I went to my Chase branch this morning to get some change for this yard sale we're having tomorrow. I had a couple of bills to break down and I wrote a check for twenty dollars cash I wanted to get back in ones.
Well here's where the teller and I went afoul. My driver's license and my checking account don't have the same name on them; I've not changed my bank account since Steve and I married last year. I know, I know. Procrastination on my part.
The teller would not cash my twenty dollar check. She asked for alternate ID that had my former name on it. I gave her my school ID which has the old name and a picture. I gave her credit cards. I even gave her my marriage license!!!! She would not cash my check. When I gave her the marriage license to prove I'm the same person, she said, "Oh, you have to take that to a banker and do the paperwork."
Okay. I understand rules. I understand identity theft is a problem. I understand there are criminals in this world. I know I should have changed the name on my checking account already. But do we have no common sense anymore? We're talking about a twenty dollar check on my own account in my own branch of my own bank and I have scads of ID as well as a legal document showing the name change.
The teller wanted me to go outside, drive through the ATM, withdraw the twenty, and bring it back inside for her to break down for me. OR, I could sit in line behind the five people already in line and wait for a "banker" to do the paperwork to change over my name, get back in her line, and cash my check.
I tried to drive through the ATM. It was broken and a technician was repairing it.
So, Obama was right, and not right. That ATM might put the teller with no logical common sense out of a job, but it'll keep that technician busy.
11 comments:
Heh! Buy a coke at Kroger, and get $20 cash back...ask the cashier for fives and ones.
love living in small town america where i can go to the bank drive up or go into a bank and everyone knows my name. i can do business w/o showing i.d. or telling them my name. i can get books and movies from the library and don't have to show my library card (where is it anyway?) or tell them my name. i love this town!
Sheryl, I lived in a town like that for about four years. Even as a "newcomer," everybody trusted you...at the library, video store, bank, etc.
Rural life has pleasantries, for sure.
Had you been Nigerian, no questions would have been asked.
Your mistake was thinking this would be a simple, logic-driven banking transaction. You'll not make that mistake again soon, will you?
To banks you are no longer a customer. You are the enemy. Next time throw out a smoke grenade before getting in line.
In 1972 when I was working for a credit union I watched a film that predicted the demise of cash and the coming cashless society. Banks gave out coupons for a free DQ cone if you used the ATM. After customers realized the convenience of getting cash out of them the banks started charging to use ATMs and laying off already low paid tellers. This was in 1972. I think Nixon was our President then.
When my husband died in 1991 we had a joint checking account at what became CHASE bank. I called the bank and asked them to change the account to just my name, telling them of his death. They never even asked me for my SS#!, leaving it in his until I noticed one day and asked it be changed. Strict identification and hauling your body to the bank to do this kind of thing changed after 9/11.
As much as you'd like to blame the President Obama for all this, he took office in January 2009. Banks like things to be extremely secure and changed their rules. They used 9/11 as the excuse to do so.
Charlene,
We're quite aware when Obama took office. We're just looking forward to the day he can play golf at his own leisure and leave the governing to others. Wait a minute, he's already doing that...
G.R., I KNEW we could count on ya'!!!
She senses you are secretly conflicted on the marriage thing and is forcing you to fully commit. After the yard sale, however, her intuition may prove right. Get your name changed on the account. You know in small towns people talk. Things like that are noticed. Just say'n ;-)
I understand your frustration but the teller was probably "just following orders". Not that it would have done any good, but I would have asked to see a supervisor or branch manager.
Thanks Andy,
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