4 ms·

That sounds pretty dubious to me. Either you deposited a check from your account held at a different bank or a check someone else gave you drawn on their accoun

That sounds pretty dubious to me. Either you deposited a check from your account held at a different bank or a check someone else gave you drawn on their account. If it was your own account, then during the conference call you had to give out your personal information to identify yourself as the account holder at the other bank, all while the Schwab agent is listening in.. Or if it was someone else's account then that other bank's agent should never have discussed anything to do with that account with you and certainly not with some random other person (the Schwab agent) listening in.

FakeComments 7y ago
What are you talking about? The drafting bank always tells the depositing bank if those funds are available, which is what they did here: it’s how checks work. You would discover the same information yourself, when it cleared or didn’t. If you take a check to the drafting bank, they’ll check the funds in the account right then and there and either pay you or tell you there are insufficient funds. All that happened is they did it on the phone rather than through a clearing house or in person, but the exact same information was exchanged: 1. The account number and amount on the check was reported to the drafting bank, which both the depositor and his bank knew from the check already. 2. The drafting bank confirmed those funds were available, which would have been revealed when the check cleared or didn’t through other means. Having a bank call another bank to clear a check isn’t uncommon — I’ve had it done with payroll checks for the same reason, that I needed to pay rent.
- zaroth 7y ago
  Not sure why this was dead, but I vouched for it. A bit of Google searching appears to show that this is not an uncommon practice. [1] https://www.consumerismcommentary.com/verify-funds-on-that-check-before-you-cash-it/ https://www.consumerismcommentary.com/verify-funds-on-that-c...
  - FakeComments 7y ago
    All of my comments are dead, because dang is punishing me for my political views. It’s similar to Google or Facebook hiding conservative viewpoints in feeds.
whitepoplar 7y ago
Counterparty was a family member, also on the phone line, and who provided their permission to both Schwab and their bank to do it. My point still stands. It was highly unconventional and Schwab didn't have to do it, but they did in order to help me out. I'm sure it's not standard practice, and I wouldn't count on another banker doing the same, though Schwab has a knack for being customer-friendly.
- drevil-v2 7y ago
  Jesus F Christ.. that's even worse than my original scenarios! Now you have a family member whose personal information has been compromised to a random Schwab agent and even to you.. To me this would be a huge red flag.. the fact that Schwab apparently allows their customer service agents to play loose and fast with sensitive financial PII. Source: I worked at a Global Top 20 bank for many years and this would absolutely be a fireable offence and the employee would be lucky not to be dragged into court by the bank and the government.
  - whitepoplar 7y ago
    I totally understand where you're coming from, and it gives me pause when I think about it now, but I will say that in the moment it came across as a good faith effort and really did save the situation.
  - traviscj 7y ago
    Why wouldn’t this require just the info on the check (routing + account #), which everyone involved probably already had/needed to answer the query?
    - drevil-v2 7y ago
      It’s a balance of funds inquiry. Before you can discuss that kind of information about an account you need to identify the person as the account holder. I can’t call your bank and ask if you have enough funds to cover a cheque you wrote.
JumpCrisscross 7y ago
> If it was your own account, then during the conference call you had to give out your personal information to identify yourself as the account holder at the other bank Not necessarily. Banks can call, using the account information on the cheque, to verify funds available. (The cheque writer's bank can then call the cheque writer, separately, to get consent.) I did this to clear a paycheck to cash when a cash-strapped college student.

FakeComments 7y ago

What are you talking about? The drafting bank always tells the depositing bank if those funds are available, which is what they did here: it’s how checks work. You would discover the same information yourself, when it cleared or didn’t. If you take a check to the drafting bank, they’ll check the funds in the account right then and there and either pay you or tell you there are insufficient funds. All that happened is they did it on the phone rather than through a clearing house or in person, but the exact same information was exchanged: 1. The account number and amount on the check was reported to the drafting bank, which both the depositor and his bank knew from the check already. 2. The drafting bank confirmed those funds were available, which would have been revealed when the check cleared or didn’t through other means. Having a bank call another bank to clear a check isn’t uncommon — I’ve had it done with payroll checks for the same reason, that I needed to pay rent.

zaroth 7y ago
Not sure why this was dead, but I vouched for it. A bit of Google searching appears to show that this is not an uncommon practice. [1] https://www.consumerismcommentary.com/verify-funds-on-that-check-before-you-cash-it/ https://www.consumerismcommentary.com/verify-funds-on-that-c...
- FakeComments 7y ago
  All of my comments are dead, because dang is punishing me for my political views. It’s similar to Google or Facebook hiding conservative viewpoints in feeds.

whitepoplar 7y ago

Counterparty was a family member, also on the phone line, and who provided their permission to both Schwab and their bank to do it. My point still stands. It was highly unconventional and Schwab didn't have to do it, but they did in order to help me out. I'm sure it's not standard practice, and I wouldn't count on another banker doing the same, though Schwab has a knack for being customer-friendly.

drevil-v2 7y ago
Jesus F Christ.. that's even worse than my original scenarios! Now you have a family member whose personal information has been compromised to a random Schwab agent and even to you.. To me this would be a huge red flag.. the fact that Schwab apparently allows their customer service agents to play loose and fast with sensitive financial PII. Source: I worked at a Global Top 20 bank for many years and this would absolutely be a fireable offence and the employee would be lucky not to be dragged into court by the bank and the government.
- whitepoplar 7y ago
  I totally understand where you're coming from, and it gives me pause when I think about it now, but I will say that in the moment it came across as a good faith effort and really did save the situation.
- traviscj 7y ago
  Why wouldn’t this require just the info on the check (routing + account #), which everyone involved probably already had/needed to answer the query?
  - drevil-v2 7y ago
    It’s a balance of funds inquiry. Before you can discuss that kind of information about an account you need to identify the person as the account holder. I can’t call your bank and ask if you have enough funds to cover a cheque you wrote.

JumpCrisscross 7y ago

> If it was your own account, then during the conference call you had to give out your personal information to identify yourself as the account holder at the other bank Not necessarily. Banks can call, using the account information on the cheque, to verify funds available. (The cheque writer's bank can then call the cheque writer, separately, to get consent.) I did this to clear a paycheck to cash when a cash-strapped college student.