posted on December 15, 2000 11:05:15 PM
Here's a new one. I deposited a check back in February and my bank returned it to me today. They took the $9.50 out of my account as well as a $5 returned check fee.
Well that's it! No more Mr. Nice Guy! From now on, I'm holding checks for 1 year before shipping the merchandise.
But, seriously, the check was stamped "Refer to Maker". I've had checks stamped "Account Closed" or "Insufficient Funds", but never "Refer to Maker". Any ideas what that could be about? I've contacted the check writer and am curious to see what he has to say.
posted on December 15, 2000 11:31:43 PM
Refer to Maker, I think would mean to return the check to the writer. It could be that they canceled payment on the check or they may they have passed away and their was a hold but on the account (meaning that the account was frozen at the time, but now has been closed). I would check and see if this person is still a user on ebay and if they have bidded lately. Check their feedback and so on. Call your bank and see why it says " refer to maker"
Maybe your bank lost the check and just refound it and now the account is closed and they now just tried to run it and found that the account no longer exsisted or is frozen.
Check your bank statements and see if it ever showed up as a deposit. (that is if you deposited it by itself)
[ edited by brigette on Dec 15, 2000 11:33 PM ]
posted on December 16, 2000 12:00:49 AM
I don't know much about banking laws---but a cheque that is older than 6 months is called Stale Dated and you are unable to cash it----so it seems to me that the bank should not be able to return a cheque that is more than 6 months old.
Of course banks make up new rules to suit themselves--but I bet if you took this to the manager--that they are stale dating--he/she might listen
posted on December 16, 2000 12:55:51 AM
The check writer is still active(barely). He placed a bid on Dec 11. His only bid in the last 30 days. His feedback is 15,0,0 and he's been an Ebay member for over 2 years. He certainly isn't a very active member.
The back of the check has a lot of overlapping numbers printed and stamped on the back that are hard to read, but I can make out 0212 among the numbers. I deposited the check on 02/11 so that '0212' could be a date. I thought of the possibility of the bank misplacing the check, but they never notified me of a shortage in my deposit, so that seems unlikely.
Along with some numbers and the date of 12-11-00, I see "WL RETURN". I don't know what that means.
Oh well. I emailed the check writer and I'll see what he has to say. If he can't explain it, I'll check with my bank on Monday.
posted on December 16, 2000 01:06:40 AM
Refer to maker....hmmm
Maybe God was busy. You know how it is when you're the omnipotent creator and leave stuff laying around on your desk. It may have seemed like a couple of minutes to him but you know how that goes. Just be glad he didn't get around to it in an hour. Your great grandchildren might have ended up with the bank notice for $950 return check fee plus $9.50 for the initial check and 5% interest accrued over the last 70 years.
posted on December 16, 2000 03:23:39 AM
My bank will not give a definite time line on clearing checks. In other words, they never actually do know that the check is good when they credit your account. They merely assume after so many days that the check is good. They suggest that 10 days is the normal time period within which most insufficient funds data is received from other banks. But they guarantee nothing.
posted on December 16, 2000 05:54:55 AM
Take the statement and the check to the bank's Customer Service manager and ask them what happened, and also ask them to cancel the fee for the bounce.
TEN MONTHS is way too loing for them tom be still trying to process a check.
posted on December 16, 2000 06:08:36 AM
"Refer to Maker" is a general term that the bank upon which the check is drawn on will use when they return a check for a non-specific reason. That check is a late return. It should not have even been charged back by your bank, but if the amount was low, your bank probably didn't even check it and charged it back when it came in with it's returned checks. Take it to your bank, ask to speak to the Operations Officer and tell them that you are disputing the return. Banks have 24 hours to return a check for non-sufficient funds or closed account. About the only "open ended" reason they have for returning a check after that 24 hour period is for forgery, either forged signature of payer or payee. And even then it should have been returned to your bank with an affadavit attesting to such. What I suspect happened, (and this happens more than people know) is that the payer's bank is out some money on that account, for whatever reason, and they are trying to recoup their losses, by returning paid checks (maybe a bunch for small amounts, since larger ones are more likely to be disputed). The original clearing date on the back will ascertain that it's a late return. But you need to do this asap. Insist that the total amount be credited to your account. At this point, it will probably be that your own bank will have to take the loss, as too much time has passed for it to send it back as a "late return", but then they should have checked the clearing date in the first place. You are in the right on this. Insist your account is fully credited, and let the two banks hash it out.
posted on December 16, 2000 09:11:58 AMYou are in the right on this. Insist your account is fully credited, and let the two banks hash it out.
KatyD is of course absolutely correct. What's interesting to observe here is the behavior of banks. The two banks in this story acted as banks always do when presented with a problem: they try to stick some customer somewhere with the loss.
They do this often enough knowing full well that the cusomer is protected by federal banking law from what they're doing.
They will usually back down when confronted.
Note what they don't do: they do not lock up the customer's account.
