Yesterday in my bus ride rant I mentioned how people seem to do stupid stuff even though it will get them into more trouble than it's worth.
Well let me tell you, working in the bank I see this stuff every day. Mose people just don't have any sense. I mean seriously! And they seem to think that the bank employees are somehow too stupid to catch their careless crimes.
I've seen people make an ATM deposit with an empty envelope and then come into the bank to say they made a $1000 or $4000 deposit and want to take some cash out of their account now.
I've seen 20 year olds claim to be the signer on accounts belonging to 50+ year olds.
I've seen people INSIST it was NOT them that used the ATM at the casino 6 times and DEMAND we file a fraud claim - until we tell them we'll have security review the video right away - and suddenly they remember being there.
Oh, just this week I had a woman come in to order a new check card, worried because she had lost hers and wanted to be sure no one used it to buy stuff. When I asked her if she remembered when and where she lost it her reply was, "no, I was completely drunk and totally wasted when that happened so it could have been anytime anywhere." She said it completely deadpan and in all honesty. At that point I just wanted to get her out of my office as quick as I could!
I've seen people bring in checks that are obviously fraudulent and try to cash them. I've seen people write bad checks, some from accounts that have been closed for years, depositing them into their bank accounts and then coming in the next morning trying to get us to give them money out of their bank account before we've realized that the check is bad.
I have seen people bring in checks they've gotten from some con or another and think that there's a chance THIS check will be good and THEY will somehow be the lucky one who won't get hurt from the fraud.
Oh, then there's the guy who opened a checking account at every, and I do mean EVERY, bank in town claiming that how else would he know who was any good. Of course he was also kiting checks from one account to the other while only having made one good deposit at the first bank to get him started.
NONE of these things are a good idea. More often than not you'll get caught and at least kill your chances of getting any kind of future bank accounts, at worst you'll end up in jail. Not really worth it, in my opinion.
Some people use their bank accounts as a free loan - continuing to spend money they don't have right and left and then getting angry when the bank charges them fees. So angry that they then decide they will continue to take the bank for as much as they can by writing checks and using their debit cards until we shut the whole thing down, and then acting shocked when not only is their existing account sent to collections, but other banks won't open an account for them because they are now on ChexSystems, plus their credit score heads south because those checks they've been using to pay bills are getting returned.
Believe it or not, I had a woman call the bank asking me to open her account back up. I looked and we had placed a hold on it because she was $1,800+ overdrafted. I asked her why she needed it turned back on and she explained to me that she had bills to pay--two companies take automatic payments out of her account and they can't get their money because the account is closed up. I then asked her what the total of those was. She said about $1200. So I told her to bring $3,000 and I'd be happy to open her account back up for her. She was shocked, insisting that she just didn't have that kind of money. I explained that the bank won't just let her borrow money for free, and that the only way she was going to pay her bills was with her own money. She told me that that wasn't fair because she had bills she had to pay. I insisted that she needed to bring some money in and those bills would get paid. Needless to say, she never brought that money in and I'm sure she still thinks I'm a terrible person for not letting her pay her bills.
See, working for a bank isn't all glamor and fun. I've got to deal with some seriously stupid people!! Stupid and desperate.
1 comment:
It's astonishing how many people are still carrying over the whole "banks are evil" attitude from the Depression Era, when gangsters who robbed banks became folk heroes (Bonnie & Clyde). My grandparents, sadly, still have that attitude and pass it on to anyone who will listen -- and they aren't exactly destitute, either. Some people will never learn that when they screw over the banks, they're only screwing themselves. Personal responsibility is a dying art.
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