Chase Bank refusing to honor a cashiers check

[Deadly Sushi]

This makes me SICK! The people that refuse to give the woman her money should have THEIR back accounts emptied. :frustrado

Chase is refusing to honor a cashiers check for $19.700.22, 82-year-old widow Willie Floyd's life savings. Willie stored the check, originally drawn by her late-husband in 1985, in a $10 per year safe deposit box at the local bank. When she tried to shift the funds into a regular savings account last year, she was told that the check expired after five years, and that her life savings now belonged to the state.

She hired a lawyer, Tarena Washington Franklin, who said she was directed to bank officials in Louisiana, who told her that the money had been given to the State of Wisconsin as unclaimed. "I checked with the state, and it was not there," Franklin said. "That money has to be somewhere, and we couldn't get any answer from them. We filed a lawsuit to get their attention."​

Franklin noted that the check does not have an expiration date.​

"What they're doing, it's unjust," Franklin said of bank officials. "It will clearly be unjust enrichment for the bank if they are allowed to keep the money."​

Joshua Stubbins, a local lawyer representing the bank, filed a written response to Franklin's lawsuit. He said a cashier's check that is uncashed after five years is presumed to be "abandoned" under state law. He added that the bank "did not willfully or negligently commit a wrongful, illegal or inappropriate act," and that the case should be dismissed.​

Willie could have safeguarded her savings—and earned interest—by keeping her money in an FDIC-insured savings account. She claims to have learned a different lesson: "I didn't even cook dinner last night," she said recently. "I should have just buried that money in the backyard."

 

[Bulldog1401]

Buncha crap. I don't particularly trust banks either. You have to watch them closely.

 

[richfolkes]

Read "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin. It gives a very interesting and entertaining insight into the bank's shenanigans.

 

[Cityboy]

OK, here's a different take on this. Look at any bank check you recieve. There is an expiration date on that check, and it is there for a reason. Banks change owners, banks are bought and sold like any other business, AND like any other business they can and do fail from time to time.

While I do feel bad for this poor widow, had she read the expiration date on the check and deposited it, she would not be going through this now. Read the entire article on the link Sushi posted. The check was dated 1985, and she tried to open a savings account with it in 2006, 21 years later.

I hope she eventually gets her money, but by simply paying attention to what they were doing, this whole issue would not be an issue at all.

 

[Deadly Sushi]

I agree CityBoy. If it clearly states that it expires on a certain date then she is in the wrong. The dollar fluctuates in value and Im guessing that is why they put a date limit on it. BUT.... to be fair, the bank could easily adjust the amount. The bank in my view is simply stealing her money in a legal fashion. very dishonorable. irate:

 

[thcri]

Franklin noted that the check does not have an expiration date.

I read the article twice, my eyes are not so good anymore. But I can't find where it said there was an expiration date on the check? the check was written in 1985?


murph

 

[Deadly Sushi]

Oh!!!! There ISNT one????? Then without a DOUBT the bank needs to give her that money PLUS penalties for being huge assholes!

 

[Cityboy]

I read the article twice, my eyes are not so good anymore. But I can't find where it said there was an expiration date on the check? the check was written in 1985?


murph

There may not have been one....I ASSumed

Joshua Stubbins, a local lawyer representing the bank, filed a written response to Franklin's lawsuit. He said a cashier's check that is uncashed after five years is presumed to be "abandoned" under state law. He added that the bank "did not willfully or negligently commit a wrongful, illegal or inappropriate act," and that the case should be dismissed.

I've heard it said that ignorance of the law is no excuse. The really bad part of all this is the interest the lady lost by essentially burying the money in the ground by leaving it in the safe deposit box.

She will eventually get her money, I bet, but a sad story in more ways than one.

 

[OhioTC18]

A lot of bank checks and rebate checks have an expiration time limit printed on them. Some as little as 90 days. It pays to look at it before you sock it away.

 

[DaveNay]

Checks are not legal tender, they are simply vouchers. Heck, even legal tender can expire; are Francs, Deutsch marks and Lira worth anything? They were all recalled to be replaced with Euros.

 

[Bulldog1401]

I think the larger issue here is, because the lady did not deposit the check, and she took it out of circulation, the bank is penalizing her. If she had deposited it and left it there, the bank would have had access to it all of these years. They would have invested it and earned a profit on her money many times over the years. By not depositing it, they could not make money on her money, and they consider that bad business. It is the same game they play when they hold a check for 5 days from a bank that is out of town. With todays technology, they know within minutes if that check is any good. By withholding your money for 5 days, it gives them a chance to nearly double it through investment by the time they give it back to you. With no interest.

 

[Deadly Sushi]

They were all recalled to be replaced with Euros.

Which is kick the crap out of the Dollar.