Bank CD problem

[Cujet]

Last spring (mid March) my wife and I moved the funds in our low interest savings to open 3 CD's.
1 In her name with me POD (payable on death)
1 in my name her POD.
And a third much smaller CD in my name with her POD.

Here we are mid DEC and the bank has NO RECORD of the two larger CD's. The funds are, according to the bank, in 2 separate and strangely sized (low interest) MM savings accounts supposedly opened in 2021 which I never opened and know nothing about. Remember, we had a single conventional saving account for the last 23 years there, which covered overdrafts.

The smaller CD has matured now.

Here's the problem, I can't find any paperwork (yet) and it is plausible I left the bank without copies. As I was in a rush to fly to NY that day.

I think the bank did not do what we asked and signed for.

What's really strange is that right after opening the CD's the checking account balance was depleted twice, and there was no overdraft protection. I had to deposit cash to cover the overdraft.

Thoughts?

 

[mrsilv04]

First question is how it took 9 months to figure all of this out?

 

[Cujet]

First question is how it took 9 months to figure all of this out?

Right. We opened them, and expected to use the funds once they matured to re-invest. Not really sure what I should have done to verify their existence. I know better now. Some form of verification would be in order.

 

[atikovi]

The funds are, according to the bank, in 2 separate and strangely sized (low interest) MM savings accounts

Just be glad the funds are SOMEWHERE and chalk up 9 months of low interest as a lesson on keeping a paper trail. Then remove the money and put it in any number of savings or MMAs paying over 5%.

 

[Dave Hess]

Right. We opened them, and expected to use the funds once they matured to re-invest. Not really sure what I should have done to verify their existence. I know better now. Some form of verification would be in order.

No monthly bank statements whether online (search transaction history) ) or paper ?

Possible employee fraud by the person that was responsible for opening these CDs / transactions ?

 

[Nukeman7]

Here we are mid DEC and the bank has NO RECORD of the two larger CD's. The funds are, according to the bank, in 2 separate and strangely sized (low interest) MM savings accounts supposedly opened in 2021 which I never opened and know nothing about. Remember, we had a single conventional saving account for the last 23 years there, which covered overdrafts...

What's really strange is that right after opening the CD's the checking account balance was depleted twice, and there was no overdraft protection. I had to deposit cash to cover the overdraft.

Thoughts?

The two points highlighted above are the issues that your bank has to explain. They are not congruent with each other and seem to support your assertions that the two missing CDs were requested in mid-March. I suspect you may need to go above your bank's management to get a suitable resolution, perhaps filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

 

[alarmguy]

deleted

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Last spring (mid March) my wife and I moved the funds in our low interest savings to open 3 CD's.
1 In her name with me POD (payable on death)
1 in my name her POD.
And a third much smaller CD in my name with her POD.

Here we are mid DEC and the bank has NO RECORD of the two larger CD's. The funds are, according to the bank, in 2 separate and strangely sized (low interest) MM savings accounts supposedly opened in 2021 which I never opened and know nothing about. Remember, we had a single conventional saving account for the last 23 years there, which covered overdrafts.

The smaller CD has matured now.

Here's the problem, I can't find any paperwork (yet) and it is plausible I left the bank without copies. As I was in a rush to fly to NY that day.

I think the bank did not do what we asked and signed for.

What's really strange is that right after opening the CD's the checking account balance was depleted twice, and there was no overdraft protection. I had to deposit cash to cover the overdraft.

Thoughts?

From my experience as a retail branch employee and branch manager a long long time ago.

Q: Look at your account history for the savings account from which your moved the funds to the CD's. Do you see the withdrawals for all three CD's or just the smaller one?

Personally I would visit a branch to double check what exactly you have on deposit or go online. Perhaps the CS rep was looking at something else or misreading what they were looking at. The branch which opened your CD's should have a signature card on file, at least we did.

I never heard of a coding error like this but I suppose it's possible.

Edit: As far as the double checking account debits are concerned did your statement tell you what they were for?

 

[reemoeMO]

.

 

[Cujet]

The two points highlighted above are the issues that your bank has to explain. They are not congruent with each other and seem to support your assertions that the two missing CDs were requested in mid-March. I suspect you may need to go above your bank's management to get a suitable resolution, perhaps filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

None of it makes sense, although the clues are there. Something fishy happened and I'm shy what I would have earned in interest.

My wife went to the bank yesterday to re-invest her CD and after much confusion, called me. I suggested she take no action, not wanting to be "fooled" twice. I will use a different bank and take your suggestion to contact the proper authorities.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

None of it makes sense, although the clues are there. Something fishy happened and I'm shy what I would have earned in interest.

My wife went to the bank yesterday to re-invest her CD and after much confusion, called me. I suggested she take no action, not wanting to be "fooled" twice. I will use a different bank and take your suggestion to contact the proper authorities.

Was the money for your other CD's deducted from the savings account?

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

I hope the name of the bank doesn't rhyme with Dank of America or Bells Cargo?

Regardless, as soon as this is resolved I recommend firing them.

 

[Astro14]

None of it makes sense, although the clues are there. Something fishy happened and I'm shy what I would have earned in interest.

My wife went to the bank yesterday to re-invest her CD and after much confusion, called me. I suggested she take no action, not wanting to be "fooled" twice. I will use a different bank and take your suggestion to contact the proper authorities.

I would switch banks after that. Many years ago, an investment company, a fiduciary, made a similar mistake. I withdrew every penny.

Long story, but they lost my trust.

And my business as a result.

 

[Pablo]

Holy Roman Empire Man!

That's terrible.

Stick with Fidelity or the like. 100% Clear visibility. You can buy CD's of anytype from anybank. I've even chosen some banks that most never heard of and never had a problem. (Chosen by rate and payment frequency, for example)

I would be livid, unless I'm missing something.

 

[Cujet]

Holy Roman Empire Man!

That's terrible.

Stick with Fidelity or the like. 100% Clear visibility. You can buy CD's of anytype from anybank. I've even chosen some banks that most never heard of and never had a problem. (Chosen by rate and payment frequency, for example)

I would be livid, unless I'm missing something.

You are not missing anything. And I am infuriated. My wife had to take me off of speakerphone when she was at the bank. I am never nasty and don't curse when doing high stakes transactions. But I was saying things that clearly could be heard by other customers. "Why would I ever invest with PNC bank again after being scammed". Etc.

 

[Cujet]

Pablo,

With the account they put my funds into, the 0.02% interest earned could not even purchase a case of Amsoil 5W-30. Whereas what we signed up for was a modest 3.5% CD and the interest on the accounts would have purchased a nice used car. So you could say I'm annoyed....

 

[Pablo]

Pablo,

With the account they put my funds into, the 0.02% interest earned could not even purchase a case of Amsoil 5W-30. Whereas what we signed up for was a modest 3.5% CD and the interest on the accounts would have purchased a nice used car. So you could say I'm annoyed....

They can’t even tell you where the process broke down??

 

[Cujet]

They can’t even tell you where the process broke down??

Not yet. I'll be there in person next week, and we will figure out what happened. AFTER I move my funds out.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Wow, that absolutely sucks. Sorry to hear of your issues. Unfortunately I am not surprised, retail banking is abysmal. The fact you left with no paperwork is suspicions as well, but it could have been an undertrained person clicked the wrong button.

I agree with @Pablo and also recommend a brokerage account. You don't have to buy equities, you can buy CD's or T-bills or money market. I have both Fidelity and Schwab, and Fidelity is superior IMHO - much easier and more intuitive and better tools. Also if you look around the web you can likely find a code for Fidelity to give you money to open an account if you transfer a certain amount in. I think they gave me like $200 to open an account which I was going to do anyway - so free money.

I personally prefer T-bills - becauase I can buy any duration from 4 weeks to 30 years, in $1000 increments, and I don't have to read the fine print. At maturity you get your money back from the United States Treasury. I don't have to worry about the FDIC fund being depleted either.

Hopefully they offer some compensation but if they do I will be shocked actually.

 

[terry274]

@Cujet, if you are in a position to tell us what happened with this bank we are curious. I realize it might be something you don't want to discuss further, if so that is ok.