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Bank
errors ending in the customer's favor aren't a relic of precomputer history. Caroline
in Highlands Ranch, Colo., had a similar, though less lucrative, experience.
"I set up automatic monthly transfers from my bank to a mutual
fund company. After the first month, I noticed that I had $200 deposited to the
mutual fund but not taken out of my bank account," she says. "I called the fund
company, they said it was a bank problem; I called the bank, they said it was
the mutual fund company's problem. I called the mutual fund company again, and
they said not to worry about it. I called my mom, who was a corporate auditor
for a Fortune 100 company. She had run into this problem before in her work. She
recommended that I document who I talked to and set aside the money in case they
discovered the problem." For three months $200 mysteriously
appeared in Caroline's mutual fund account and then, on the fourth month, $200
was deducted from her bank account and, she says, no one ever asked about the
previous $600. The other side of the
coin
Though some lucky few over the years have profited from banks' mistakes,
it's not hard to imagine that more have lost money in disputed transactions.
Such was the situation of Roberto and Cecilia of Doraville, Ga.,
when they deposited $200 at a bank in Chamblee, Ga., near closing
time at the drive-in window.
"We
came back to the bank to make a withdrawal the next day," Roberto says. "When
we saw the balance, we found out that the bank did not have the deposit from the
day before. We went inside and talked to the manager. She said that if we did
not have the receipt she could not do anything for us. We argued all we could
but she said that she trusted her female employee in doing a good job and basically
she said we might be lying." Roberto and Cecilia closed the
account and vowed to never do business with the national bank ever again.
Call in the feds
Kevin Mukri, director of press relations for the Office
of the Comptroller of the Currency, says in cases, such as Roberto's, where the
customer isn't satisfied with the resolution of a problem they can call the customer
service specialists at the OCC -- if it's a national bank. The Federal Reserve
oversees
state-chartered banks. "Last year, we got between $6 and $7
million dollars back to consumers, I think we do a pretty good job," says Mukri.
"There are billions of bank transactions every year, banks are not perfect, but
most people are satisfied with what they do." Not everyone
agrees. | 
