posted @ 20:56...

Happy new year. Well, since I'm the only one who ever reads this, it's "Happy New Year to me..." For this month's rant, unfortunately, we will venture back into the bank lobby, where two different angry middle-aged women are already shouting obscenities before we are even able to smile and say, "Hi, how are you?"

Woman A has a bank account. She has parents who, for whatever reason, are unable to endorse checks that are made payable to themselves. The daughter (Woman A) tries to deposit said checks into her own account. It's important to remember that the parents' names are not on her account. Though Woman A is their daughter, she is still trying to deposit checks that clearly are not hers to deposit. Her final comment: "I'm gonna close my account!" Response: "Thank God."

Woman B is sick in bed, and has her mother drive to the bank to make a deposit and get cash back. Since the mother of Woman B is not on the account, she is not allowed cash back from the desposit. Later, the sick daughter arrives at the drive-through window already yelling and cussing before any of the tellers can greet her. Upon listening closely, we find that she wants cash. Easy enough. So she is given a withdrawal slip, but she refuses to show her driver's license (or any other valid photo I.D.). A teller explains (amid the shouting of profanity and personal insults) that she will not be given cash with showing an I.D. She cusses some more and eventually drives off.

There are lessons to be learned here, though the majority of bank customers have already learned them.
1) You can't deposit someone else's check into your own account, unless they have suurendered ownership of that check by properly endorsing it, OR unless their name is also on that account.
2) Banks don't (or shouldn't) give you cash without an I.D. If your bank gives you cash without requesting to see your I.D., then switch banks as soon as possible. They're obvoiusly not as careful with your money as they should be. I often wonder how Woman B would like it if someone made a huge deposit into her account with a bogus check, and then got most of that amount as cash back... or if they simply claimed to be her and withdrew all her money. Well, the bank would probably take the loss, because they aren't supposed to let things like that happen.

It really just comes down to common sense. Fraud prevention measures are there for a reason. I'll close with this: Some folks think they shouldn't have to show their I.D. because they're in the bank all the time, so therefore they should be recognized. I'd like to hear them tell the police officer the same thing next time they get pulled over. "Officer, I shouldn't have to show you my license. You should recognize me, since I drive down this street every single day!"