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But that's not what happens in practice. A check written on toilet paper would not be accepted for deposit. As a challenge, I'd like to see you do it. Post back with your experience.
It appears - from social media who are more familiar with banking at that bank than I am - he didn't have an account, but was trying to open an account with that check, that couldn't be verified. (Not sure why. signature didn't match? written on a foreign bank and they wouldn't verify authenticity?)
Curious that he still has possession of the check.
First thing, it was not written on a foreign bank, as Dearborn Michigan is not a foreign countruy. From 1972 till I finally retired, I was an investment real estate broker. I handled a lot of checks that were not local, or even in state, and there was never a problem. A lot of them, were a lot more than the one in the story.
And it would have been resolved with a couple of phone calls. 1 to the Realty Firm that issued the check, and another to the bank that issued the check to see if the firm was legitimate, and if the money was there to cash the check and they could get a hold on the funds till cleared. Even then they would have placed a hold on the new account till the check cleared. I have seen this happen exactly that way on many occasions. And with the sale of property, that was not even a large check.
Instead they just took a look at the depositors, and judged it was a fake check, and called the police. I certainly would not want to do business with a bank that was that unprofessional.
The teller may not have been used to seeing a check that large. It would appear to be an odd way to open an account.
We had an incident with a bank several years ago over a check that was ~$11K. That was more money than we had in that particular account so the bank locked up all of our money in that account including the money that was already in there. The check was a from my husband's new employer for relocation expenses as we were moving that month. It was a total pita. Our credit card was through them also and set up as more of a debit card. I think I had less than $100 cash. It took several days to clear. My dh finally got them to agree to release $1000 of our preexisting money after a few days.
It is an extreme overreaction...and abuse of power....to put someone in handcuffs AND their entire family just because you've never seen a check of a certain amount.
The customer was not opening an account, he was just depositing monies into an existing account. According to multiple news sources he has been a customer of that bank since 1999. And according to multiple news sources, the customer brought the sale documents to explain the source of the funds, and had contact information for the bank--which neither the bank nor the police used.
It's a pretty clear case of racial profiling. They arrested someone for having brown skin and a weird-sounding name, and nothing more.
It is an extreme overreaction...and abuse of power....to put someone in handcuffs AND their entire family just because you've never seen a check of a certain amount.
The customer was not opening an account, he was just depositing monies into an existing account. According to multiple news sources he has been a customer of that bank since 1999. And according to multiple news sources, the customer brought the sale documents to explain the source of the funds, and had contact information for the bank--which neither the bank nor the police used.
It's a pretty clear case of racial profiling. They arrested someone for having brown skin and a weird-sounding name, and nothing more.
Unless there is much more to this story, I agree. When I sold my house, I was issued a larger check than the one he had. I went to the bank, gave the check to the teller, she deposited the check without question, informed me of an entirely reasonable hold policy and that was it. The whole transaction took less than five minutes and then I simply went about the rest of my day.
On the surface yes the bank over reacted and the cops had no reason to arrest the family, especially not the child. The bank could hold the entire amount until it cleared.
It is interesting the bank is not apologizing for the incident:
Emprise Bank issued the following statement: ".. We are aware of a situation at the 21st and Woodlawn branch yesterday and can confirm that our team acted in accordance with our policies and procedures. If faced with the same circumstances today, we would expect our team to take the same actions."
Only thing I could think of that would make the bank assume there was something fishy with the check perhaps something was crossed out on it or changed on the check. Or perhaps Mr Ali wanted to leave in a hurry when questions were asked about it.
Friend, you're boot-licking. A check can literally be written on used toilet paper & still be valid. Bankers ought to know that & further, the best "looking" checks are the fake ones.
Sell a car on Craigslist for $1000 more than your asking price & you'll get *beautiful* (fake) checks, complete with water marks, gold seals & thumb-prints & even the president's picture on the face of the check.
There's one way to verify a check, deposit it & wait for it to clear. That's why we allow holds. Call the police after you've confirmed that a check is bogus, not before.
The police in this case are completely unrepentant- they held a family for hours without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. That's wrong.
Pretty much confirms their general policy is in line with what I posted with some exception also as I stated. Starts on page 30 of the PDF
It doesn't say what you said. The first $200 MAY be available the next business day. May is the key word. It also says in some cases which means this is not set in stone.
In our case, they sent us a letter explaining the schedule with which they will release the funds. They explained it to us at the bank and via letter. We did deposit the check with a teller. The check far exceeded $5000. We had never been overdrawn on the account either. There was no emergency either. We waited just over 2 weeks for the full amount of the check to clear our account. It was just a large sum of money. Can't blame a bank for not giving the money away right away. There's so much fraud out there today.
From the disclosure:
"In some cases, we will not make all of the funds that you deposit by check available to you by the
first business day after the day of your deposit. Depending on the type of check that you deposit,
funds may not be available until the second business day after the day of your deposit. The first
$200 of your deposits, however, may be available no later than the first business day after the day
of your deposit.
If we are not going to make all of the funds from your deposit available by the first business
day after the day of your deposit, we generally notify you at the time you make your deposit. We
also tell you when the funds will be available. If your deposit is not made directly to one of our
Page 30
04/2017 04/2017
employees, or if we decide to take this action after you have left the premises, we mail you the
notice by the next business day after we receive your deposit. If you need the funds from a deposit
right away, you should ask us when the funds will be available.
In addition, we may delay the availability of funds you deposit by check for a longer period under
the following circumstances:
• We believe a check you deposit will not be paid.
• You deposit checks totaling more than $5,000 on any one day.
• You redeposit a check that has been returned unpaid.
• You have overdrawn your account repeatedly in the last six months.
• There is an emergency, such as failure of communications or computer equipment.
We will notify you if we delay your ability to withdraw funds for any of these reasons, and we will
tell you when the funds will be available. They will generally be available no later than the seventh
business day after the day of your deposit."
The customer was not opening an account, he was just depositing monies into an existing account. According to multiple news sources he has been a customer of that bank since 1999. And according to multiple news sources, the customer brought the sale documents to explain the source of the funds, and had contact information for the bank--which neither the bank nor the police used.
If he's been a customer since 1999, then it's VERY suspicious for him to be depositing a check for over $150K from selling a house in a state over a thousand miles away.
I hope he gets a lot of money in his lawsuit... you cannot arrest someone for a possible crime, it has to be a real crime.. the bank should not of called the police until the check is proved to be fake, not couldn't verify it was real at the time...
If he's been a customer since 1999, then it's VERY suspicious for him to be depositing a check for over $150K from selling a house in a state over a thousand miles away.
lol you can't be serious. People do that all the time. My parents sold their vacation home in Florida and deposited the check in a totally different state without any qualms whatsoever.
They arrested his wife and kid for goodness sakes. Geez, I just have no words. There's no justification for that type of behavior on the part of the police or bank and you better believe he is going to have a lot more than $150K in his account, when the dust from his lawsuit suit settles.
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