Action: Can one check be cashed twice?

I have been unable to resolve a dispute involving payment to a store in Seminole, even with my bank's assistance. Briefly, I wrote a check to the store for $90.79 on Nov. 4. Enclosed are two of my bank statements, which show my account was debited for that amount on Dec. 6 and the check was also deposited on March 1. The store owner will not assume any responsibility for this "double dip," nor does his bank. Obviously, the store's bank account has been credited twice for that amount.

I am also enclosing the "paperless" trail of the debit to my account on Dec. 6. I suspect the store put the check through a check verifier machine and that it was directly deposited during that transaction. Charles Higgins

Response: We decided to contact your bank, thinking -- as it turned out correctly -- that it would be the most likely of all the participants to be able to resolve this problem. Cynthia Stokes, executive vice president of United Bank in St. Petersburg, said you paid for services from the store with check No. 4180 for $90.79 on Dec. 4. Two days later, a debit was processed to your account at United Bank for $90.79, so you considered the matter closed.

About three months later, she said, and long past the 60-day time limit for returning an automated item, check No. 4180 was paid against your account again. When you visited your United Bank branch to discuss the problem, the manager quickly realized that the original debit had actually been an ACH (automated clearinghouse) entry, rather than a check. Her first clue was the fact that the item appeared under the heading "other debits" rather than "checks" on your statement, Stokes said.

The branch manager, Ms. Shilanski, looked at the bank's incoming ACH reports and was able to identify the "paperless" trail you referred to in your letter. She also reviewed the original check that was in your statement and could see that the paper check had been processed only once, on March 1.

Stokes said Ms. Shilanski called United Bank's operations department and was told that both items were too old to return through the Federal Reserve System. Since it was not the bank's error, the operations staff suggested that you go to the merchant and/or his processor. Ms. Shilanski attempted to do this for you and met with nothing but denials. No one would admit to the double posting or the fact that an ACH entry was used to replace the original check. Stokes said she thinks it was at this point that you turned to Action.

When your letter arrived at United Bank, it was forwarded to Stokes for review. As she read your complaint letter to Action, she said, she realized that the store was using a new process that allows a vendor to convert a paper check into an electronic transaction and that, despite the response to the contrary, there might be a way for United Bank to correct the error through the Federal Reserve System.

She said she called and was told that the transaction could be returned for double posting, even though the check itself had processed through the system only once. United Bank posted a credit for $90.79 to your account on May 24, Stokes said, rather than waiting for the adjustment. If the merchant's bank chooses to dispute the return, United will deal with it directly rather than involve you.

She said that although United Bank did not cause your problem, a lack of familiarity with this new procedure served to delay a timely resolution for you. She said the replacement of checks with electronic transactions is taking place today in a multitude of retail establishments. Some vendors scan the item at the point of sale, returning the check to the customer, while others convert them in the back office and, supposedly, retain the original as authorization in their files.

This trend will probably result in more situations like yours, Stokes said, and next time United Bank's staff will know there is a way to assist customers.

In anticipation of the usual queries as to why we failed to identify the store and its bank in the column, we did so because they were never contacted and given the opportunity to respond to the complaint. Since this complaint was a new one for Action, we felt that United Bank's detailed answer to what could become a recurring complaint deserved an immediate airing in the column.

Readers, consider yourselves warned.

* * *

- Action solves problems and gets answers for you. If you have a question, or your own attempts to resolve a consumer complaint have failed, write Times Action, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or call your Action number, (727) 893-8171, or, outside of Pinellas, toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 8171, to leave a recorded request.

- Requests will be accepted only by mail or voice mail; calls cannot be returned. We will not be responsible for personal documents, so please send only photocopies. If your complaint concerns merchandise ordered by mail, we need copies of both sides of your canceled check.

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright