In the midst of a kitchen remodel, Brian Leonard realized that he needed to deposit a check to pay one of his contractors. However, the seemingly simple transaction quickly turned into a rescue operation when Leonard discovered that his bank had “closed” and that his money had allegedly vanished.
As a result of his perseverance and a call to his local television station, the Oakland, California man was able to not only recover his “missing” $33,000 but also came face to face with the growing trend of services such as banks closing their brick and mortar locations or limiting their hours due to staff shortages and the prevalence of online banking.
When Leonard was forced to pay his contractor $33,000 for the work that had been done in his kitchen, the situation became untenable.
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According to KGO-TV, Leonard explained that he needed to transfer money from his Wells Fargo account to his Bank of America account and that he brought a cashier’s check directly to the teller at his regular Bank of America branch so that it would clear immediately, according to the station.
After making the deposit, the teller allegedly told Leonard that the money would be available by the afternoon he returned to the branch, or by the next morning at the latest, according to the news station.
However, according to reports, the money did not arrive that afternoon or the following morning. He called Bank of America the next day to find out what had happened and was surprised to learn that the transaction had apparently never taken place in the first place.
In an interview with KGO-TV, Leonard said the woman claimed there was no record of the transaction. “As far as she was concerned, there had been no transaction at all. None of the participants stated, “We’ll find out where the money is, we’ll make good on it, and we’ll look after it.”
The news got even worse: Leonard was reportedly told that the branch would be closed indefinitely, just hours after he had allegedly made the massive deposit at the bank.
I felt my heart sink into my stomach when I realized that the branch was closed and that the teller who had taken my $33,000 cashier’s check was nowhere to be found. “I had the impression that I had just seen the boat leave the dock and that my money was on the boat.”
So he went to another Bank of America branch and tried his luck there. Apparently, the doors were locked, which caused Leonard to become “very nervous” about the prospect of ever getting his money back due to the fact that he had no further communication with the teller at his usual branch.
He trekked to a third branch, which was open but, according to reports, was unable to assist him. Leonard claimed that the bank’s manager informed him that there was no record of a $33,000 transaction and that there was nothing that could be done to resolve the situation.
Leonard claims that he presented his cashier’s check and deposit receipt to that specific bank manager as proof of the deposit, but that the response was the same.
That’s when he reached out to local media outlets, as well as higher-ups at Bank of America, in an attempt to put things back in order.
According to a Bank of America spokesperson, the original branch where Leonard deposited the $33,000 cashier’s check was only temporarily closed and not permanently closed, which is a common occurrence due to the consolidation of employees and resources, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Newsweek.
In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson said, “We have resolved the issue with our client’s check deposit.” “The deposit was not forfeited in any way. Due to the fact that the cashier’s check was made out to Bank of America rather than the client, the transaction was delayed.
We’ve apologized to our client for the inconvenience and have waived any fees that may have been incurred as a result.”
Bank closures reached record levels in 2021, according to the Federal Reserve. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, a record 2,927 branches closed their doors last year, representing a 38 percent increase over the previous year’s figure of 2,126 branches that closed their doors.
Wells Fargo was the most active bank, with 267 closures, followed by U.S. Bank, which had 257 closures.
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Aside from the pandemic, another factor contributing to the increase in brick-and-mortar avoidance is the fact that more customers are choosing to manage their accounts and conduct transactions through mobile applications or other digital devices rather than in person.