I’m a bank teller. I’m very surprised that the manager didn’t catch this, and even more surprised he overrode the amount without verifying it, but… oh well. Without sounding too cavalier, don’t worry about it. Don’t even bother calling. The proof department will catch it if the teller hasn’t already, your account will be debited the extra $$, and *maybe * you’ll get a phone call explaining the error.
Mistakes happen, and I highly doubt you’ll be charged any fees. Obviously, don’t write any checks against that amount. The bank will look at your account history once the error is discovered and they’ll see that you’ve never made such a large deposit before. Yet another red flag I’m surprised no one caught. What bank *is * this anyway?
Cite?
My main question is why the OP didn’t say something right away. I mean, you realized it while at the bank, correct? It wouldn’t have even occurred to me not to say something, since you’re not going to end up getting the money under any circumstances.
Reading the OP for the win!
Ooh! Look at me! I can read text and understand it! I’m so special! I’m so great!
For some horror stories, read here .
At least since the manager was there to look over the transaction, the teller can’t be chewed up and given all the blame 
This reminded me of the time I was cashing a check for $4.00 at the drive-thru window of my bank. The person who had given me the check wrote it as $4.00[sup]~[/sup] and I guess the decimal point was not particularly distinct or something. But where it was written out, it clearly said FOUR DOLLARS. So I was confused when the teller asked me to wait a minute then carried the check into the main part of the bank. I was wondering if there was something wrong with my friend’s account.
A few minutes later, the teller came back and asked me “How do you want this?” I know I gave her a confused look and said, “It’s four dollars…” and at that point, she became very apologetic. She read it as $400 and I guess it required manager’s approval to dispense that much cash at the drive thru. (This happened in the late 70s - back when $400 was a lot of money.)
I presented a check, of which the the majority was to be deposited in checking, w/ a small amount of cash to me. The teller returned my cash in one of those paper covers. When I got home I discovered that she had reversed the amounts, but had still credited my account w/ the larger amount. I went back to the bank, stood in line, and explained the situation. Instead of a thanks, I was rather rudely informed that they would have detected the error by the end of the day. I closed the account a short time later and chose a new bank.
I once had a pizza delivered, and somehow a charge of $24 and change got entered as over $2400. We had just paid some bills so I woke up to find a huge negative balance in my checking account.
Needless to say the bank immediately advanced the disputed amount, and rectified the error, but still, a nerve wracking experience.
I once received a bank statement that showed a deposit for several hundred dollars which I had not made. A copy of the deposit slip was enclosed; it was one of those blank ones with the account number (mine) handwritten, with a completely different name on it. I had been waiting for the statement to verify that all my checks had cleared, since I was planning to close the account because I was moving. So I went to the bank to get this cleared up. I walked up to one of the tellers and explaning that I wished to close my account, but that there seemed to be an error in my balance, showing out the incorrect deposit slip.
The teller directed me to a manager, who proceeded to accuse me of attempting to claim money that was not mine by closing my account before they could discover their error. They made copies of the slip, and I had to argue for half an hour before I was allowed to cash a check for the correct balance of the account.
The next month’s statement showed the check I had written, and a debit for the amount of the incorrect deposit - along with a fifty cent service charge, resulting in a balance of -$0.50. Over the next few months I received identical statements (by this time being forwarded to my new address, which I never gave them). Finally they must have realized what they were spending on postage to try to collect fifty cents, and sent a final letter creditting my account with that sum and closing it. :rolleyes:
Oh c’mon. If you had posted that retort, we’d be drumming our feet in glee. This time gorsnak gets the point. Can’t win 'em all…
Good times, good times…
Anyone else troubled by the implication here that the bank manager is also moonlighting as a real estate agent, and using bank customers as fresh meat? The last time banks and real estate firms were caught in bed together we had a little bit of a savings and loans crisis…
This is probably more common than you’d like to think. One teller recently was looking up an account number for a woman whose name was Jane McDoe, and accidentally wrote down the account number for Jane MacDoe. A few days later Jane McDoe came in and wanted to know where her money was. She had her receipt and we were able to find the error and credit her account.
It was our mistake, but this is why we recommend knowing your account number. Makes things smoother all around.
I’m guessing he was simply offering his card in the hopes the OP would come back to him for a mortgage.
If he is moonlighting as a Realtor, then he deserves to get personally dinged for erroneously approving that $92,000 deposit.
Yeah, that’s the more charitable (and probably correct) interpretation. I just read too much into the “other business card” comment, I guess. Our company had a very brief dealing in the late '80s with a bank manager who was hand in hand with a real estate agent/developer. It left me wanting to take a shower, and the bank later went out of business.
I would suggest going back to the bank to get the situation resolved as soon as possible. It’s completely an error on their fault, so you won’t get in trouble, however who knows how they’ll go about resolving the matter. They may do a debit adjustment for the difference, or more likely, they’ll void the deposit and reenter it for the correct amount. The risk you run with the latter is if a transaction posts to your account while this is in process. If that does happen, and it causes an overdraft, you should be able to get any fees incurred removed, however you may have to fight for it.
As noted, they will catch the mistake, if your banks doesn’t the paying bank will during the settlement process.
Out of curiosity, did they make the funds immediately available? If they did, this is very unusual and I’d hate to be the one responsible for their SOX compliance.
When I deposited my severance check (which wasn’t even a fifth the size of your deposit), it took three weeks for the funds to become available. It also cleared in two stages, with 25% becoming available after 14 days, and the remaining 75% after 21. Due to it’s size (and having been issued by an out-of-state bank) these controls help ensure a check is valid before giving someone the chance to take the money and run
I think you should withdraw the money temporarily and purchase lottery tickets. Then when you win, return the bank’s money and keep the millions for yourself!
It worked out well for her .
Unless this happened decades ago, or there were some extremely unusual circumstances, it appears your bank broke the law. Specifically, the Expedited Funds Availability Act.
(This is a general comment on current US law. I don’t know enough about your situation to give reliable legal advice. See a lawyer licensed in your state for that. I’m not your lawyer and you’re not my client.)
Well with my bank I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, but they didn’t in this instance. It was a very large out-of-state check, an exception under the EFAA. I may have the time frame wrong, it might have been more like 7 & 14 days. Though it felt like an eternity at the time.
Here in Cleveland a few years ago, the leader of a nonprofit victims-of-crime organization received a grant check that the bank misread as having some extra zeroes. He went on a spending spree, soon got caught and went to prison for three years, IIRC. What have we learned, class? Don’t do anything with the extra money. Let the bank know about the mistake. Do it in writing and do it soon.
So if you did absolutely nothing, just let the money lay there collecting whatever miniscule rate of interest it collects in your chequing account until it was retrieved, would you have to pay back that extra interest?
It’s a deposit, so it wouldn’t affect the cash balancing at all. The proofing department should pick it up though.
Many banks have mortgage divisions, and the manager was probably looking to refer the OP. Banking is unfortunately a sales job.
$100 would have to be available next day, and the amount over $5000 IIRC would be an extended hold.
I’m a teller. This is all very strange that the manager did not notice the error. It is very possible that $921.23 gets entered as $92.12 without anyone noticing immediately, but a six figure deposit would warrant a hold on a large portion of it, along with paperwork and additional ID requirements that the manager should have verified. The software would probably automatically move to make a hold on the deposit.
At least in the software I use, dollar amounts are NOT entered as on an ATM; the decimal must be pushed. The comma key is not used. In europe the opposite probably holds true.