It is the system's fault: an incident with banking transactions

By Mario deSantis, December 10, 1999

What Mario has discovered is that banks now pay little attention to any details on a cheque other then the amount. This has been the case for more then three years and like Mairo we have all probably had at least one interesting and perhaps more costly experience with a bank of some kind. Two interesting aspects to Mario's experience was the small amount he was charged. Scotia and Royal both would have charged him three to four times as much for this and the CU's clerk being helpful is miraculous. I have a CIBC bank account in Kindersley and a Credit Union bank account in Nipawin where I live. I use the CIBC account for paying my ongoing bills through the Internet and I retained it because there is no CIBC branch here in Nipawin. I replenish my CIBC account by sending periodically by mail a cheque drawn on my Credit Union account. Last week, I mailed a cheque for $900.00 to the CIBC branch in Kindersley, I postdated this cheque as at December 10, 1999 and I explicitly wrote a memo on the cheque stating to be payable not before December 10. Yesterday, December 8, I received a call from the Credit Union, I was told that my account was overdrawn and that my cheque for $900.00 was cashed; I responded that the cheque be returned to the CIBC bank and that my balance account be reconciled accordingly. December 9, I go shopping and as I used my Credit Union convenience card I realized that something was wrong with my balance account; I took some money from my pocket and see if I could come up with the right amount to pay for the groceries, the cashier got my money, counted the change, then said "...ho you have the right amount...", and I responded "...how much money did you put out of your own pocket?..." and she replied "...about three dollars..." I was a bit surprised by this event, and I was just sorry for the people who were queuing up behind me. I went right away to the Credit Union and check what was wrong with my account. I was told that the $900.00 cheque was returned, that my outstanding balance was quite low, and that the computer system debited my account for $5.00 for the transaction affecting the returning of the cheque. I responded that the computer system can't take away our people responsibilities and therefore I asked that the $5.00 debit be taken away. The Credit Union cashier was extremely communicative and she immediately rectified the problem. In leaving I told her "...I always hear that when there is a business problem the fault is of the system procedures, why can't we have relationships as normal people I don't know... I wonder now what they are doing at the other end in Kinderlsey, possibly CIBC is going to charge me again without my knowing..." I returned to the grocery store, I gave back the three dollars I owed to the cashier and I thanked and congratulated her. There are good people around, but the incompetent assemble of system procedures is driving these same people insane, not to speak about me.