Condominiums & Escrow Accounts
10/07/2002
Can you explain how escrow accounts work in Condo's? What if the customer decides that we pay the taxes and they pay the insurance or vice versa?
John Burnett
Bio:
John has been BankersOnline's resident expert for more than 20 years, serving as Executive Editor and frequent presenter in BOL's suite of events.
Burnett joined BankersOnline in 2004. He is a 1990 honors graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking and is an alumnus of the ABA National Compliance School, where he served on the faculty for several years.
John began his banking career in high school when he started as a teller at a $15 million bank that didn't have account numbers for its checking accounts (he says they actually filed by signature!) He moved to Cape Cod Bank and Trust Company in 1971 and assumed the position of Compliance Officer in 1976. He also served as corporate secretary and secretary of CCBT's Board of Directors, and as clerk of the bank's holding company.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Bankers Association Legal and Regulatory Compliance Committee, and of the American Bankers Association Compliance Executive Committee and NCS/NGCS Advisory Board. He is a regular presenter and participant in BOL Conferences events.
Contact info:
You may contact John via email at jburnett@bankersonline.com.
Questions Answered
Verifying Corporate Tax ID Numbers
10/07/2002
Can you tell me the ways of verifying a tax ID number for a corporation other than W-9 and corporate search? This is in regard to funding commercial loan to a corporation or LLC.
The Check Is Forged! Who's Responsible?
10/07/2002
Our customer deposited a third party check in May, 2002...the drawee financial institution returned the check to us in September as an "alleged" forgery. That Institution sent the check to us for collection. Are we required at this late date to debit our customer's account for the funds and send the funds to the original institution?
Minors, Online Account Opening, and COPPA
10/07/2002
If a bank permits a parent or guardian to open a joint deposit account with their minor child under 13 via an online application, has the bank subjected itself to COPPA rules?
The kids are paying off their parent's mortgage with cash! How do we fill out the CTR?
10/07/2002
A brother and sister brought in $15,000 in cash (their money) to buy a cashier's check to pay off their mother's mortgage. The cashier's check was payable to the mortgage holder with remitter indicated as the mother. The mother did not come to the bank with the son and daughter. What name(s) is reported on the CTR in Section A and Section B?
Loan Payments, Fees, & Overdraft Protection
10/07/2002
When the bank is using an Overdraft Protection product, is there a reg that says: 1. We cannot overdraw a person's account for the loan payment? 2. We cannot charge a fee if the account is overdrawn because of the loan payment?
Early Withdrawal Penalty Regulation?
10/07/2002
Is there a regulation that dictates how much penalty for early withdrawal is when you cash in a CD. It seems every bank is different. How come? Is the State Rule different from National and FDIC?
The Check Was Paid Prior To The Stop Payment Order: Who's Responsible?
09/16/2002
A corporate customer of ours placed a stop payment on a payroll check because their employee reported it lost after the employee had endorsed the check. We accepted the stop payment on Monday but then found that one of our tellers had cashed the check on Saturday without getting identification from the person they cashed it for. Where does the liability lie?
Check Paying Order
09/16/2002
Recently I attended the "Avoiding Check Losses" workshop presented by Ken Golliher in Kearney, NE. I told Ken that we pay our checks in check # order. He indicated that if there was not enough money to pay #311 but there was enough to pay #312 and we did not pay it, that this was known as wrongful dishonor. When I returned and discussed this with management at our bank, I was asked what the difference was between paying checks in number order vs paying them largest to smallest. So, I guess my question is, why is it considered "wrongful dishonor" when we pay our checks in number order?
Offsetting One DDA Account With Another Without Customer Notification
09/16/2002
Can a financial institution offset funds in one DDA acct with another DDA account containing a positive balance without notification to the customer? Overdraft account customer is a joint account of another account. The positive account receives a Social Security check direct deposited which provided the funds to offset the overdrafted account.