Bank teller gave my money to unauthorized person

[PadKay]

What is the name of your state? NJ

I have an account with a major national bank. I kept some funds in my account and very rarely do transactions with this bank. Maintaining this account because I have a safebox with them.

While checking online, I realized there was a withdrawal of few thousand dollars with description "Other withdrawal". I checked this after 7 months of the withdrawal happened. Immediately called the bank, they found the error, refunded the same amount back to my account in few days. I was told it's teller's mistake.

If I don't check my account, then the money is gone forever. They did not do any audit and they checked this after 7 months only when I called them. If I walk into the bank, they take ID and debit card. They verify both the IDs to proceed. I was in shock because I never heard or see banks simply give money to someone else and without any verification or most importantly no audit there after.

Since I got my money back, shall I simply ignore or what are my options here?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? NJ

I have an account with a major national bank. I kept some funds in my account and very rarely do transactions with this bank. Maintaining this account because I have a safebox with them.

While checking online, I realized there was a withdrawal of few thousand dollars with description "Other withdrawal". I checked this after 7 months of the withdrawal happened. Immediately called the bank, they found the error, refunded the same amount back to my account in few days. I was told it's teller's mistake.

If I don't check my account, then the money is gone forever. They did not do any audit and they checked this after 7 months only when I called them. If I walk into the bank, they take ID and debit card. They verify both the IDs to proceed. I was in shock because I never heard or see banks simply give money to someone else and without any verification or most importantly no audit there after.

Since I got my money back, shall I simply ignore or what are my options here?

So the bank said it was a clerical error and returned money to your account?

I suggest you either keep better track of the account from now on or change banks.

Because the bank corrected the error and you are, apparently, not out any money, I don’t see that you have a good legal action to pursue.

 

[PadKay]

So the bank said it was a clerical error and returned money to your account?

I suggest you either keep better track of the account from now on or change banks.

Because the bank corrected the error and you are, apparently, not out any money, I don’t see that you have a good legal action to pursue.

Yes, while I was on call with bank representative at corporate office, he checked some thing into their system and admitted that it was the teller who made that mistake. They returned money to my account in few days.

 

[quincy]

Yes, while I was on call with bank representative at corporate office, he checked some thing into their system and admitted that it was the teller who made that mistake. They returned money to my account in few days.

I am sure the discovery of the withdrawal of a few thousand dollars from your account led to some frantic moments for you ... but clerical errors happen.

I am happy that the bank was able to find the source of the error and return all funds to your account.

If the bank were a retail store, you would probably walk away from this with a free coupon or a gift card in way of apology. I don’t think banks do anything like that, though.

 

[Zigner]

Personally, I'd have no confidence in that particular bank and would find a new bank to let my money sit in, as well as moving the safe deposit box. In fact, you should read this article from the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html) to find out why a safe deposit box probably isn't the best place to keep your valuables anyway.

 

[PadKay]

Personally, I'd have no confidence in that particular bank and would find a new bank to let my money sit in, as well as moving the safe deposit box. In fact, you should read this article from the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html) to find out why a safe deposit box probably isn't the best place to keep your valuables anyway.

Thank you for your inputs and the reference link. This bank is one of the top 10 banks in USA! Don't know whom to trust.

 

[Zigner]

Thank you for your inputs and the reference link. This bank is one of the top 10 banks in USA! Don't know whom to trust.

Mistakes happen. They shouldn't, but they do. The fact that the bank put the money back without too much hassle is actually a plus in their column.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Thank you for your inputs and the reference link. This bank is one of the top 10 banks in USA! Don't know whom to trust.

Even more, reason not to park money there.

 

[quincy]

Thank you for your inputs and the reference link. This bank is one of the top 10 banks in USA! Don't know whom to trust.

You can check out other banks to see if you are more comfortable keeping an account with another bank - but because your current bank corrected the account error as soon as it was pointed out to them (this even seven months after the error occurred) is a big plus.

You should check all of your bank accounts on a regular basis to make sure there is no unusual unauthorized activity. Identity theft is not as rare as it once was. What you might want to do is put “fraud alerts” on all accounts and with the credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experion, Equifax) so you are notified before any large withdrawals or purchases can be made.

Good luck.

 

[Zigner]

What you might want to do is put “fraud alerts” on all accounts and with the credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experion, Equifax) so you are notified before any large withdrawals or purchases can be made.

This won't help for cash transactions, but is still a good idea.

Since this is a large bank, it might be possible to set up similar alerts directly with the bank though. Some banks have options to automatically notify you of any transaction and/or of any transaction that exceeds a threshold that you can set.

 

[quincy]

This won't help for cash transactions, but is still a good idea.

Since this is a large bank, it might be possible to set up similar alerts directly with the bank though. Some banks have options to automatically notify you of any transaction and/or of any transaction that exceeds a threshold that you can set.

Right. It probably would not have helped in PadKay’s situation. Clerical errors happen and that is all this appears to be.

 

[zddoodah]

While checking online, I realized there was a withdrawal of few thousand dollars with description "Other withdrawal". I checked this after 7 months of the withdrawal happened. Immediately called the bank, they found the error, refunded the same amount back to my account in few days. I was told it's teller's mistake.

If I don't check my account, then the money is gone forever.

I'm extremely surprised that the bank credited the money. You knew or should have known about this withdrawal upon receipt of the monthly statement on which the withdrawal appeared, and most bank agreements require that you report any discrepancies within a couple months. Consider yourself lucky.

They did not do any audit

How do you know? And what sort of "audit" do you suppose might have revealed this mistake?

Since I got my money back, shall I simply ignore or what are my options here?

Options for what? If it bothers you that this happened, you're free to move your money to another bank.

This bank is one of the top 10 banks in USA! Don't know whom to trust.

Everyone makes mistakes. This isn't a matter of trust. However, you ought to be checking your monthly statements more carefully because it shouldn't have taken seven months and a random online check to spot this.

 

[quincy]

Personally, I'd have no confidence in that particular bank and would find a new bank to let my money sit in, as well as moving the safe deposit box. In fact, you should read this article from the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html) to find out why a safe deposit box probably isn't the best place to keep your valuables anyway.

I just had the time to read through the NYT article. Interesting.

We have lock boxes in our house rather than at a bank and all of the contents are insured under our homeowners policy. I am not seeing the value in or advantage of having a bank lockbox.