Can a company be reprimanded for processing a check by phone on the wrong date?

Question

i authorized a company to process a check by phone dated for the 15th of this month and come to find out the processed it immediately...a full week before they were supposed to. can they get in trouble for that? it doesn't seem right.

Answer 1

no you gave them access to the account.  Sounds like a bill collector.  They have thre right to collect on any debit you owe them.

This is why you never give anyone access to a bank account - always send a check

Answer 2

You'll have to check with the bank's policies, and find out whether the bank prepared and mailed a paper check or whether they initiated an electronic transfer.  

Depending on how they word their processing guidelines, a paper check that is to be processed on the 15th of the month is actually PRINTED earlier, so that it can travel through the mail and reach the payee on your processing date of the 15th.  That's pretty standard for many online banking and Bill-Pay type services, too.

If you were calling the bank to authorize an electronic transaction, and you explicitly told them that the funds transfer was not to be processed until the 15th, you may have a complaint.  Again, it depends on bank policy.  Did you call your local branch, or did you call their 800 number to talk to someone in a processing center somewhere?  You did write down the name of the person you talked to, the date and time you talked, and the transaction code they gave you at the end of the conversation?

You can start with your local bank manager and ask him for assistance.  At the very least, he can get the bank's policies on handling telephone authorizations for paper checks or electronic funds transfers.

You can also call back to the 800 number, if that's where you called to begin with, and ask for a supervisor.  If that supervisor doesn't give you a satisfactory answer, ask them to escalate you to the next level supervisor.  Keep asking to escalate to the next level until you get someone who will explain, in plain English, why your transaction occurred ahead of time.

As a last resort, call the bank's headquarters and ask for the office of the president. You'll probably get his executive assistant, but that's okay.  This person will take the details and pass the problem along for priority handling.  Just be sure you keep excellent notes of who you talk to and when you talk to them.

Good luck.

Answer 3

no it dosn't seem right and they can get reprimanded for it.