I have a question for people who work at banks?

Question

I cancelled a check online, i didn't get a confirmation page, but i called them to see if the cancellation had gone through and the customer service rep confirmed the check number and the amount, but i just checked my account online and it shows that the bank paid it today. it was a 900.00 check that the company claimed they hadn't received so i had to send out a duplicate, but then they deposited the original one so i had the duplicate check i had sent out cancelled. what is your advice?

Answer 1

Bookkeeping methods may have changed since I did work at a bank, but our department had to "do something" with the check that came in, so it was withdrawn from the indivdidual's account through the federal batch received from other banks. The following day the withdrawal would be reversed, noted "payment stopped" or whatever the reason was for returning the funds. But because each and every transaction had to balance, it had to go through the individual's account at first.

Have you checked again to see if your bank's online site is updated throughout the evening, so maybe the reversal is now showing? If your bank cuts off transactions instead of running 24-hrs, check back first thing in the morning.

If the check isn't reversed, speak again with the customer service rep you spoke with at first, who confirmed the check was cancelled, and see what happened. Since you did actually write the check and it wasn't a forgery or anything, I think the bank isn't legally liable, though they may as a courtesy make a correction if necessary. Otherwise, you'll have to take it up with the company, because they got paid twice.

Answer 2

First of all, call the bank immediately, as soon as you can. Let them look at the transaction and see what can be done. I am sure you probably paid a fee also to have that second check canceled. The bank should be able to give you the steps to have this resolved but they may lead you to having to deal with the company you paid directly and it make take some time getting the funds back to you, especially with the holidays coming up.

I cannot for the life of me, understand why companies want their money ASAP but spend weeks trying to get your money back to you.

Best of luck to you...Please call first think tomorrow. The sooner you get a jump on this the better.

Sorry wanted to add that the bank CAN return that second check as unpaid marked Stopped Payment...You can still get that money directly from the bank. If that happenes you will not get the SPAY fee back though. Depends on the institution.

Answer 3

If you remember the name of the rep that gave you the incorrect information I would call back and report that person for not giving the right information. I would also demand that they not charge you the stop payment fee since it was thier error in the first place. They should have followed through. This could have been a lot worse than what has happend to you. Just think if both checks cleared that would be a big cost burden on you and the bank needs to take ownership of thier mistakes.

Answer 4

I would go into the bank and see who cashed the original check, the signature or stamp on it and get a copy of it. I would talk to the bank manager and make sure you are not going to have the duplicate check cashed too because with any mixup it's better to be safe than sorry later trying to fix the mistake after it's done.