Do you know how your bank really operates? Are its policies and practices keeping your money safe and secure?
Rochelle Johnson of Taylor County Expo Center has a chilling tale that could have been financially disastrous for the Center. Read this, then go review your bank.
“Recently my board president called me regarding a banking issue he and his son encountered that affected our business account. My board president is a signatory on all Expo Center bank accounts. He and his son opened up a family business account at one of the banks, (“Bank B”) we use.
His son was to transfer funds from one of the family’s business accounts with “Bank A” to “Bank B.” The son logged into “Bank B” with his father’s information and mistakenly transferred funds from the Expo Center’s bank account to the family’s business account. The son couldn’t see on the “Bank B” website that he was actually moving money out of an account that didn’t belong to him. When he told his father he made the transaction all in “Bank B,” they found out he had transferred money from Expo Center’s account.
He called the bank and was told the accounts were connected by his father’s social security number. When I called the bank I was told the same thing, as well as being told “this happens all the time, it’s no big deal” and asked “why did the young man think it was okay to transfer money out of your account.” Needless to say, I contacted the other three banks we do business with and they all agreed this doesn’t happen EVER and was more than likely an error on the part of the bank rep, who didn’t accept responsibility for the error.
Our money has been moved out of “Bank B.”
A lesson learned about how social security numbers tie accounts together and the potential damage it can cause a business.