Disappearing deposits: What happens when banks lose your money | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

This item was on the TV news this evening.
Unfortunately, I find these complaints credible because I had a similar issue about 40 years ago with one of the Big Five. I no longer remember with certainty which one it was. They failed to apply a payment towards my student loan, but the money sure vanished from my savings account.
I guess I should have been suspicious when they didn't offer me a receipt, but I'd never had a problem before and didn't imagine having one then. I'm a lot smarter - and more suspicious - now. I have no idea where the money went, but they were quick to complain about the "missed" payment.

Ask for and keep all your paperwork and confirmation numbers.

The woman who got her certified cheques replaced would still be waiting for a resolution if the person she did business with had not been willing to help her out.
It's a good argument for avoiding bank drafts where possible. See previous thread on that subject. At least certified cheques can be replaced, although it's a nuisance.
I don't understand why there should be any hold at all on a certified cheque. Surely to goodness their staff are trained to recognize them, just as they are trained to recognize bank notes.
The government won't let you deal in cash over 10K, so you have no choice but to deal with the banks and their arbitrary policies.

it happens.
I pulled all my mutual fund with TD waterhouse to TD direct investing
The "new girl" did not define the transfers properly 3x, each waiting a week only to be refused to complete the transfer, and never to get a phone call to alert, than calling her each day twice repeatedly after the week. I finally made an appointment with a branch manager after the funds sat in limbo for near 6 weeks. Its a scary feeling seeing two seperate RRSPs, four seperate TFSAs, and two seperate RESPs all with 0.00 waiting on some 20 something kid to fix her mistakes.

In all fairness, TD was gracious enough to deposit 200.00 to each of the 4 accounts for our troubles.

I was a never happens guy, till all i did was a simple transfer

"Privacy" is a great excuse for when you don't want to take any responsibility.
I might take it as a more serious concern if I knew that a complainant had been asked for a release of information and had refused. It's unclear whether this question is ever raised, but my own experience is that it's difficult to get information even when you have a consent or a legitimate request under Freedom of Iformation.

I think we should stick to the story. In the case of TD, which lost the stock certificates, it took them far too long to recognize they'd lost them and to find them, but find them they finally did. After a year, the fellow's mother finally got her money. I'm glad she didn't die waiting.
TD apolgized and did not cite "privacy" in order to say nothing. They talked about the specific case and what their response had been. CBC quotes Geraldine Anderson of TD at length.

Scotia admits it has lost the cheques and has offered a token of compensation for its failure.

Thanks to CBC for bringing this to our attention. The legal route is not usefu; when the law has no teeth and when lawyers are so costly.

TD is able to comment probably because the client waived his right to privacy in that matter.

The story leaves out the fact that, like bank drafts and money orders, certified cheques are irrevocable. Payments Canada Rule A4, Section 4:

4. Subject to the following exceptions, an Item may be returned by the Drawee pursuant to this Rule if, for any reason payment is refused or cannot be obtained:

(a) No Item shall be returned for the reason that the “words and figures differ” where the difference is twenty dollars ($20) or less;

(b) A Drawee may not return an Item that it certified before the Item was Exchanged for the purpose of Clearing and Settlement, unless the Item is returned for the reason “Forged Endorsement”, “Intended Payee(s) Not Paid”, “Duplicate Payment Item”, “Item Incorrectly amount-encoded”, “Item Cleared in Wrong Currency”, “Image Missing or Not Usable”, “CRD or Image MICR Mismatch” or for the reason that the Item has been Materially Altered subsequent to certification; and
…

Car buyer likely refused initial request to give another $21,000 certified cheque after his/her bank asked for indemnity for the lost $21,000 of certified cheques. An indemnity bond would have cost 2% to 3% or $400 to $600.

Also, both screw-ups seem to involve non-routine transactions for a branch. Selling certificated stock through a bank branch. Direct payment of a car loan without depositing first into an account.

The story seems to be odd for the lost $17,000 of stock certificates. Usually stock transactions clear in two business days. Wouldn't the person realize something was wrong after the $17,000 from selling the stocks wasn't credited after a week? It wouldn't take me five months to notice $17,000 didn't show up.

Thanks, Norman1, someone got my point. It might help those who have difficulty grasping the logical erroneous-ness of using media reports to verify the accuracy and completeness of media reports, of "the story".

And the statements made by the bank officials (as reported by the media) are mandatory, template, pr stuff, they have to say such things no matter what happened in the cases in question. It's a required mea-culpa in today's social and mainstream media mob justice environment, an investigator would place some but not much weight in such pronouncements.

Don't assume the media has given you the whole story.

Doesn't TD and RBC hire their own Ombudsman or something lol?