My bank screwed up and the teller wants me to pay-should I?

[millstreaminn]

Yesterday I took some wrapped bills to the bank to change for large ones. Unfortunately, the teller I always use was gone so I went to a new one. I didn't know the total of what I was cashing in so I didn't question what she gave me. There were 1's- wrapped in packs of 50, 5's- wrapped in packs of 250 and some 10's- wrapped in packs of 500. Point being is that there was about 50 total packs of money. The teller counted the packs, then recounted them and gave me my money. About 3 hours later she calls and tells me she over paid me by 50 dollars and wanted me to either bring in the 50 or she would debit my account. I told her that neither would happen.

I talked to the teller and asked her if the 50 was going to come out of her pocket and she said no. If it was, I was going to give it back but she said it will come out of the banks money so I kept it.

I have a very good relationship with this bank so I am not worried about this episode tainting that. It's just that I don't know if I owe this money or if the teller is trying to get a 50 out of me. Would you pay it back or make the bank eat it? :?:

 

[Frankie]

I don't think you have much choice. They'll just debit your account. Keep the friendly relationship and just give it back.

 

[millstreaminn]

I know they won't just debit my account. As I had no control over the packs of money after I gave them to the teller. If she misplaced one, lost one, shredded one, stole one- should I be liable?

 

[Bez+]

Not everyone is a crook.

Perhaps there was an honest mistake?

Personally I would return the funds.

Put the shoe on the other foot.

If it was you that made the mistake. Would you want it corrected, or would you simply write off the money?

Honesty is always best. It also pays to do right - even when no one is looking.

Sounds to me like you are not doing this. Basically making an excuse.

You are going to pocket the cash and use the excuse - It was a bank error?

I guess we see why bank charges go up.

Your comments make me think you might be an opportunsitic person who would also accept the wrong change at the counter - but ony if it was in your favour.

I will repeat - Not everyone is a crook.

You wanted an opinion - you got mine - and I bet you will get a lot more along the same lines.

And in future - do not blindly hand cash over. If this had been your "regular teller" why would it have been different? They all meet the same standard.

Make it right.

Bez+

 

[Outrigger2]

the bank will get the money back whether you give the paper back or it will get debited from your account. i would go back and make it right

 

[john250]

If you did not have a total going in, it is hard to find where the fault lies.

 

[millstreaminn]

Not everyone is a crook.

You're correct. Not everyone is a crook, including me.

Perhaps there was an honest mistake?

Personally I would return the funds.

Put the shoe on the other foot.

If it was you that made the mistake. Would you want it corrected, or would you simply write off the money?

Honesty is always best. It also pays to do right - even when no one is looking.

Sounds to me like you are not doing this. Basically making an excuse.

You are going to pocket the cash and use the excuse - It was a bank error?

I don't know if it was a bank error or not. By error I mean they lost, misplaced, stole, whatever a pack of money. Should I have to pay if she did?

I guess we see why bank charges go up.

Your comments make me think you might be an opportunsitic person who would also accept the wrong change at the counter - but ony if it was in your favour.

You would be thinking wrong Bez+, way wrong.

I will repeat - Not everyone is a crook.

You wanted an opinion - you got mine - and I bet you will get a lot more along the same lines.

And in future - do not blindly hand cash over. If this had been your "regular teller" why would it have been different? They all meet the same standard.

Because I trust my regular teller.

Make it right.


Bez+

 

[millstreaminn]

If you did not have a total going in, it is hard to find where the fault lies.

Exactly. I didn't count the packs, the teller not only counted them she recounted them. Gave me the money then called me and said she made a mistake.

 

[jw]

Talk to someone higher up in the bank than she is. I had a teller once when I had a friend of mine make a deposit who wrote on a piece of paper the amount of the deposit. She said her machine was broke. I went back and told her I wanted an official deposit receipt. She gave me one and she was not there a week later and has not been back.

 

[millstreaminn]

JW- The bank is not requesting the money back. The teller is the one who asked me to return it. I don't want to keep this lousy 50.00 if it's not mine but I also don't want to give it to the bank if it is mine. They are a bank for crying out loud. They should be able to count and account for their money.

 

[dun]

Many years ago I deposted a substantial sum in the bank I had done business with for years. I had the official bank reciept for the deposit, it was cash. A week later I started getting dunnings for bounced checks, letters from business' saying they would no longer accept checks etc. I went to the bank and they had no record of the receipt. Interestingly, the teller had gone to lunch the day I made the deposit and never came back. They argued with me even when I presented the depost receipt. It took them a couple of months but they finally made good on it and wrote letters to the business' that they had bounced the checks on.
To this day, if they were the only bank in town I would leave town to do my banking.

 

[Joy in Texas]

Years ago we had his n her accounts and a joint account . The joint was for household bills. Which we both deposit monies in. It was getting time to write out checks and I stopped by the bank to see how much was in the account. There was over 8000.00. I just about fell over. I told the girl to check again. Yes that was the correct amount. I called the husband to see what was going on. He had no idea. We both knew that money was not ours. So we decided not to write checks out of that account for that month. It took about 2 weeks or so . The bank called and said there has been an error. Yes I told them I tried to tell you that weeks ago. The money that got deposit in our account by mistake. The teller had wrote the wrong account number on the deposit slip.
Since that time I have checked our accounts ever so closely.

 

[Hasbeen]

If you did not have a total going in, it is hard to find where the fault lies.

Exactly. I didn't count the packs, the teller not only counted them she recounted them. Gave me the money then called me and said she made a mistake.

That's where it gets into a gray area. Had you counted it and knew for sure how much was there, I would say fight it to the end. But not knowing for sure, I think I would sit down with the bank manager and see if he could satify me that they knew for sure it was my transaction that caused them to come up short at the end of the day. Once she entered the amount and blended the money in with the rest, I would want them to show me how they knew it was my transaction that was short. If reasonably satified with their explanation, I would pay them.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Definately go to the manager.
It makes me suspious that the teller called you and not the manager about the $50. If she counted it twice and gave you the money there is something wrong. I bet if you had caught it and it was a mistake you would give the money back.
Husband had a teller punch in the wrong numbers and transfered $12k from checking to savings instead of the other way around. Needless to say our land debt payment bounced along with a few other bills. didn't catch til the monthly statement. Called the bank and it all got figured out.
Every once in awhile we run into a problem with that bank. Last one caused me to pull the accounts and CD's of the kids and transfer them to another bank.

Keep all receipts of your banking transactions.

 

[millstreaminn]

So I called the manager. He said that he was 95% certain that the extra 50.00 was credited on my transaction. I asked him if he ever had any problems with this teller and he said no. I then asked him what he wanted to do. He said the 50.00 didn't make a difference to the bank one way or the other. I told him to debit my account 50.00

 

[jw]

JW- The bank is not requesting the money back. The teller is the one who asked me to return it. I don't want to keep this lousy 50.00 if it's not mine but I also don't want to give it to the bank if it is mine. They are a bank for crying out loud. They should be able to count and account for their money.

I agree. I was stating that the bank needed to get involved in case the teller was getting sticky fingers.


It looks like you took care of it.

 

[Nowland Farms]

..... I didn't know the total of what I was cashing in so I didn't question what she gave me..../quote]


Hmmmmm, this pretty much sums it up. IF it were me, I would do the right thing and pay the $50 bucks. The next time I would count the money before hand and know how much
I should get back.

If the teller is skimming from the pot, it will catch up with here sooner or later.

 

[3MR]

Put the shoe on the other foot. Do you think the bank would give you 50 dollars if their was an unsubstantiated error in their favor. I bet not.

They cant just take the money back if they gave you a reciept for it.

If you think you got 50 dollars extra I would give it back. If you dont, then I wouldnt.

I would go in and talk to the bank manager in person. Explain that you have been a long time customer and value the good relationship you have with the bank. Then ask how they came to the conclusion that you recieved 50 extra dollars.

 

[Horse Guy]

The whole thing sounds screwy. My wife works at a bank. Really the way they do things they just dont make mistakes like that. Larger amounts of cash are counted twice by two bank employees because every once in a while a customer will come back the next day and try to claim they were shorted and thats just not possible with the money being counted twice by each employee and then counted again in front of the customer.
Now bank tellers do get short sometimes at the end of the day. Everything has to balance at the end of the day. Sometimes its not possible to balance for a bunch of different reasons at the end of the day but they dont call up customers and ask for money unless they are darn sure and can prove that a mistake was made in the customers favor. Example they didnt charge them for a transaction or something or they put money in their account by mistake. Like all of this can be proven. But they would never call a customer up because they were short and they are guessing they gave someone to much cash by mistake.
Im thinking the teller will get $hit from her manager.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Yesterday I took some wrapped bills to the bank to change for large ones. Unfortunately, the teller I always use was gone so I went to a new one. I didn't know the total of what I was cashing in so I didn't question what she gave me. There were 1's- wrapped in packs of 50, 5's- wrapped in packs of 250 and some 10's- wrapped in packs of 500. Point being is that there was about 50 total packs of money. The teller counted the packs, then recounted them and gave me my money. About 3 hours later she calls and tells me she over paid me by 50 dollars and wanted me to either bring in the 50 or she would debit my account. I told her that neither would happen.

I talked to the teller and asked her if the 50 was going to come out of her pocket and she said no. If it was, I was going to give it back but she said it will come out of the banks money so I kept it.

I have a very good relationship with this bank so I am not worried about this episode tainting that. It's just that I don't know if I owe this money or if the teller is trying to get a 50 out of me. Would you pay it back or make the bank eat it? :?:

Obviously, none of my business!

However, WHY would you have that many small bills that you had rat-holed before you got around to taking them to the bank!

:roll: