financial privacy breached?

[clipking]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law )

Hello,

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but here goes...I own a small business and made a bank deposit last Thurs(one week from today). The whole deposit was made for approx. $10k. One of the checks in the deposit, for approx. $200, was from a client who banks at the same bank that holds my business account. For some CRAZY reason, my whole deposit($10K) was placed in her account. Being that I wrap up my book work for the week on early Friday morning, I did not see the deposit show up online but attributed it to me doing the work before banking hours and surely it would show later in the day.

Nonetheless, I neglected to check back up on that issue throughout the week. On Wed(yesterday) I received a phone call from this client stating that she had checked her bank account and noticed an excessive amount(my $10k) in her account. She went to the bank branch location to inquire. They proceeded to thank her for pointing this mistake out. Furthermore, they told her that this money was actually a deposit for 'XYZ Company'. They asked if she knew of 'XYZ Company' and she said 'yes', they actually do work for me.

I feel that the bank has violated my financial privacy by informing her of this info. I feel that there is/was no need to disclose 'who' the money belonged to, namely my company. They could have simply informed her that, yes, a mistake did occur and the money will be removed from your account and placed in the correct account. It was quite mortifying to hear about this news/problem from a client.

Furthermore, if I had to select one client who I would not want to disclose my financial info to, it is this client. Not to mention, with this client now knowing this info, it could potentially cost me thousands of dollars in the future with business. What are my options and what should I expect the bank to do about this problem? They seem to not be accepting full responsibility for this problem, only making me more angry. Anxious to hear thoughts soon!

[clipking]

by the way, I'm in South Carolina, if that matters.

[ShyCat]

They could have simply informed her that, yes, a mistake did occur and the money will be removed from your account and placed in the correct account. It was quite mortifying to hear about this news/problem from a client.

Yes, they could have done that, and maybe even should have, but I really don't understand what could possibly be "mortifying" about this situation.

Furthermore, if I had to select one client who I would not want to disclose my financial info to, it is this client. Not to mention, with this client now knowing this info, it could potentially cost me thousands of dollars in the future with business.

What financial information does this client now know that she didn't before? Certainly not that your company happens to use the same bank. She could tell that by simply looking at the back of a cleared check.

How could knowing that your company deposited $10,000 at this particular bank on one particular day possibly affect future business income?

[clipking]

shycat,

Perhaps mortifying was not the correct word choice, but embarrassing nonetheless. I am a very private person and prefer to operate the financials of my business in the same manner, especially in a competitive marketplace.

The financial information now known gives a hint of what kind of volume my business is doing, which is none of anyone's business but mine and is/will be used against my business strategy.

Also, there is absolutely no way of measuring what kind of damage this information can/will do for my business and our image in the future. To get specific, here is what has transpired from this breach of privacy. I didn't include it in the original post, but I must now evidently to show what a big deal this is to my business.

My company has been in contract negotiations for several weeks for a large service contract for an association, of which this particular woman(who got my info) belongs and serves on the committee. However, my wife has a good friend who also serves on the same committee with this other woman. The woman who obtained my information does not know about our relationship with this lady.

I found out today that as they were discussing the final details of who to award this final contract to, between my company or another one, the comment was made from the woman(who knew about the deposit info) that my company 'must be doing pretty well, based on the deposit mistake I uncovered at the bank yesterday'.....'they deposited around 10k....i don't think they need this contract as bad as this other company'.

This is a 75k/yr contract! Who is to know if the previous comments and the info that she obtained about my company finances won't sway the decision one way or another? Can I prove that this issue won't get me the contract? No...probably not. But, can I be reasonably sure it won't help my chances?...I say yes, especially since she informed the whole board of directors who have voting rights!

Let's be clear. In an economy that's struggling and competition is fierce, every little tidbit of information can be used as an advantage/disadvantage. I certainly believe this to be the case.

[Dandy Don]

It was an innocent remark by the bank that has NOT harmed you in any way. You have overreacted just a little bit but your reaction is certainly understandable.

If you bid the contract in a open bidding process, we can presume that the deliberation will be done primarily in fairness to all parties.

Use your influence with your wife's good friend to ask her to please speak up and defend your company IF the lady who knows the information says anything else in the future about your company not "needing" the contract. The good friend can speak up by saying that there is specific criteria for awarding the contract and that it is NOT based on need and as you said, with this poor economy EVERYONE is struggling and competition is fierce. She should counteract the comment by reaffirming that the contract will be awarded based on WHO CAN PROVIDE THE BEST SERVICE and on that basis only, and hopefully you have detailed the advantages of using your firm in your bid.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)