AboutJim Meadows Expertise I can respond to most questions concerning consumer and business relationships with US financial institutions. My expertise touches on deposit and loan issues and particularly on strategies to navigate through bank policies personell and practices. I have a degree in Economics, attended law school, Graduate Shool of Banking, and Commercial Lending and Compliance Schools.
Experience I have twenty years experience as a bank CEO. Most of those years were spent operating a bank focused primarly on serving consumer/retail needs. I helped pioneer deposit and loan products for low/moderate income individuals. I currently serve on multiple bank boards and am Chairman of a Commercial Bank in Atlanta.
Question I went into Citibank where I have an account and requested a cashiers check. My account was debited for the amount requested and I was issued the check which I used for a business transaction. I was later informed that the Citibank Official Check was returned due to "unavailable funds." How could this happen? I thought that cashiers checks were as good as cash. My account is not overdrawn. Can I hold Citibank responsible for this?
Answer Nabou, You use the term cashier's check & official check. They are different. Cashiers checks are drawn on the issuing bank and are typically "good as cash" unless fraud is involved. Official checks can be checks issued by the bank drawn on a second bank and subject to different rules. You can tell the difference by looking at the check face.
You can hold Citi responsible if they acted improperly and caused you harm. You should fully investigate the facts before making demands of the bank. They will likely not respond to a general complaint, only to a specific demand in writing supported by facts (copies, dates,amounts, etc). Jim p.s. Informed by whom?
