Bank gives check a little bounce by adding some zeroes
Got a letter from my bank the other day.
It said I had written a check that bounced, but my bank’s overdraft-protection program had covered it.
The amount was $800,085.
My brain swelled as I tried to figure how long it would take to repay this debt on a journalist’s wages.
I stopped counting at about 40 years when I realized that I had never written a check for more than a few thousand dollars, much less $800,085.
I called the bank.
My check was for $85, the customer service associate said. It was deposited at another bank where a coding error added $800,000 to its value.
No wonder it bounced.
The coding error was discovered by my bank.
“It’s all taken care of,” she said. “It won’t affect your account.”
I was so relieved I forgot to ask why my bank had nearly put me into cardiac arrest by reporting a mistake that had already been corrected.
My epitaph might have been, “Struck down by a coding error.”
