From a banker? Must have been this guy!...........
I bet this is resolved by noon today with sufficient emails and phone calls to the bank’s management.
From a banker? Must have been this guy!...........
Most funeral homes will wait for their money or take a credit card.
It took nearly three weeks for my husband's insurance money last year.
I think that their grief is clouding their thinking.
I thank this family for their sacrifice.
Downey Savings & Loan.
Hello Chuck Schumer? Want to run your mouth for a GOOD cause for once in your life?
Sad as it is- the bank’s holding of significant amounts of funds form deposited checks- is related to combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. When they do that to me, I grit my teeth and try to remember 9-11 and why we now have some of the changes we do.
BTW- they didn’t need even one $50K check to pay for a funeral. Mom and Dad hopefully will take a chill pill and collect their son’s insurance in 14 days, and stop bludgeoning a bank manager who is following the law.
*Yeah, I know, insert joke about the US Government's fiscal situation
First, condolences to the family. However, this seems like an overreaction to me. Any bank is going to be concerned when a party wants to cash $100,000 in checks. Aren’t credit unions or S&L’s more on the line to their members should the checks turn out to be bogus? They claim the bank could have verified the funds with a phone call but who to call and how may not have been that clear. How many of us can get through to the necessary party in the government at the spur of the moment?
As another poster pointed out, all they had to do is deposit the checks and then notify the funeral home and they doubtless would have been able to provide whatever kind of funeral they wanted. It sounds like they got the funeral but are just angry at the delay in getting the funds.
I fully understand the frustration and the effect of grief but they are jumping on the litigation bandwagon way too fast and trashing a credit union whose rules were in place long before this incident. Please, let this not be another Cindy Sheehan in the making.
One Bank that I once dealt with with was particularly unscrupulous in the use of this loophole which legalises CHECK KITEING by the banks. Even though I had had an accout with US Bank for years, even though my need to cash Checks over $5,000.00 was rare, and those checks were certainly not overtly suspicious, US Bank would always hold such checks for the 11 days they are permitted by law and often sveral days longer. The overdraft fees alone that they get from unsuspecting victims must amount to multi millions for the banks.
Time to find another bank! If your bank doesn’t have the time of day for a reasonable transaction, so that you may act appropriately, then act appropriately - get another bank.
There are hundreds of banks out there. Take your business elsewhere, and don’t make a big stink about it.
It’s “Tear It Up” time, folks. Remember the character in the movie, “Glory?”
Tear it up.
Downey Savings
Location : Hemet Loan Center
1211 S. Sanderson, Suite B
Hemet, CA 92545
Branch Manager : Armando Martinez
Phone : 866-885-0889
Fax : 951-658-5513.
Michael D. Bozarth, Chairman
Gary W. Brummett, Vice Chairman
Michael B. Abrahams
James H. Hunter
Thomas E. Prince
Jane Wolfe
Who are these people? What are their political affilitations?
Call. Write. Fax. Tie up their comm lines. Tear it up.
http://ir.downeysavings.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=92306&p=irol-govhighlights
Here are some details that I know for sure based on all the reports I have read and my knowledge of the banking industry:
1. The family did not want to cash the checks (the reports are wrong). The family only wanted to get an immediate $20,000 in cash. Therefore, you have to wonder how accurate the reports are.
2. The checks were Gov’t checks, but they were questionable because they were typed on a typewriter and personally signed (copies of the checks can be seen at ABC.com). Most Gov’t checks are pre-printed so I can see how the bank was a little concerned about their authenticity.
3. The bank did offer to release funds after verifying the issuance of the checks. The only reason this would have caused a problem is if it was after 5PM and the issuing office was closed (reports did say it was Friday, so it’s very possible it was after 5PM since banks open late on Friday).
4. Bank holds may be a little excessive, but banks have to wait for checks to clear just like customers, and sometimes banks don’t know a check is bad for several business days. Checks are just pieces of paper and banks take huge losses from cashing bad checks.
5. The Credit Union that ended up cashing the check was a Navy Credit Union. Of course they’ll cash it, it was a Navy check. Probably, because nobody else would.
My personal opinion is that the Retmier family were distraught and they probably were not ready for a small inconvenience. Even though the bank was prepared to help them, they probably were a little over-sensitive and did not want to have to wait. It’s unfortunate that the media (via Gloria Allred) have to make this into a big deal. Ultimately, the bank will probably suffer because of the negative publicity, even though most people don’t understand the whole situation and the media publicizes only the things that will get people emotional (like the family crying on tv). Of course their crying, their son was just killed. The thing that bothers me is that they make it look like it the bank’s fault. I’ll apologize for the long post, but Gloria Allred just gets the blood boiling, so I thought I’d do some homework on this one...