Bounced a Check After Teller Gave Balance

[prynceton]

State: South Carolina
2-Counties

On 1/12/12 at 3pm EST I had a made a secured credit card deposit for a credit line using my checking acct and routing #.

The next day I had not checked my account by the time I made it to my bank but needed to withdraw money at 12pm. Beforehand I asked the teller to check my balance to verify my account would handle the funds.

He said that they would and that all financial activity had already gone through. I then proceeded in checking online everyday for any issues with my account.

On the 18th I received a letter from my bank that my account had a returned item fee for the secured credit I had originally purchased.

I waited until I could verify and establish everything else besides my bank's activity and then on the 23rd I sat down with a tape recorder and spoke with the bank who couldn't tell me:

1-Why the teller couldn't see the withdraw request from the other company and also admitted that most of the processes a teller would not be able to see occurring. Who do I ask then if not the teller my account activity when I withdraw?

2-Why they ran my credit and repeatedly lied or attempted avoid the fact that they had until I produced my credit report. (By this time a regional account rep was on speaker with us giving the same story)

3-When asked what their deposit and withdrawal procedures were repeatedly they circumvented or outright said they couldn't explain it as they don't know

4-Tell me why my online account did not show the returned item, as I selected paperless per the personal banker's advice, till the 17th and even shows that the event occurred on the 17th

5-When asked exactly what time the transactions occurred they said they would have to perform an investigation into the account to acquire a possible time stamp.

To boot, they charged me $25 to close my account with them. I've been looking for regulations regarding time stamping of financial activity as both institutions say they don't keep the exact time a transaction is made just the date and I find this hard to believe as in my line of work I frequently must time stamp when insurance or finances are involved.

I planned to take it to small claims court this Friday if not resolved but was hoping for some factually backed advice on the topic also. Looking in particular if financial institutions are required to maintain exact time stamping for financial actions.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You asked for your balance as of a particular point in time. If the teller looked up the balance in your account, the computer said $X, and the teller told you that amount, then the teller did exactly what you asked. The teller's statement that "all financial activity had already gone through" refers to activity the teller knows about via the computer - if an unprocessed debit does not yet appear, the teller won't even know it's out there.

It is your responsibility to be aware of your outstanding checks and debits, and to not make debits that exceed your account balance. If you keep track of what goes in and what goes out, this type of thing won't happen.

Every bank will tell you that the online banking system cannot be relied upon to have up-to-the-minute information, so if the website interface to your account didn't have to have up-to-the-minute information that's no surprise.

If you want to know what the teller could have seen or why this particular debit was not detected, have a meeting with a bank manager to discuss the issue.