Ask Jill: Did Electronic Banking Backfire?
This post by Jill Schlesinger originally appeared on CBS' MoneyWatch.com.
I love electronic banking, but was surprised when recently, a deposit was suddenly reversed from my account. I called the bank and I learned that when you enroll in certain electronic banking features like direct deposit, you also sign away a bunch of control.
The following comment/rant about this electronic banking snafu came in:
Hi Jill,
404 listener here with a bit of a gripe. I'll try to sum it up well. I send my dad a check every month for my car payment. Same thing every month, I use the bill pay feature of BoA.com set the delivery date for sometime in the beginning of the month. He get it and mails it off to his bank and it's generally cashed around the 14th. This is perfect as with my first paycheck of the month (always before the 14th) I get the cash to pay him.
This month however, BoA decided to send my dad what they call a "corporate check" which means on the delivery date (5/3) they deduct the money from my checking account and simultaneously my dad receives my check. Normally I am told my check goes as a "laser draft check" which acts like a normal check.
I called and asked why this month it was different. The best answer they could give me is that their "system" decides what type of check to send. I asked how does it decide? He said Blah Blah Blah System Math Science Blah Blah Blah. Eventually I got him to admit that essentially it decides randomly.
So, in summary, BoA randomly decides when it wants to deduct my money from my account and there is no way for me to specify one or the other or apparently any way for them to either.
The best defense they had was to say "well on your specified delivery date you should have the funds available". Which, is very true. But come on, nothing in their "system" should be random! Random and my money don't mix.
Well, sorry for the long message, just had to gripe. Maybe we can write a nice little article and get a nice little payout from BoA.
Love,
Jon
First of all, I like the signature line-LOVE!
OK, so I called B of A and got pretty much the same answer. So what are Jon's options? He could go back to the old-fashioned check writing (ugh!); he could move his accounts to another large bank, but i suspect that the practice is industry-wide; he could try a credit union, but that might not be convenient for him; or he could use an investment account as his checking account. My fear is that this problem could be an unintended consequence of the entire electronic banking system. Jon probably isn't going to love me anymore after this response!
Jill Schlesinger is the Editor-at-Large for CBS MoneyWatch.com. Prior to the launch of MoneyWatch, she was the Chief Investment Officer for an independent investment advisory firm. In her infancy, she was an options trader on the Commodities Exchange of New York.
