OP this will be a pain but they should refund any fees you incur for overdraft. It’s their fault and their problem. Sure this can happen with checks but it can also happen with your debit card so there’s not a lot you can do about it.

FYI, the exact same thing happened to me about a month ago, except thr amount was $17,000, and I only had that much money in my account because I had a big tax bill coming due that was set up to be paid by ACH. I write almost no checks, only to my cleaning people and the occasional handyman, but mobile check deposit has increased the problem. I suspect my cleaning lady deposited a check and then tossed it in her garbage or recycling without shredding it, and it had all of the information somebody needed to make a fake check. It was deposited, not at Bank of America, which is my bank, but Chase. BofA has been good about helping me fix it, but I still have all sorts of things like the $35 charge from WSSC for a payment that didn’t clear. They won’t reimburse me for that. And it wasn’t their fault - it was Chase!

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the heads up. I recently started paying by Zelle. Not sure if that's standard with all checking accounts. I don't believe your routing and account number are shared, so hopefully this is a safer way to pay for things.

Zelle has a huge fraud problem.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/business/payments-fraud-zelle-banks.amp.html

Anonymous wrote:First of all, why do you have $12k in a bank account?

Put that in another type of account to make you more in interest!

Secondly, no more checks, you grandmas and grandpas!

If they won't accept an online payment, find another company/service. It's 2022 not 2002.

I find DCUM posters who don’t bother to read the posts and then comment supremely annoying.

As I said, before, I am a freelancer and often get large deposits. I don’t get a “regualr” paycheck.

Also, I have bills. I pay my mortgage, my mother’s AL payment, and that alone adds up to 8.5k a month.

I don’t need to have a reason why i had 12k in my bank. It’s a bank. It’s supposed to be safe.

I did nothing irresponsible so stop trying to blame me. Yeesh.

Anonymous wrote:Wow thanks for this PSA!

In Europe people routinely give out their bank account numbers for people to transfer money in without problems, I don't know why we have such an insecure system here.

Europe uses the SEPA system and bank account numbers can only be used to send money to, not withdraw money from. So who cares if someone has your number -- they can only give you money, not take it away.

The US uses ACH, which allows both directions of transactions, since it was designed for an earlier era. There is a new version of this on the way, but it'll be years, partly because we have 10,000+ banks that would need to ugprade their systems, and it's a massoive undertaking.

Remember when your creidt cards didn't have a "chip' in them? That was a 2-3 year effort to get all those upgraded, and I still now and then come across a point of sale system where I need to swipe.

We pay everything we can on CC and then pay that and the mortgage electronically from a money market. Our regular checking account never has more than $1k in it and usually less.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First of all, why do you have $12k in a bank account?

Put that in another type of account to make you more in interest!

Secondly, no more checks, you grandmas and grandpas!

If they won't accept an online payment, find another company/service. It's 2022 not 2002.

NP here. How else do people handle their liquid cash if they don’t keep it in a bank account? DH and I automatically transfer portions of our paycheck to savings (on top of retirement savings pulled out before paycheck deposit). But we still have to have the remainder of our paycheck deposited somewhere. It’s easily 18k/month getting deposited into our checking account that is used for mortgage, credit card*, childcare, bill, etc. payments. Where should we keep the money that we need to spend for living if not a checking account?

*We put most purchases on our CC for points and fraud protection, then pay it off from checking each month. Things like mortgage and preschool can’t be paid on a CC so we need that cash each month.

Notice that no one is answering your question. There isn't an option.

Anonymous wrote:Wow thanks for this PSA!

In Europe people routinely give out their bank account numbers for people to transfer money in without problems, I don't know why we have such an insecure system here.

Because the banks are in control in this country. It is almost impossible to pass legislation that is pro consumer in the US. Debit cards are a very bad idea for consumers and yet we have them. Decades ago there was a big push for banks to add photos to credit cards but the banks shut that down. Banks don't care if there is fraud. More cards to more people and more debt. This is what makes money for the banks. Credit card fraud hurts the consumer a lot and the bank barely.

Thanks for the heads up. I recently started paying by Zelle. Not sure if that's standard with all checking accounts. I don't believe your routing and account number are shared, so hopefully this is a safer way to pay for things.

Anonymous wrote:First of all, why do you have $12k in a bank account?

Put that in another type of account to make you more in interest!

Secondly, no more checks, you grandmas and grandpas!

If they won't accept an online payment, find another company/service. It's 2022 not 2002.

NP here. How else do people handle their liquid cash if they don’t keep it in a bank account? DH and I automatically transfer portions of our paycheck to savings (on top of retirement savings pulled out before paycheck deposit). But we still have to have the remainder of our paycheck deposited somewhere. It’s easily 18k/month getting deposited into our checking account that is used for mortgage, credit card*, childcare, bill, etc. payments. Where should we keep the money that we need to spend for living if not a checking account?

*We put most purchases on our CC for points and fraud protection, then pay it off from checking each month. Things like mortgage and preschool can’t be paid on a CC so we need that cash each month.

Wow thanks for this PSA!

In Europe people routinely give out their bank account numbers for people to transfer money in without problems, I don't know why we have such an insecure system here.

Anonymous wrote:First of all, why do you have $12k in a bank account?

Put that in another type of account to make you more in interest!

Secondly, no more checks, you grandmas and grandpas!

If they won't accept an online payment, find another company/service. It's 2022 not 2002.

What a supremely unhelpful and unpleasant post.

First of all, why do you have $12k in a bank account?

Put that in another type of account to make you more in interest!

Secondly, no more checks, you grandmas and grandpas!

If they won't accept an online payment, find another company/service. It's 2022 not 2002.

Anonymous wrote:With this type of withdrawal, the cash (like the chunks if 100 dollar bills) might have the serial numbers recorded. It might be traceable if this money ever turns up in, for example, a crime scene/drug bust/or other.

Def. file a police report and fraud claim on your own. Yes, I know you said the bank filed a fraud report but was it with just an internal filing?

The bank doesn't record serial numbers of cash like this. I withdraw large sums routinely from Capital One and they don't make any notes of it.

With this type of withdrawal, the cash (like the chunks if 100 dollar bills) might have the serial numbers recorded. It might be traceable if this money ever turns up in, for example, a crime scene/drug bust/or other.

Def. file a police report and fraud claim on your own. Yes, I know you said the bank filed a fraud report but was it with just an internal filing?