A Banker's Sixth Sense-Pay Attention To It!

Once upon a Friday, a customer came in and cashed her ABC County Public Assistance check for almost $400.

The following Tuesday the manager of the banking office got a call from the Return Item Department-the check had been returned marked "Payment Stopped."

The teller who had cashed the check immediately called the customer at work (her number was on her signature card) and told her the check had been returned and that she needed to come in at once and make it good.

The teller, who was skilled in such matters never lost her temper and never became unpleasant. Her experience was that such things do happen. The customer, on the other hand, was nasty.

Not long after that the manager received a call from a man alleging to be the customer's son. He ranted and raved about "final payment under Uniform Commercial Code" and "bank liability" and "financial privacy" among other things.

It seems a Mr. Jones, who said he issued the checks at the ABC County Public Assistance Office, had called about a "misunderstanding" on a stop payment on a check-would the manager please return the call and ask for Mr. Jones at the number given?

The manager did so, and Mr. Jones, who answered the phone, said that he understood there was a problem about a check on which a stop payment had been placed in error.

He said he was in the process of correcting the problem, but wanted the manager to know that everything was OK on the check in question. He requested that no action be taken against the woman who was the payee, such as freezing any money in her accounts or making any phone calls to her. He also asked him to put the check back through for payment.

After he hung up, the manager sat and thought about this whole scenario for a few minutes.

There was something about this whole thing that bothered him.

All of a sudden it dawned on him-the telephone number he had called to talk to Mr. Jones had the same first three digits as the manager's brother-and his brother lived in the XYZ County!

The manager thought it more than strange for the ABC County Public Assistance Office to be located in XYZ County!

He immediately looked up the ABC County's telephone number, called, and asked for the officer in charge of public assistance-who, when questioned, assured the manager that he had not called the bank, and that the stop payment was indeed valid.

It seems they had discovered that the recipient was working full time and was no longer eligible for public assistance.

The money was recovered from the payee in the form of cash shortly after that. And her accounts with the institution were closed.

The moral to the story is this: When a banker THINKS there is something wrong, there almost always IS ! We call that a "Banker's Sixth Sense." It's wise to pay attention to it!

The manager said he understood about all those things, and that was one of the reasons he would not discuss anything about this incident with the son. He suggested that the mother call. A little while later, while the manager was busy elsewhere, a phone message was taken for him by another bank employee.

Copyright © 1990 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 1, No. 8, 8/90