Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Arkansas

Checking account

My son went to the bank to draw money from a loan he had made. The money was deducted from my and my husband checking, without our knowledge of what was going on. They had his savings account number on the receipt ticket but had drawn the money from our account. Therefore, our checks started being returned for insufficient funds. The bank says they will not replace our money unless we sign papers filing criminal charges against my son. The teller made the mistake. She also invaded our privacy by giving our money to someone else without checking to see if he was the person whose name was on the account. The total loss was $1,400. Does the bank have the responsibility of replacing our mone and paying for all fees involved in the returned checks? Is it my responsibility to give them information on my son or is it theirs to go after him?


Asked on 10/17/98, 1:47 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stuart Williams

Re: Checking account

Whoa ... the total loss was $1400, you say. That was

the cost of the fees involved with the returned checks?

I think you've miscalculated the actual loss.

Bank is full-o-bull that you must sign papers filing criminal

charges against your son, if indeed they had the loan account

number on the withdrawal slip and they made the error of taking

it from the wrong account. But it isn't free money, either; if

he got it from the wrong place, he must give it back to you or

to them or whatever, probably taking it from the loan account

as originally intended, probably. I'm still a little unclear

on your facts, so I can't say for sure what should happen, but

you may not say to yourselves, "the bank gave him $1400 by an

accident so now he can keep that, not have it show on his loan

balance, and we still get to have our checking account put back

where it was!" In banking errors, no one is supposed to be able

to walk away with anything extra to keep forever for free.

I can't believe for a moment that you want to let them "go after"

your son themselves. You deal with your son or have him go to them

or write or send them whatever it takes to straighten this out.

That's mostly people advice, but it's grounded in UCC laws governing

the handling of checks etc. Still, if you're going to try to get

something out of the bank that they're not willing to give willingly,

do hire a lawyer. There are a lot of options for a lawyer to get some

recovery for the consequences of their teller's error.

Good luck.

Stuart Williams

Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams

21 Walter St.


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Answered on 12/30/98, 2:36 am


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