does anyone working at a bank branch know ANYTHING?

[grasswire]

I've had this kind of trouble at branches before, but today seemed like very poor customer service. I ducked into my branch to ask if a check made out to me personally could be deposited into my business account. Simple? Nooooooooooooo. I had to produce my account number and the mgr of the day had to phone headquarters. She was put on hold, cuz apparently HQ didn't know the answer to the question. After nearly ten minutes on hold, she was disconnected.

As she started to dial HQ again, I said oh just don't bother. I'll put the money in another account elsewhere.

Why wouldn't they know the answer to such a simple question???

[DireStrike]

1. Nobody that has to deal with customers, below top manager, knows anything

The managers don't know anything either, they just make it up and cover for it later if they made a mistake. It isn't worthwhile to train workers to know their business, or to hire experienced workers, who would then have to be paid more. After all, what are you gonna do, go to a competitor? The bank will just receive one of THEIR pissed off customers in return.

This applies to all businesses.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. The Answer Is No

It would be commingling of funds.

[grasswire]

6. is that an informed opinion?

If I'm the main signatory on the account and the check card has my name on it, how come I can't deposit a check made out to me?

[Warpy]

13. Well, the bookkeeping could get messy unless the check was

for something business connected. If somebody made a mistake and made the check out to you instead of putting your company name on it (example, to a licensed plumber instead of the business name he's working under as sole proprietor and employee), there really shouldn't have been a problem.

Docs deal with that all the time, checks made out to them instead of to the group practice or HMO. All the checks get entered in the same deposit.

[Curmudgeoness]

16. As a controller at a company with a boss who loves messes,

this is not a big mess at all. Just call it an "owner contribution" or loan from owner. That is easy. Also, I could deposit a check from anyone into my own account if that person endorses it and writes "pay to the order of Curmudgeoness", then I endorse it and deposit it.

[grasswire]

18. I don't think that's so anymore.

I know that both Bank of America and Wells Fargo and Chase will no longer accept checks that are endorsed over to the account holder. That's been the case for at least six years that I know of.

[MarthaM]

9. Agreed, sort of.

At the bank where I worked, it depended on the ownership of the business account. We could only deposit checks made out to a person if the account was that person's business and a sole proprietorship. No checks made out to a person could be deposited into a corporation, partnership, or 'organization' account (such as a non-profit's).

But any teller should know that.

[grasswire]

19. it seems foolish to restrict money coming into the account

leaving the account I can understand more caution.

[grasswire]

3. Sad. I remember competence.

I guess that started to decline when real wages stagnated.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. I Need My Sopranos Fix-Even Reruns

~

[Brickbat]

5. More than "taxes" or "regulation," this bizarre avoidance of responsibility is crippling all

businesses. Companies cut costs and jobs, underlings live in fear of being cut, and try to find ways to shunt off responsibility, middle managers try to push responsibility down to look responsible to their bosses, upper management is pressured to make people "accountable" and "owners of their futures" and to "give them the flexibility to solve problems," instead of everyone just being told what their job is. It's a fucking nightmare in pretty much every industry.

[grasswire]

7. this used to be a "can-do" country

how disheartening

[Brickbat]

10. Exactly. Companies used to pride themselves in helping, in doing something extra, in rewarding good

service from their employees and going out of their way for customers. It's embarrassing, and I'm surprised the country itself isn't more embarrassed about it.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

8. Was there a reason not to deposit it in personal and write a check for same ammt to biz acct?

Not commenting on bank rules on accts, just wondering why it wasn't easier to solve.

[grasswire]

17. I happened to be in the place where the business acct is.

The personal acct is at another bank, elsewhere.

[Boojatta]

11. Next time ask how many nickels you can get as change for a dime.

I bet that they know that.

[Puregonzo1188]

12. Christ don't even bring this topic up. My 86 year-old grandparents

are both basically housebound, and my grandmother on top of that has dementia/cancer and is very, very sick. My mom recently was looking at their bank statement and noticed that they had being charged for a cellphone (they don't one). She talked to my uncle/her brother who handles their cheques for monthly utilities for them (they are in that bad of shape) and he noted that the automatic monthly withdraw for the phone has a name on it and wasn't either of my grandparents (or anyone we know)!

You'd think it would have been a simple thing to resolve--but oh no, it was not. After hours at the bank/on the phone with the bank/on the phone with the phone company someone at the bank finally took some kind of action.

Whole thing was a nightmare though.

[TrogL]

14. No. Unless the name on the account is the same,

If your business name is grasswire then a check made out in that name can be made to the "grasswire" business.

Otherwise it's a 3rd party cheque, which they are at liberty to decline.

[Imajika]

15. Bank branches are about sales only...

At one time you could go in and speak to a competent teller, CSR, etc, about bank policy, rules, regulations, etc. Nowadays, brick and mortar bank branches are staffed with ONLY sales people. Their job is to sell, up sell, cross sell, sell, sell, sell. No actual, knowledgeable people really work in the branches anymore. Most of the decision aren't even made by them. Their computers just tell them how much a person is approved for credit wise - other than that, they just push investment accounts and anything profitable to the bank.

[HopeHoops]

20. I use Metro Bank and Susquehanna Bank. I've never had anything but the best service at either.

Metro used to be Commerce and Susquehanna used to be Community, but other than the name and logo change, nothing else really changed.