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| Mickey Mouse is pretty much the perfect logo for the way banks do business these days! |
I just got off the phone after speaking to my bank branch about the post-dated check fiasco from last Friday. My concern was not about reversing the transaction, Maggie and I covered it. My concern was that clearly someone had made an error that could have put the money in our bank accounts at risk if that kind of error was allowed to happen randomly.
It wasn’t an error, or at least, my bank doesn’t feel it made an error. Any mistake made was by the bank that deposited the check. My bank feels it has absolutely no obligation to confirm details on a check that has been deposited by another bank before it releases the funds.
This, apparently is the how the Canadian (and I presume the international) bank to bank system works.
It’s all very cozy, isn’t it? The rules they impose on you and I do not apply to them and the reason given is that it would be inconvenient, requiring additional work at some expense. I actually had the manager at my bank say that to me.
Canadian banks find it inconvenient to protect the integrity of our bank accounts when they are dealing with each other. Well isn’t that just hunky @$#T%#@* dory!
These sophisticates, who almost destroyed the world’s economy with their careless greed, cannot even treat their own customers with anything remotely approaching security.
One of the reasons we left the previous bank was because they froze our account three times in as many months for…..get this…..withdrawing money using our debit card, within the daily allowable limit. Their excuse? Their crack security department had noticed a number of withdrawals on the same day and had flagged them as possible fraud.
Think about that for a moment. The bank’s security group didn’t prevent the money from being withdrawn, they waited until we had hit our daily limit to decide to step in and protect our account from what might be the potential theft of our bank card.
That’s sort of like locking the door after you watched the thieves carry your stuff out to their truck and drive away.
We got so fed up with the stupidity behind that thinking that we simply went to a new bank, our current bank, who assured us that, they knew how to treat a customer. Whether they do or not is still at issue but what isn’t at issue is that they clearly don’t know how to treat a customer’s money.
We don’t open accounts for the convenience of the bank nor do we expect that banks will cut corners to make it cheaper and more convenient for them when they are taking money from our accounts. We expect them to apply the appropriate level of security and due diligence to inter-bank transactions that they place on us when dealing with them.
Credit card fraud is rife, debit cards for all the supposed security around them are also prone to fraud but the banks don’t want you to know just how much money is actually being lost each year. It might expose them for what they are: careless and insecure.
The only good thing about it is that it isn’t a left or a right issue and maybe just for once, we could come together and rise up and demand that government do something constructive for a change and impose regulations on banks to be less cavalier with our money.
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| We may need more than one of these |
Right now, major banks all over the world have been charged and fined or are in the process of defending themselves from charges of corrupt business practices that include manipulating interest rates, over-charging on bank fees and deliberately misrepresenting their earnings. Regardless of what anyone might wish to claim, this is not representative of a secure banking system and we are paying the price for it. I am particularly offended by the arrogance of banks who treat you and I like we're stupid and simply there for their convenience. I believe it is time to do something to change things.
Anyone for chipping in on a good guillotine? I hear Home Depot has a sale on right now.
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Don't Bank On It! - They Aren't Called 'Piggy' Banks For Nothing
http://bearsrant.blogspot.ca/2012/07/dont-bank-on-it.html
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Around 30 years ago I had a great customer- He put additions on houses, a good remodeler with an excellent reputation- He used to sign a job, deposit the deposit check and come order his lumber from us.. We'd hold the check for a day, just to make sure-- One day he bounced a check, it was for around 2500, a fair amount back then..
ReplyDeleteI called him up to ask what had happened- he was in a state of shock, he was pushing 60 and had never had a check bounce before in his life. He'd been with the bank for 25 years, his check # was over 20,000 and he had around 60,000 in savings with them.. It turned out the bank had a rule change, they were putting a 7 day hold on checks over 3 grand..
A day later he walked in and handed me his first starter check from a new bank-
I used to be the EVP of an epayment software company. We developed and implemented the software that processes debit and credit card transactions and by its nature, there was a high degree of security required. In the course of working directly with banks I became aware of the amount of credit card fraud going on that they keep very quiet. It measured in the hundreds of millions in Canada back then. God only knows what it was globally.
DeleteTime to invest in a really secure mattress Sunshine...safest place to store your money...and you're in charge of it all!
ReplyDeleteGuilootines are cheaper.
DeleteTry your local credit union
ReplyDelete