Tell me I'll be able to cover my rent this month...

October 14, 2010 8:47 AM

Did a Bank of America teller just "lose" $1,000 of mine? I deposited $1,000 in rolled coins, which were placed in a plastic "CoinSafe" bag, sealed, and I was given a "bag receipt" (a piece of the plastic bag with a serial number/contents handwritten on it) and NO deposit receipt at all.

They said it would take 2-3 business days for the coins to be counted and applied to my account (I gave them a deposit slip/swiped my card, so they know my account info). It's been 3 days, and the cash isn't there according to my online banking record. I have the card/name of the person who handled my transaction and the bag receipt, what should I do? I've never heard of someone taking a deposit without giving a computer-printed receipt back as confirmation.

posted by speedgraphic to Work & Money (28 answers total)

Go in and say "hey I just wanted to check on my bag-o-coins, it hasn't shown up in my account yet, here is my receipt".
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:48 AM on October 14, 2010

Response by poster: OK, I'll go in there today. Assuming they're as unhelpful as they were last time, what's my next step?
posted by speedgraphic at 8:49 AM on October 14, 2010

Escalate to a supervisor or manager? If nothing else, demand to see security footage so you can say "Hey well clearly I handed over a bag of money, what the hell happened to it?".

Keep escalating until something happens. This is $1000 of your money and you deserve to know where it went.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:51 AM on October 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

Wait until tomorrow to freak out. They didn't give you a receipt because they have to count the coins.
posted by JPD at 9:00 AM on October 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

I don't see how they could have given you a computer receipt without knowing the exact amount of the deposit, that's why they are being sent for counting. You say the slip they gave you states the contents of the bag- assuming that says something like "approximately $1000 in coins" that should be a legally valid proof of deposit. People got handwritten receipts all the time before things were computerized.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:03 AM on October 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

The "bag receipt" proves that they received some coinage from you. Worst case, they lose the bag and have to take your word for what was in it.
posted by smackfu at 9:07 AM on October 14, 2010

Oh, and if you made the deposit Monday in the afternoon or evening its possible you missed the cutoff for that day's business, which would make today the third business day-- could be posted tonight.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:08 AM on October 14, 2010

Response by poster: The point is that, if they for some reason count less than $1,000, I have zero evidence to back me up. I still think it's pretty ridiculous - imagine if you went to make a withdraw and the teller just handed you a fistful of bills and didn't allow you to count them until you left the bank.
posted by speedgraphic at 9:09 AM on October 14, 2010

they're probably not going to count $1,000 worth of coins by hand. The number should be accurate.
posted by sweetkid at 9:12 AM on October 14, 2010

Preserve your energy! You have no reason to believe that anything bad is going to happen here yet. $1,000 is a LOT of coins! Thousands and thousands of coins! They're going to need time to count all that money. Give it another day, then call, THEN freak out. Don't waste your energy now.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:12 AM on October 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

I still think it's pretty ridiculous - imagine if you went to make a withdraw and the teller just handed you a fistful of bills and didn't allow you to count them until you left the bank.

Isn't it more analogous to making a cash deposit via an ATM? You say how much you deposited, but the bank doesn't agree to that until someone counts it.
posted by smackfu at 9:14 AM on October 14, 2010

Best answer: I used to work at Bank of America. This is standard operating procedure for large coin deposits. The Banking Center does not have the means/time to count that much coin on site. The reason you didn't get a computer printed receipt is because the coin was not yet verified. The bag receipt acts as your proof that you made the deposit.

I'm not sure of the exact day you made the deposit, but Monday was a bank holiday so that may have some impact on the deposit time. It also depends on what time of day you made the deposit. If you brought the coin in after the armored car pickup/delivery for the day then it will add an extra day to processing.

I would not be worried yet, but you could certainly call the Banking Center to verify when the coin was actually sent in. That may give you a better idea of when it will be credited.
posted by Lapin at 9:26 AM on October 14, 2010 [3 favorites]

I agree. They probably sent it down to somewhere to be counted. I also work in a bank and that's how we do it. They couldn't give you a paper receipt because by saying that you deposited such and such, and getting a paper receipt for it, it could hold them to that amount and if you're off in your counting, then it's not fun for anyone.
posted by Polgara at 10:14 AM on October 14, 2010

It's been 3 days

Three business days? Monday was a holiday, weekends don't count and the business day cutoff is usually between 2pm and 4pm. If you dropped it off last Friday (9th) afternoon, for example, you could be credited as late as this Friday.

Did you expect that they would count $1,000 the coins in front you? As someone who worked for a bank until recently, I assure you that is major burden, especially for what is almost always an under-staffed branch.

They also can't take your word for it. (I personally never saw a coin depost over a few hundred dollars that was right.) So, the coins must be verified when there is time and staff to do it (my bank would actually ship large coins out for verification.) So, of course you weren't given a deposit slip; the money wasn't depositied. You got a bag recepit; which is what you verifiably gave them. How do they know there aren't Canadian quarters and washers in there?

Verifying the coins for you is a service that they are providing for free. The terms of which are that they do so in a way that isn't hugely disruptive to any other customer at the bank at that time. If you want it done right then and there, you can pay 8.9% at a coinstar.

Long story short; this is standard procedure at basically any bank and you are probably still in the 3 business day window. Don't worry.
posted by spaltavian at 10:23 AM on October 14, 2010

If they gave you a receipt that said you deposited $1000, what if only $900 were in there? You'd argue that you have a receipt for $1000 and now there's an easy way to defraud the bank.

You're trusting this organization with your money by choosing to bank there. You don't trust them to count your coins? You need to find a bank you can trust. (I love my local credit union!)
posted by Brian Puccio at 10:28 AM on October 14, 2010

+1 for Credit Unions. Mine have coin counting machines where you can just dump your coins in and it spits out a receipt you take to the teller. Same day, funds available. The machines are about the size of a copy machine and probably cost somewhere in the same neighborhood. It generally takes me about 10 minutes to spill $300 worth of coin through it, so you could certainly dump $1000 in one. You can also do Coinstar at any given grocery, but they take 10%.

The coin machines are pretty cool though. I like dumping in random bits of foreign currency and arcade tokens to see if it correctly spits them out. So far, it's 100%.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:35 AM on October 14, 2010

Response by poster: To answer your question, Brian, what SHOULD happen (in my opinion) is a $1,000 credit that shows up immediately, with either a hold on that deposit or, even better, an immediate credit that is subject to verification. It doesn't make sense that I can deposit $1,000 in cash at an ATM and receive instant (yes, instant) credit to my account for the full amount deposited, but if I use coins, I need to wait and possibly be screwed out of my money. For example, at most banks, trusted customers can make withdrawals against checks immediately even though the bank hasn't received the funds from the other bank yet. If the check bounces, the account will go in the red.

Again, it's not that I don't TRUST BoA, it's that there are tons of things that can happen with a 25lb bag of coins and a handwritten account number on it that are beyond my control.
posted by speedgraphic at 10:57 AM on October 14, 2010

Response by poster: spaltavian: They are not providing me any service which I feel I should be thankful for. I deposited $1,000 in rolled dollar coins. I didn't give them a huge piggy bank and say "count this".
posted by speedgraphic at 10:58 AM on October 14, 2010

Rolling coins does no good, unless you trust the person rolling them. The bank does not trust you.
posted by smackfu at 11:04 AM on October 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

Its not trusted customers - its customers with enough cash in their account to cover the check they just deposited.

If they gave you something that said "its 1000 bucks" and it turned out to be $950 thats a much bigger hassle for them then just counting it and making you wait.

Basically you are being unreasonable. Banks aren't out to screw you over a deposit amount - they'd rather bleed you dry with fees over the next 20 years.
posted by JPD at 11:12 AM on October 14, 2010 [6 favorites]

smackfu, then what's the point of the bank demanding you roll them before they'll accept them?

I've had the same experience with BoA - took about 10 days to get my rolled coins credited (about $200), although they *did* give me a deposit slip with the amount on it at that time.

spaltavian, why do you have to send large coins out for verification (I mean unless they're really crazy rare, old, silver/gold coins, in which case they don't belong in a standard deposit)? why can't banks use those coin counters that coinstar and credit unions have? I thought those just got calibrated and certified periodically, sort of like gas pumps. seems like it'd be a lot more efficient and cost effective.
posted by toodleydoodley at 11:53 AM on October 14, 2010

There are many banks who don't have coin counting machines, so they send your bagged coin deposit to their vault services provider (think Dunbar, Loomis or similar) for counting and receive notification back of the counted amount to credit your account. If they're using that process, it can take 3-5 days.
posted by ersatzkat at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2010

smackfu, then what's the point of the bank demanding you roll them before they'll accept them?

Hmm, not sure. Maybe just to discourage people bringing in change? It also ensures they don't get people handing the teller a jam jar full of pennies. They really can't do anything with rolled coins without counting them again themselves. What if you give out a short roll to a customer?
posted by smackfu at 12:51 PM on October 14, 2010

I don't understand why this didn't bother you at the time when you made the deposit, rather than three days later.

I'm a former teller and Lapin's answer is spot on.

In the future, you can split up your deposit into smaller pieces to minimize the [perceived risk], or visit a bank with a complimentary CoinStar-type machine (when I was a teller there was one bank in the area that had one) so you won't have to wait for the coins to be counted manually.
posted by telegraph at 1:07 PM on October 14, 2010

I'm going to have to disagree with the "it's a major burden" people. They are a BANK. Their job is to count money. They sure as heck would count 1000 $1 bills, and counting 1000 coins is easier. (If the little stack is the same height, it's the same value.) They do it at casinos constantly.

They don't want to count my deposit, I guess they don't need my money.


Now, that said, banks aren't in the business of screwing people via cash. Retail operations do bag drops like this all day long, for thousands a pop. I doubt they are going to mess with you.


(Although, when I worked retail, we would drop the bags in the depository at night, and then another manager would go to the bank the next day and watch them count it out. Kept everyone honest.)
posted by gjc at 4:43 PM on October 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

To answer your question, Brian, what SHOULD happen (in my opinion) is a $1,000 credit that shows up immediately, with either a hold on that deposit or, even better, an immediate credit that is subject to verification. It doesn't make sense that I can deposit $1,000 in cash at an ATM and receive instant (yes, instant) credit to my account for the full amount deposited, but if I use coins, I need to wait and possibly be screwed out of my money. For example, at most banks, trusted customers can make withdrawals against checks immediately even though the bank hasn't received the funds from the other bank yet. If the check bounces, the account will go in the red.

I've banked at two large banks and one local credit union and none of them ever instantly credited my account as the result of an ATM deposit. I cannot find anything on BoA's website that says if you deposit cash into an ATM and tell the machine it is $1000 that they will believe you and instantly make the funds available.

Anyhow, as I said before, it sounds like you need to find a new bank with a policy of "trust but verify" as opposed to just "verify".
posted by Brian Puccio at 5:51 PM on October 18, 2010

smackfu, then what's the point of the bank demanding you roll them before they'll accept them?

Hmm, not sure.

Again, speaking as a former bank employee: How are we going to store it? Just have huge bags of money sitting around? Just toss lose coin into a bucket? Coin needs to be wrapped to take up less space and to be stored securely. You might be thinking banks have gigantic vaults where you can put anything. Sometimes this is the case. Some branches have a vault that's more like gun cabinet, or even like a regular safe.

Additionally, some banks will weigh your coins, and you can't do that if they are loose.
I'm going to have to disagree with the "it's a major burden" people. They are a BANK.
Sorry, but you're fantastically wrong. It can be a huge problem, especially if the branch is understaffed. The money can't just be left out, it needs to be put somewhere: a teller's personal vault is often too small. Which means getting an extra vault (if one is available) or couting the coins with the bulk teller (who hopefully has room) so they can take the coins in (now you have two people off the line). Coins have to be counted by the person taking in the cash, it's not like the teller can just hand the money to someone else and ask them to count it. If someone had to count it right there in front of you, it could be a nightmare during a busy period.

They are a BANK. Their job is to count money.

Not really. One job that tellers have is to accurately process transactions. Performing a coin counting service is not something that is done on demand. This is one of those instances where someone who has never dealt with a task simplifies what it is, since they have no information about it.

They sure as heck would count 1000 $1 bills, and counting 1000 coins is easier.

No, it really, really isn't. Try it once. Also, cash counters are nearly universal, where as coin counters are very rare.

For example, at most banks, trusted customers can make withdrawals against checks immediately even though the bank hasn't received the funds from the other bank yet.

No. The check is being cashed against what's in the account. Sometimes a check will be cashed without the funds to cover it, but that is a case by case basis and the teller or supervisor assumes that risk.

When the teller loses their job for being short, you'll get them a new one, right?
posted by spaltavian at 2:30 PM on October 20, 2010

When the teller loses their job for being short, you'll get them a new one, right?
posted by spaltavian More than 18 hours ago [+]

but, nobody's griefing the teller - we all know the teller can only follow the rules. It's the *banks* and their policies we're bitching about.

It's not like the U.S. just started using coin money last week, or that coin counters are some risky new technology nobody's ever heard of. As gjc pointed out upthread, other money-based businesses like casinos have no trouble converting metallic discs into data in a timely fashion. If every bank has a problem of intaking, counting, storing, recording and crediting coin, then all banks need to make adjustments to their coin intake procedures.
posted by toodleydoodley at 10:04 AM on October 21, 2010