If your bank makes an error, are you responsible or

cbbc

are they? We use a local bank and I called and made a transfer from one of our savings accounts to our checking while we were on vacation. When I came in a few weeks ago to withdrawal from savings, the teller gave me the money, and updated my book. Well, I go to the bank this morning to make a deposit into the savings account and it's the same teller. She tells me that she made an error the last time I withdrew money and the account is actually $250 in the negative and that we need to pay that back. We could transfer the money from another account, but I feel like it's not my fault she didn't add it correctly and they should just make it right. Idk maybe I'm wrong, but she should have checked the book balance with the balance in the computer and made any adjustments the first time. WWYD? 

mickey1330

Usually you are responsible, even if it is their error.  What I am wondering is why the mistake went unnoticed for a few weeks.  I would have assumed that they would have to contact you as soon as the error was noticed. 

staycee

so wait... you withdrew $250 more than you had and she didn't catch it?    I think that's your error.

 

hockeypirate

I think in that case, they will make you pay it back. If you're charged fees when you shouldn't have been, that's another story. I'd talk to a manager though.

cbbc

I don't think she noticed because we hadn't made any transactions from that account since the withdrawal after I came back from vacation. We only use that savings account for travel expenses, so we don't withdrawal very often.

rebus82

I would say that you are responsible. Yes, she should have checked her math, but you should check your stuff too, not just assume they're always correct. I agree with PP though, they should have contacted you about the mistake before you went back in again.?

Now, if it was something that resulted in overdraft fees, I would say they should suck up the fees. I would raise holy hell if I was charged an overdraft fee on a teller mistake.?

cbbc

staycee:

so wait... you withdrew $250 more than you had and she didn't catch it?    I think that's your error.

 

She said the error was an addition mistake from awhile ago, which is why I thought there was more in there. DH and I both have separate savings books for that account, so if he makes a deposit, they update his book, then if I make a deposit after that, they update my book with his deposit and mine. It's confusing.

oh-zysbaby

You are responsible to put the money back. If their error caused any fees or anything, that would be their responsibility to refund. So, if you said "Please transfer $100" and they transferred $1000, that money would still be in the account you transferred it to. They would not be required to then "give" you $900, because you still had it.

 

oh-zysbaby

cbbc:

staycee:

so wait... you withdrew $250 more than you had and she didn't catch it?    I think that's your error.

 

She said the error was an addition mistake from awhile ago, which is why I thought there was more in there. DH and I both have separate savings books for that account, so if he makes a deposit, they update his book, then if I make a deposit after that, they update my book with his deposit and mine. It's confusing.

This is why passbook savings accounts are archaic and silly. It's your responsibility to keep track of your balance, not the banks. The whole idea of the bank "updating" your book was from accounts where there was ONE passbook to the account. That passbook was basically the only account record, and it was required for any deposit or withdrawal.

I would keep ONE set of records for your accounts and make sure you are keeping track of them yourself. Your bank should have some kind of online banking system to help with that.

staycee

oh-zysbaby:

cbbc:

staycee:

so wait... you withdrew $250 more than you had and she didn't catch it?    I think that's your error.

 

She said the error was an addition mistake from awhile ago, which is why I thought there was more in there. DH and I both have separate savings books for that account, so if he makes a deposit, they update his book, then if I make a deposit after that, they update my book with his deposit and mine. It's confusing.

This is why passbook savings accounts are archaic and silly. It's your responsibility to keep track of your balance, not the banks. The whole idea of the bank "updating" your book was from accounts where there was ONE passbook to the account. That passbook was basically the only account record, and it was required for any deposit or withdrawal.

I would keep ONE set of records for your accounts and make sure you are keeping track of them yourself. Your bank should have some kind of online banking system to help with that.

 

ditto this.

heather_09_15_07

Regardless what mistake the bank made, it is your responsibility to keep track of how much is in the account.

LucyAnnie

Totally your responsibility. The bank accidentally deposited 1200$ in DH checking account after he graduated college (we were not together at this time).  The teller called him and told him a relative deposited the money into his account.  Turns out, it was not to have gone in his account.  This guy had the same first and last name as my husband, but was not him.  This was not found until about a week later.

Now you tell me, if you just graduated college, and had a phone call that your relative just make a deposit in your account for you, you would have spent some if it right?  Well, he did.  Then the bank realized the error and closed his account, and took all the money he had left to pay the money back, and he still owed the money for non suffienct funds.  Yeah that was a mess.  Glad we were not together then.  

cbbc

Yeah, I figured we would have to pay it back. I just don't really want to hear DH biitching about it all night. He has wanted to move our savings accounts from there for awhile because they don't offer online banking for savings accounts. Which is stupid. But they're local and I have had accounts with them for years.

cbbc

LucyAnnie:

Totally your responsibility. The bank accidentally deposited 1200$ in DH checking account after he graduated college (we were not together at this time).  The teller called him and told him a relative deposited the money into his account.  Turns out, it was not to have gone in his account.  This guy had the same first and last name as my husband, but was not him.  This was not found until about a week later.

Now you tell me, if you just graduated college, and had a phone call that your relative just make a deposit in your account for you, you would have spent some if it right?  Well, he did.  Then the bank realized the error and closed his account, and took all the money he had left to pay the money back, and he still owed the money for non suffienct funds.  Yeah that was a mess.  Glad we were not together then.  

OMG that would suck!

*~*SooN 2 Be MRS. MaGaNa*~*

i work at a bank and what you need to do is go talk to a personal banker or the manager.  be really pissed.  They will do what they can to fix it and ask them to refund any fees you may have gotten because of the tellers mistake.  that always works at my bank at least.