02/17/2003
Our financial institution started imaging checks in November 2001 and as a result the original documents (checks) are no longer being sent back to our customers. My question is, "How long should the original documents be kept?" We checked with the Cincinnati Federal Reserve and they keep the original documents for 45-days and then destroy. Are we required under regulation to keep original documents for a certain period of time?
11/04/2002
Our customer issued a check and the person receiving it signed the back and lost it. The person finding the check took it to a local merchant and cashed it. The issuer had put a stop payment on it, but the bank failed to return within the 24 hrs. The merchant is now sending the issuer a letter for payment of this check. What should the bank do?
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?
10/01/2002
Question: A customer reported that twenty eight of his checks were stolen from his checkbook and cashed at various branches of our bank from July through October of this year.
08/12/2002
We are in the middle of a situation with one of our customers and our check vendor who supplies us with Cashier checks. One of our customers purchases a cashier check from us for $60,000.00. We have a contract with one of the big check vendors who supply us with our cashier checks that are drawn on their bank. A lot of banks do this. This is our situation. The customer purchases the check for $60,000 and had the check payable to a corporation to purchase a module home. After several months went by he received a phone call from the company looking for the deposit of $60,000. The customer came into the bank and asks us to see if the check was cashed. It turns out that the check was cashed. So we requested a photo copy of the check and found out that our customer gave the check to a business friend who was to deliver the check directly to the company. After reviewing the endorsement of the check, it turns out that the business friend took the check and went to his local bank and forged the name of the company on the back, signed his name and deposited directly into his personal account. WE have been dealing with our vendor to recovery the funds from the bank of first deposit for over 5 months. They keep telling us, our check vendor, that the bank of first deposit has a right to try to recovery the funds from their customer first. How long does the bank of first deposit have? Our customer thinks our bank should reimburse him? Who’s liable here? What are our customer’s legal rights? What are Mercantile responsibilities? Obviously the bank of first deposit should not have accepted the check double endorsed and deposited it into a personal account with out verifying that the corporation had signed over the check. It’s my understanding that all corporate checks have to be deposited into the company account first away and can not be signed over to another party. This looks very clear to me that the bank of first deposit is dragging their feet. Are we right on how we see this situation?
08/05/2002
One of our customers issued a check to a noncustomer who was robbed. The check issued was cashed using a forged endorsement. I understand that I have to refund my customers money and return the item to the depositing institution to get my money back. If I understand the UCC it is then the depositing institutions responsibility to go after the forger. My problem, my customer took the original check to the DA and the DA will not give us the original item to return. Can we submit a certified copy to the depositing bank, or do I need to explain to the DA that it is the depositing bank's job to prosecute, not our customer/him?
06/01/2002
Question: Just recently I have been told not to send forgery affidavits to FED along with the forged check. Our bookkeeper has been keeping a file with the original affidavit.
06/01/2002
Question: We have two customers of our Bank who are victims of "Identity Theft". This was not discovered until they received their bank statement.
05/20/2002
What are the rules concerning Medallion Signature Guarantees? Are they "know your customer"?
04/01/2002
What is the time frame on a forged signature, counterfeit check, and unauthorized draft. Also What is the time frame on a forged or improper endorsement. Also if a stop payment was placed and the check cleared anyway and it was to late to be returned is that considered a forgery? Will the customer have to fill out an affidavit. I thought a stop payment applied to a forged signature.