It has come to the point, that I don’t even want to name this Bank in Dickinson, North Dakota where I keep having problems. I have already written two previous blog post articles about this Bank.
At first, when I opened an account with this local Bank in Dickinson more than three years ago, I thought that the customer service was going to be superior to the nationwide Bank, Wells Fargo, that I had become frustrated with in Dickinson. I was wrong.
My first blog post article complaining about this local Bank in Dickinson, was that they were treating me like criminal white-trash when I was trying to open an account. They directly said to me, “We have to perform a credit check on you, before we will allow you to open an account at our Bank.” And when I asked if a debit card came with this checking account, they said to me, “If you get denied for your checking account, you won’t get any debit card.”
I didn’t like hearing this kind of talk. At the time, I had accounts at three different Banks. I had never been overdrawn on an account in my life, never missed a credit card payment, never missed a car payment, never missed a rent payment. Why was this person at this Bank treating me like this?
The second blog post article that I wrote complaining about this local Bank, was when this same person at this Bank told me, that their Bank was not liable for forged or stolen checks. I explained to this person that my understanding was that Banks are liable for reimbursing account holders for forged or stolen checks, otherwise, why would anyone keep money in Banks, and that this is what the FDIC insurance on Bank accounts is for.
I had to spend a lot of my own time researching Banking laws, getting down to reading about the Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency, which regulates Banks. Yes, Banks are legally required to reimburse account holders for “improperly paid” checks, for such things as forged and stolen checks. Why didn’t the person at this local Bank in Dickinson, even know the Banking law? Is this entire Bank, and the Bank owner crooked?
After this, I went and opened an account with the nationwide Bank, US Bank, in Dickinson. I asked the lady that was opening my new account, what was her understanding of the law regarding forged or stolen checks. She replied with almost these exact words:
“At US Bank, if you report to us that there has been a forged or stolen check drawn against your account, we require that you file a Police report immediately about this check fraud and theft. That way, the Police can begin investigating immediately. US Bank will then reimburse you the money that was stolen from your account. US Bank will conduct its own investigation, in addition to the Police investigation. If we determine that there was no involvement or wrong-doing by the account holder in this theft, this matter is closed with the account holder.”
That is exactly what I wanted to hear. The nationwide US Bank was following U.S. Law, whereas the other local Bank in Dickinson was not.
When my father died in April of this year, I was told by the representative of his estate, that I would be getting two large checks, and one smaller check. The first check was to close out his savings account. The second check was to close out his investments. The third check was to close out his checking account, which would be done after all of his final bills had been paid.
I had four different Bank accounts that I could deposit these checks in, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be the Bank that said they were not responsible for forged and stolen checks.
When I did receive the first two checks settling the estate of my father, I called ahead to the Bank manager explaining what I had, and that I wanted to come inside the Bank to complete these deposits. I said that I understood that there would be a seven to ten day hold on these checks. I said to the Bank manager that I did not want any Bank teller asking me where I got these checks, what they were for, or treating these checks like they were fake checks, or stolen checks. The Bank manager cut me off, saying, “No, no, no, no one here is going to do that to you.”
Today, I received in the mail unexpectedly, a check that was partially closing out my father’s checking account, as there were probably going to be no more bills. This check was for a little over $10,000. In order to spread the money out amongst my four different Bank accounts, I wanted to deposit this check into the local Bank in Dickinson that I had had bad experiences with. This check wasn’t for that much money, there shouldn’t be any problem just making a deposit.
I had not expected to be making a Bank deposit today, so when I went to this local Dickinson Bank, I had to ask the Bank teller for a blank deposit slip. I went over to a counter space, and completed the deposit slip for just a deposit of this one check, no money back.
I explained to the Bank teller that I had an account at this Bank, I just wanted to deposit this check, and I handed everything to her. I wasn’t expecting any problems.
Within about one or two minutes of handing this deposit slip and check to this Bank teller, she was on the telephone beside her, saying to me, “I have to verify if funds are available.”
This was not good. I am fifty-one years old now, a Bank teller does not need to make a phone call to determine if “funds are available” on a check that is being deposited. I have never had this happen to me before in my life. Either a check will clear the Bank that it is drawn upon within a period of a few days, or it won’t. Her phone call was more to determine if this was a fraudulent, fake, or stolen check.
I was becoming angry, because this check was clearly printed with the full name of my father and “Attorney At Law”, with his address on the east coast, and it was made payable to me his son, with the exact same name and Jr. My Bank account with this local Bank in Dickinson, has my full name, which is the same full name as my father, but I am a Jr.
The young lady Bank teller was on the phone for five minutes, but she received no response. She asked me what this check was, and I said that it was from my father.
What I became concerned about, besides me being angry, was that this Bank teller was not very smart. If I told her that my father had died, in her Sherlock Holmes detective mind, she would say, “Ah ha! How could your father write this check, if he is dead?”
I would then try to explain, that my father didn’t write this check, it was the representative of his estate who wrote this check to me. “Ah ha!” she would say, “You admit that this check has been forged!”
This young Bank teller went walking around the Bank in search of some kind of manager that could approve the deposit of this check. I asked the nearest Bank employee if I could speak to the Bank manager, I was becoming very angry I said.
There was no Bank manager available. The young Bank teller got back on the telephone, and I heard her say something like this check was suspicious, or that I was suspicious. Meanwhile, the Bank lobby cleared of all employees, and I was expecting the Dickinson Police to arrive at any moment.
I looked at my cell phone, in order to retrieve the email that the representative of my father’s estate had sent to myself and my sister explaining the plans for the distribution of the estate, and the checks that he had planned to send out.
Eventually, an assistant manager was located, by the Bank employees who had evacuated the Bank lobby. I walked back to the assistant manager’s office, and I explained to him that this transaction was just for a deposit of a check from my father. I wasn’t trying to get any cash back, I was just making a deposit. Your Bank teller was acting like this was a fake, fraudulent, or stolen check.
I explained that I knew that this check could take seven to ten days to clear. I wasn’t trying to get any cash back, nor was I expecting for this money to be available. Why was your Bank teller trying to call, supposedly to determine if “funds were available”? You were treating this like it was a fake or stolen check, and I am very angry, and insulted.
The assistant bank manager explained that perhaps the Bank teller was trying to find a way to not have a seven to ten day hold on this check, but she should have explained that she was doing this, or explained that there would be a seven to ten day hold.
I said to the assistant Bank manager, that I shouldn’t have to explain to your Bank teller, and all of the other Bank tellers and people in your Bank lobby within in ear-shot, what this check is for, it is none of their business, but you can go ahead and read this explanation here on my phone, and I handed him my phone.
He walked back out to the Bank tellers with me, he told the Bank teller to process this deposit, it was for the estate of my father. The check was deposited, I was handed the receipt, and I left the Bank.
I was angry and insulted, and this Bank deposit took about 20-30 minutes.
You might want to ask me, why didn’t I just explain all of this to the Bank teller in the first place? For one thing, it is none of her business, and none of the business of everyone standing within forty feet of me who can hear. Next, I realized that this young Bank teller was not very smart, if I had told her that my father had died, she would wonder who wrote this check and who signed it?
Then, since this Bank teller was on the path of being a detective, was she going to become a legal expert too and say, “Wait a minute, did this go through probate?”, “Wait a minute, does your father’s representative have legal power of attorney?”, “Wait a minute, did you pay taxes on this?”
The God damn fucking problem of young Bank tellers asking questions, is that they shouldn’t be asking fucking questions!!!! If a check is payable or processable, do it, don’t try to be a fucking detective!
Dickinson58601 
why doesn’t this blog have a calender side bar with posts in chronological order ? I must scroll through several years of pages to find first post ? thats more annoying than any stupid Twat of a bank teller .
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Ray K,
I don’t know. Most people find my blog posts redundant and repetitious, and don’t want to read very many of them. I only have a few blog posts that I personally think turned out well, are important, are funny, or provide good information: “The Dickinson Dog Park Is A Lawsuit Waiting To Happen”, “Confusion About The Proposed Davis Refinery”, “The Death Of Eric Haider”, “Let Julie Lawyer Be Judged By Her Treatment Of A Disabled Veteran”, “What Happened To Erik Odegaard Is A Tragedy That Is Everyone’s Fault”, “Proposed Rough Riders Strip Club In The Prairie Hills Mall”, “A New Era Of Openness And Tolerance At Dickinson State University”, “Re-Education Camp For Catholics In Dickinson North Dakota”
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As a reader I find it interesting to go back and read the beginnings of the blog. As a late arriving reader I can jump back into the archives then fast foward to current perspective of the Author. Its also fun to read about the events of that particular time and fast foward to see how things played out. But with no side bar I must slow roll back in time and scroll through. Anyway, you have a new reader.
. . . . Cheers from Annapolis Md U.S.A.
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Ray K,
I will look into making my blog easier to search. If you went back and looked at the beginning, middle, and end of my blog, I hope that you are getting a correct picture. I came to North Dakota in 2011 to work in the Oil Boom, none of us out-of-state workers were treated well, we were all gouged and ripped-off, the ND people were unfriendly, mean, and hostile. There always was and is an extreme shortage of women. By 2015 the Oil Boom was over, and I still in my mind hadn’t figured out the oil industry or how to make money in it. By 2018 approx 80% of the out-of-state workers had left ND, and many North Dakotans had to leave the state to have better opportunities. Now, near the end of 2020, due to the very low price of oil, Coronavirus work and travel shut-downs, and the U.S. court ordered shut-down of oil pipelines, many North Dakotans have lost their jobs. Without unemployment compensation and stimulus money they would have already lost their houses, apartments, vehicles, everything.
So what has happened from 2011 through to 2020 is a complete reversal of fortune for people in North Dakota. They deserve it for the way that they treated people and took advantage of people during the Oil Boom. Now, when North Dakotans lose their places to live, have no money, and have to travel elsewhere to find work, they will experience exactly what the out-state-workers who came to ND experienced. How could this retribution be any more perfect?
I am glad to be able to see this, to see everyone get what is coming to them in the end. Even though I never made very much money during the Oil Boom, as the Oil Boom faded away, I began to do better, just by luck mostly. Finally, just as everyone else here who made money during the oil boom began to lose what they had, I finally was able to buy a home, and for once in the past ten years, not worry.
The blog post articles of mine in the past few months and the past few days, are reports of me squabbling and fighting with the local people here. Life here has gotten me down, especially things like not seeing an attractive woman in the past 8 weeks, and not being able to accomplish simple normal tasks like making a bank deposit.
Living here is like being in prison, the people here are not normal, they are rough, mean, ignorant, and uneducated. You are not going to meet interesting people, you are not going to meet enjoyable people, you are not going to have romantic dating prospects, you are not going to go out on dates, you are just going to have to fight these savage, primitive, ignorant people every day.
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I had the same issue 2 years ago when I cashed out my ESOP balance from a previous employer. The lady in her 50s asked me a bunch of questions in public such as “who wrote this” and “what’s this for”.
I’ve so had problems at the Dickinson branch with depositing checks with cash back, they always ask “do you have an account here?”. Bitch I’ve had an account here longer than you’ve been alive and before this bank was renamed in the 90s.
Fuck me they are dumb.
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Rusty,
I have not heard from you in a while, I am glad to see your comment, I am feeling low and exasperated, I feel like normal activities and tasks can’t even be accomplished Dickinson is so dysfunctional.
Here is what I think is happening. Banks have some method of recruiting, previewing, screening, and interviewing new-hires. They are looking for high school graduates with slightly below average or average grades, who will think that the job position and pay is a step up and desirable. They meet the applicants, interview them, and the hiring managers probably already know everything that is going to happen with each applicant: which applicant is flirtatious, which applicant is a party-girl, which applicant is ambitious, which applicant is a trouble-maker, which applicant is an introvert, which applicant has long-term potential.
The bank managers already know that some young lady who is not very intelligent, not very alert, not very observant, is likely going to be the one to tell a blind person that they have to leave their seeing eye dog outside, ask them for their driver’s license, ask them to use the debit card reader and follow the on-screen prompts. The bank managers already know that some of these young ladies are not capable of making good decisions and using good judgement, but the bank managers go off to lunch and leave them unsupervised.
In a moment of being perfectly honest, a bank manager would probably say, this is what we pay, this is what we get, there is no way to change this, we just have to live with it, there is no point getting upset about it, now I’m off to my place at Mossett Bay, have a nice weekend.
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I’m speaking from my personal experience with this blog “author.” He tends to misinterpret what is actually said for what he believe is being stated. And of course the other side doesn’t get to defend themselves because he chooses to remain “anonymous” & lots of privacy laws prevent others from explaining their side of the story.
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In Dickinson,
The two times that I wrote a blog post article complaining that a bank employee told me that their bank was not responsible for stolen or forged checks, two times “someone” has written a comment saying that this specific conversation did not go like this. Since there were only two people present in this conversation, the other person is probably you.
In that conversation, all I needed to hear was, yes our bank is responsible for money that is lost due to stolen or forged checks. I did not hear that. Instead what I heard, is no, our bank is not legally responsible for reimbursing money that is lost due to stolen or forged checks. This was very clear, because I elaborated that I had learned this in high school in business law class, that I had believed this for the past thirty years, and now you are saying that this is not true. I was told at least one more time that no, the bank was not responsible for reimbursing money that is lost due to stolen or forged checks.
You are also the person that gave me the “white trash treatment” when I opened an account at your bank. Since this conversation is between me and you now outside of work, you are way less educated than me, you are way less intelligent than me, you are lower class than me, you come from a lower class family than me, you have not had anywhere near the level of professional employment that I have had, and it is like “Planet Of The Apes”, you being the Ape, when you low-class, uneducated, never-been-anywhere people in Dickinson, who are the white trash, give me the white trash treatment, because you are too ignorant to know better.
The only reason why you have your job at the bank, is because that is all that they could get in this area. In a different state like Florida, Arizona, or Colorado, I don’t even think the you would get hired to work at “Merry Maids” as cleaning woman, because there would be better applicants than you, with a better appearance, work ethic, and attitude. Your bank made a big mistake putting you in the position that you are in, because you are a nasty person, you have a bad attitude, and you have not made any attempt to read, learn, and understand banking law.
Fuck with my account, fine with me, you deserve to lose your job.
But wait, I need to not be ignorant too, this is not really your fault, you just don’t know any better, you are not very intelligent, you don’t have any world experience, you just don’t even know. The managers at your bank, who hired you, trained you, and put you in the position that you are in, they knew what you were like, what kind of background you came from, yet they put you in the position that you are in. The managers who are paid and expected to know and identify people’s capabilities, they are the ones who should be in trouble and take the blame for your unsuitability for your position.
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You clearly don’t know anything about banking after reading this ignorant blog. I don’t work at the bank you are posting about, but have been in banking a very long time. With the amount of fraud and scams that are now going on, bank employees ask questions to ensure their customers are not getting scammed. They try to verify funds to ensure that their customers will be paid. It’s normal practice.
Also, the OCC does not oversee all banks.
Banks have every right to open up an account based off Of results obtained from a credit report check. They aren’t trying to treat you like white trash, they are just making sure the person in front of them is not only who they say they are, but also someone who will handle their account well. It was definitely nothing against you. It was probably just their general practice.
That teller was doing her job. To call her stupid is extremely rude. She was doing what she was trained to do to ensure that funds could potentially be available to you sooner and to ensure their institution doesn’t end up taking a loss.
Not to mention the way you responded to the comment above. You have no idea what that person has been through or their education level. How disrespectful and disgusting of you to talk to them that way. You aren’t better than someone working at McDonalds, someone working at a gas station, someone working at a bank, or someone running a billion dollar company. It takes everyone to make the world go round so I suggest you search deep in that heart of yours and start focusing on how you can be a better person and treat others with the respect they deserve. Maybe focusing on positives and gratitude would fix your crappy view of everything in this world. You seem to be miserable and I pray that you find a way to create happiness in your life.
I’m sorry to hear of the passing of your father. Take care.
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No Name,
There is too much in your comment for me to address at one time, so I will start with a few things:
You stated that you have worked in banking for a very long time. It appears that you having worked in banking for many years has affected your judgement and reasoning. Do you realize that you have replaced professionalism, appropriate behavior, and common decency with treating your bank customers like criminals and thieves?
The fact that your bank and other banks have experienced a great deal of fraud, theft of checks, and forged checks does not excuse your bank from implementing policies, rules, and procedures which inappropriately and unjustly treat individual bank customers like criminals and thieves.
When a bank customer such as myself, who is in his fifties and has had an account with this bank for four years with no account problems, tries to make a bank deposit into his account by a check made payable to him, with no cash back, the bank has complete control to process this deposit and make every verification that they desire, for as many days as it takes, to determine that the check has cleared the bank that it was drawn upon. There is no reason for the bank teller to detain the bank customer and refuse to process the deposit, the bank can take as long as is necessary to verify with the bank that the check is drawn upon.
If you don’t see the absurdity in how this was handled, why don’t banks do this to every customer, for every check that is being deposited into every bank customer’s account? What’s that? Because it would be unreasonable, because it would take too long, because it would be treating every bank customer as if they had a fake, forged, altered, or stolen check? Because bank customers would not put up with this?
The Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency regulates all National banks, that is the banks that have NA following their bank name. This local bank in Dickinson that I have had several problems with became a National bank in 2005.
A recurring problem that I have had in my life, is giving people the benefit of the doubt, not judging people, assuming that people will perform their job, assuming that people have common sense, and trusting people to perform their job. This has been a big mistake for me, again and again. Especially because of what happened at this bank, I absolutely need to make judgments on people’s education level, intelligence, competency, level of employment, and so forth in order to not even get involved with the wrong people in the first place.
What I should have done, especially in Dickinson North Dakota, was not assume that a bank teller was going to be able to process a simple straightforward bank deposit. I should have called this particular bank branch in advance, asked to speak to the bank manager, explained why I wanted to speak to the bank manager if asked why, insisted speaking to the bank manager if refused, then explained to the bank manager that I had an account at their bank, that I was going to make a deposit, that this was not a fake, altered, forged, or stolen check, that I was not expecting to get cash back, that I was not expecting the money to be available for seven to ten days. Then asked what time this bank manager would be able to assist me in making this deposit.
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Why don’t you just close your account if you are so unhappy with this bank? Why don’t you just move out of Dickinson if you are so unhappy with the town? You choose to continue to be angry and miserable by staying in those places/situations. Create your own happiness.
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No Name,
To answer your question, “Why don’t you just close your account if you are so unhappy with this bank?”, there are several things that I want to and expect to be able to accomplish:
I believe that there are probably some competent, intelligent, and knowledgeable people working at this bank that I have had problems with, I need to find these particular bank employees and try to deal only with them. Probably, requesting help from the bank manager of a particular branch, would initiate a series of conversations where the bank manager would realize that I was not trying to perpetrate a fraud or theft, that I was actually trying to accomplish legitimate bank transactions, and that there should not be any reason for this bank branch employees to treat me like a criminal/thief/white trash.
Hopefully, some intelligent manager at this bank that I have been having problems with, will be able to recommend, create, and implement a bank-wide procedure where when a bank customer with an existing account at this bank tries to deposit a check with no cash back, the teller will advise the customer, “Sir, with check deposits over $XX,000, there will be a seven to ten business day hold on the availability of funds, it takes this long for all of the processing procedures that are in place.”, and then make the deposit for the customer. No more bank teller/detective/police officer/legal expert asking questions that are rude, impolite, prying, personal, and none of their business.
A friend of mine did have money stolen from his account at this particular bank due to identity theft in a different state, that involved someone obtaining his full name, date of birth, social security number, and bank account info such as PIN and account number. When he found out that all of the money was gone from his account with this bank, and went in to this bank in Dickinson to report the theft, the first Dickinson employee of this bank that he spoke to said, “Sorry, there is nothing we can do about it.” Do you think that this is right? Why do the employees of this bank in Dickinson keep telling bank customers that the bank is not responsible for money stolen out of their account, when this is not true?
In one of my previous blog post articles complaining about this local bank in Dickinson, I explained about the Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency which is a branch of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, that is responsible for regulating and overseeing all NA, National banks. I listed the OCC telephone number, because their agents do want to hear when NA banks are not following banking law, and they will begin an official investigation.
I want people to be aware in Dickinson, that if a bank or bank employee in Dickinson tries to make up their own rules, which are not U.S. banking law, that they should file a complaint with the Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency, and once an investigation has officially begun, it might be appropriate to ask the OCC if it is O.K. to contact a newspaper or television station in Bismarck to inform the public about the investigation by the OCC so that more consumers are aware of the law and their rights.
As far as why do I stay in Dickinson? Why don’t I just leave? I will probably have to write another blog post article about it.
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