I was pleasantly surprised (actually shocked!) to get a letter from my bank admitting a mistake and saying they were going to deposit $1,000 into my account. Woo hoo!
Well…. kinda.
Here’s what happened.
I made a deposit and didn’t realize that the receipt didn’t match the sum of the checks. The receipt was for (a lot) less than I had deposited.
I got the letter a week later. I hadn’t realized there was a mistake so I appreciated the bank making it right by putting in the $1,000.
Today I did my monthly bank reconciliation and discovered the bank incorrectly calculated the size of its mistake – it’s bigger than they thought. They owe me another $100!
Thank goodness for bank reconciliations because that’s the only way I would have known the real magnitude of the mistake (or caught the mistake if the bank hadn’t sent me that letter).
It should go without saying that banks are not perfect. The people that work there are after all, just people. Inevitably, there are going to make mistakes – and not ones that benefit you. These mistakes happen often but many people never figure it out. My mom has had several occasions where checks for thousands of dollars were deposited but never went into the account (despite getting a receipt!). Keep an eye out, speak up when you find errors, and reconcile your accounts each and every month.
If you’re not sure how to do a bank reconciliation (or haven’t heard of it) come learn the simple step-by-step process at our workshops coming up on October 25th and 27th. You’ll learn our complete system, which includes the bank reconciliation. We promise that it’s easier to perform than pronounce. See the In-Person Workshop tab.
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