California man deposits $33K check in BofA account, never sees it again as branch closes

The man's first problem was having an account at Wells Fargo. His second problem was having an account at BofA.

I used Bank of America for two months for a job I had to take on the east coast. I was so happy to close my account when it was done. Terrible customer service.

The branch manager who told this customer "No, there's nothing we can do should be fired immediately!"

I made the same mistake six years ago. I transferred money from Wells Fargo to Bank of America and had the cashier's check made payable to "Bank of America" instead of myself. The difference with me is that the BofA teller noticed the discrepancy and had me go back to Wells Fargo with the check to redo cashier's check payable to me. Seeing this story makes me so glad the BofA teller I dealt with had me do that.

That man has a lot more patience and composure then I would have.

I will never bank with them. They do this constantly.

I had a similar experience with a southern California BofA back around 2006. They took my deposited check and it vanished. I went back with the deposit receipt and they told me that it was fake. They claimed that the Teller number doesn't exist who processed the deposit. But when they looked in the computer records they saw the transaction but they still declined to take responsibility. Several days later they eventually claimed the check might be lost at some Nevada check processing facility. The check did finally get processed 2 weeks later. After receiving the good news that the check was finally processed, I went back to the BofA branch to discuss the issue and demand an explanation why they called me a liar. Their branch supervisor and branch manager refused to meet with me. That's when I closed all my accounts and switched to another bank.

i'm so glad his money was recovered. that he even had to go through this is infuriating.

I was a bank teller for three years. If you're getting a Cashier's check or Money Order to deposit into your "other" account, it needs to say "Pay to the Order of YOUR NAME" on it. Never Ever have it in someone or some institutions name unless you're buying a car or actually paying someone else the funds. That is the fatal flaw here as the man found out. The teller that drew up the check should have asked him what he was going to do with it. If he said deposit it in his BofA account, it would absolutely be made out to him, not BofA. Please make a note of it.

If the bank accidentally deposited $33k into his account and wanted to get it back and this man said, "sorry I don't know where it is...there's nothing I can do" he'd be in jail for YEARS!! This system is not fair at all! How is the bank allowed to do that to him?

Worthless bank, you should be banking with a credit union. That's what I did and it solved all my problems.

Bless that man’s heart that had to go through that hardship. I am so grateful that he took the steps that he did, and that Bank of America honored the $33,000.00. I am currently a customer with Bank of America, but I will be switching banks soon.

7 On Your Side, kudos for assisting him.

Bank, “you owe us money” Me ‘I’m sorry, we are temporarily closed, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, thank you for banking with me.”

When a business/ bureaucracy gets too big, individual customers no longer matter.

BofA is the worst bank in the US. I banked there for many years I didnt really have a choice because I lived in a smaller town and the other banks were too small. In the end though I got them and had the last laugh. I moved out of the country and maxed out my credit cards and line of credit; Like 150k. Thanks BofA. I love you

The biggest issue here is the horrible service by the branch manager. That receipt had a transaction no., time ir day, branch no., and likely an identifying number for the teller who processed the check. He could have tracked the status of that deposit in about 2 minutes had he been so inclined or had one of his tellers do it. The manager's behavior was unprofessional and completely unacceptable. He would have been relieved of his job asap had I been his boss. With all of those branches closing, it would have taken less that 24 hours to replace him with one of those branch managers. Clearly BoA is really interested in non-institutional customers, the little guy. Take heed.

I worked at a bank for several years. It makes a big difference when you bank at community banks (or better yet, local credit unions) instead of at faceless mega-corporations.

One side effect of online money transfers is that the likelihood of us forgetting how to properly “write” a check is pretty high. What this depositor did is a case in point: he made the grave error of putting Bank of America under the “Pay to the order of” instead of his name. It remains concerning though that the bank teller failed to catch this mistake.

We were in the process of buying a house for my developmentally disabled sister using funds from her trust account, which was handled by Wells Fargo. The house was brand new, never occupied yet. Wells Fargo demanded $17,000 for a home inspection before they would approve the purchase! Needless to say, they got NOTHING. It seems that when someone else handles your money, they start to act like it belongs to them. What a shameful disservice.