when the teller is counting out your cash? Don't do it. Last week I counted along with her, and then asked her to recount. She was $100 short on a $800 ($100 bills) withdrawal.

I think it was an honest mistake, but still.........

[jazz4cash]

It sounds like some old fashioned document being passed around with original signatures required. All my CDs are just sub accounts with titling and beneficiary details noted on the account.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brucethebroker You know how easy it is to daydream when the teller is counting out your cash? Don't do it. Last week I counted along with her, and then asked her to recount. She was $100 short on a $800 ($100 bills) withdrawal. I think it was an honest mistake, but still.........

Ours count AND run the cash through a counting machine.

[5j404]

When I was a bank teller we had to balance our cash drawer, deposits and withdrawals every night and anything over or under a dollar would put you on probation for 30 days, during which another "error " over .99 could get you fired. And it never mattered whether you had to much or not enough cash.

[JoeWras]

Back in the early 90s, when cash machines were glitchy, I had both a short and long transaction over the years. ($20 each time).

The next day, they "fixed" it for me without comment. The first time I called to ask (it happened on a Sunday) and they immediately told me I was credited. On the long transaction, I didn't bother calling, but still found the debit was applied a day later when I got my statement.

I have no earthly idea how ATMs work, and how they audit them, and how they knew it was my transactions. But they knew.

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Ours count AND run the cash through a counting machine.

Same here. And I can see, barely, the readout on the teller's cash counting machine when she inserts the cash into it. Even then, I still count the cash before I leave the teller.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5j404 When I was a bank teller we had to balance our cash drawer, deposits and withdrawals every night and anything over or under a dollar would put you on probation for 30 days, during which another "error " over .99 could get you fired. And it never mattered whether you had to much or not enough cash.

Yea.... too much cash means you shorted a customer which is not good... too little and you are giving away the banks money...

I am surprised that it was $1 limit.... that just seems to be too strict...

[CaliKid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrabbler1 Back in 1986, I had a small bank error in my favor. I made a cash deposit of $100 but there was a problem with the printer ribbon on the device the teller used to process my deposit. What the teller did was to stamp each copy of the deposit slip with the following message I had seen tellers use before: "Deposits subject to collection, unless cash". He then handed me my copy of the slip. I wasn't particularly worried because my deposit was cash. But when I received my next monthly bank statement, I saw that the $100 deposit had been credited twice to my account, perhaps because they had 2 stamped copies of the slip? I figured the bank would figure it out so I made sure to leave it in the account. At the time, I had just bought my first car so I had very little money at the time, so this was a welcome windfall. But the bank never undid their error. I remember being reminded of the Community Chest card in Monopoly which read, "Bank Error in your Favor - collect $200" and how this was a real-life version of that welcome card. So when some little thing happens to me and I feel I got ripped off by a few dollars without recourse, I don't get too upset about it because I am still in the black thanks to this bank error.

We all see things differently but were that my story I wouldn't re-tell it. I'd keep it quiet as I would be rather embarrassed by my actions.