On June 4, I went to Wal Mart and wrote a check. I was given a slip of paper with my account number, bank routing number, reason 8 for refusal to accept and the 800 number to call. When I called this number, it was answered by a Telechek employee who told me my account was on "hold."
Not knowing what this meant, I asked her to explain this to me. She explained that the hold stemmed from a check I wrote on May 28 for $57.31 and CLEARED the same day (I wrote it early A.M. And it was taken from my account before 2: oo P.M.) She said that on May 29, my bank was contacted and that funds were not avaliable in this account so a hold was placed on my account. This is a check that cleared, was not returned or refused for insufficient funds.
I debated this with her for several moments, knowing there was enough money to cover the check. She put me on hold while she contacted my bank and when she came back on the line, told me the hold was removed and that I could present Walmart with the check again.
At this time, I told her I did not understand what initiated the hold in the first place if the check they reported caused the hold had cleared before they checked my balance the following day. She explained that the computer randomly selects accounts from check writers and does a account check to confirm that money is avaliable in the checking account. I stated at this time that the funds were there when the check cleared and even if they weren't, I do have overdraft protection that would protect both of us from any loss of money. I further stated to her I needed to contact my bank to see what was going on and she stated that the bank could not help me because they did not refuse the check.
Nevertheless, I still could not comprehend this policy so I asked to speak to someone else that could maybe explain it better. I did try to be calm and this lady was getting frustrated at me because I was not understanding the whole mess. After a 7 minute wait, a supervisor came on the line and explained the situation to me again (yada, yada, yada) and I still do not understand their policy of putting a hold on someone's checking account.
I understand merchants need to be protected from bad checks and their number one goal is to not lose money but this company has put a new twist on the invasion of privacy. How can they contact my bank and ask for privileged and personal information? I could understand contacting the bank to see if the account was in good standing but to actually have access to my balance on a random whim SHOULD be a violation of my rights.
Tammie
Vance, Alabama
U.S.A.
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