Several weeks ago, I deposited a check from my (former) landlord that was to be a return of my security deposit. A couple of days later, I noticed that the amount had been deducted from my account (along with a service charge) because the check had been returned by the other bank, with stop payment as the reason. I emailed my landlord, who got back to me right away, saying that he had no idea why this had happened and he would check into it. He has checked and as far as he can tell, the check went through - the amount was deducted from his account and not returned. I’ve checked with my bank and they are clear that the check was returned. They’ve sent me the copy of the check that they received (no real checks any more, I deposit with my phone). I forwarded it to the landlord and asked him to call his bank, and I asked my banker to start an investigation (I hope that they can do this).
Does anyone have any idea why this might have happened? The landlord is a very nice guy, a doctor who rents out the house his family used to live in. He’s certainly not lying about this. How could the bank have implemented a stop payment without his instructions, and then not even returned the money to his account?
Computers. Or the doc made a mistake and meant to stop a different check, but stopped this one. I’d assume his bank will get to the bottom of it. I’m mulling whether you should ask for a new check from him (maybe you did).
I haven’t asked for a new check, because the money has gone out of his account. I can’t imagine that he stopped a different check, he is baffled about this.
Does his online bank account access show the check image? How does it compare to the check image that you see of the returned check (both front and back)?
Good question - I’ve sent him the check images that my bank received. There is some added printing on the back that I think was put there by his bank. I’ll ask him to compare the check image he sees with what I sent him.
I believe him. He’s been completely honest and straightforward during the 18 months I rented from him. Besides, the penalties for not returning security deposits on time in my state are so severe that some landlords don’t even take security deposits. The security deposit return is now overdue, and he could easily be assessed triple the amount if he were pulling shenanigans.
OP - You said this happened several weeks ago; you need to ask for a new check ASAP. Type a letter explaining what happened with copies of whatever documentation you have. Include a note from your bank. Send it to him priority mail with tracking so you have proof of delivery.
It isn’t your problem if the money has been withdrawn from his account - you haven’t received it due to payment being stopped. If he was being honest with you, this would have been resolved already.
I would say the most likely thing is that someone else stopped payment on a check from their account and the numbers got mixed up and it ended up being this check from this account. That or the landlord is totes lying about not stopping payment himself for some reason. You may have to push them, but the banks can figure this out.
I once had a savings account at a bank which suddenly had a withdrawal I had not made. I called the bank to ask why and they found that another client with the same name had overdrawn her account so they took it out of MY account. I closed my accounts there in a hurry, since apparently having the same name as another client meant that my money was hers.
Thanks for the comments; I will ask for a new check if this isn’t sorted out tomorrow.
I don’t see any way that the landlord could have stopped payment. the rules about security deposits are clear; if a landlord wants to keep part of it then he has 30 days to document the damage and cost of repairs. the 30 days were over a month ago and, in any case, there was no damage. So he couldn’t just decide now not to return the security deposit.
Since the law in your state is so strict, this is actually his problem now. Regardless of how it happened, you have not received your security deposit. You need to send him a friendly letter saying that the end result of whatever happened (include documentation with screen shots) is that you have not gotten your sec dep back and that he needs to write you another check. Be nice but firm. He’ll have to figure out on his end what happened.
His bank has to track what happened to his account once it left his account. It seems very strange that that bank paid out on a ‘stop payment’ check.
He needs to write you a new check, including the fees your bank tacked on, and he needs to deal with his bank. His bank will have to pay the fees if he didn’t stop payment. His bank may also be liable for the 3x amount that he now owes you, so they should pay fast so that you don’t file a suit.
Was a comptroller and then the treasurer for a small church once. And during those years, i saw quite a few mistakes made in church account by the bank, a national bank. I had to bring the clear checks and the bank’s statements to the local branch to show them the discrepancy for them to correct (some were just a few cents, but still some stupid mistake). Anyway, I think that could be an error happened between the banks in OP’s case. If you can’t solve the issue, bring the document to the higher level/or asking banking expert. If you still can’t solve the issue with both the banks. you should look for regulatory agency. Banks are highly regulated, so if you can show the documents from both you former landlord (showing his check was cleared on the back with your account number (of your bank) and your returned check copy and write a letter with a copy of both documents to the right government entity,
Someone used our church to get some load from a bank (identity thief), and the church reported it to the police and did all the proper required procedure, but the lender instead of taking the thief (the person actually had his own address on some of the load application), it sent non stop billing, interest, penalty statement for many, many months.The church treasurer at that time and I sent many letters to the lender to no avail, and still receive tons of threaten letters, until the treasurer found federal regulation on the right of identity thief’s victim and quote the law and sent to the lender to request to stop mailing us. This time with the right quote of law, the lender never sent us one single statement at all. I had similar experience with AT&T which switched us our phone service with our knowledge, and our many phone call to its “slamming reporting depart” with voice mail let had never been responded. But when I report this online to FCC with documentation, within one or two day, we received refund and switch back from AT&T right away when FCC contacted it. Just my experience.
Once, i made a deposit but noticed it was never credited to my account. I brought in the bank receipt showing the deposit and they said, “whoops” and moved the money they had erroneously credited to another acct (I happened to know the guy) —moves the funds back to my acct.
No idea how often this happens but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s not uncommon.
Years ago, instead of an entire paycheck being deposited to our account, the amount was withdrawn from our account and deposited in the employer’s account. We both used the same bank. It was user error on the part of the teller. It caused quite a problem for us!
The landlord found out what happened. Apparently his bank did not pay the check because they thought it was fraudulent - why? Because he had changed my address from his rental to my new house. He is sending a new check.
If I were he, I would be asking (1) why did they not replace the money in his account during the 3 weeks since they stopped the check and (2) if they thought that someone fraudulently accessed his online account/bill paying service to change my address, then why didn’t they investigate that, or at least inform the landlord that his account had been compromised?
Not my problem so I won’t worry about it. His bank is Citibank if anyone is interested.
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions, and horror stories!