Part 3

Always make out your own Deposit Ticket. The Receiving Teller should not be asked to do this. There are generally other people in line, and they, as well as the Teller, have a right to complain if he has to stop and do this for you.

List your money separately as gold and silver, and, in entering your checks, write against each amount the name of the Bank drawn on, and the town, as plainly and briefly as possible. Then add the various amounts and hand the slip to the teller.

When depositing currency arrange the bills so that the ones and twos will be together, the fives together, the tens together and so on. Have the bills straight and face upward. With the gold and silver follow the same idea. If your deposit is large put the money in packages and label with amount and your name.

By following these directions you will put the Receiving Teller under everlasting obligations. He has a very short time in which to accomplish a great deal, and his position at best is nerve racking.

In endorsing a check, either simply write your name on the back, or write "Pay to the order of ---- Bank" and then sign your name. When a check is undoubtedly intended for you, and your name is not stated correctly on its face, endorse it exactly as it is made payable, and then endorse as you generally do. For instance, if a check intended for Brown Bros. & Co. is made payable to Brown Bros., it should be endorsed first Brown Bros., and then Brown Bros. & Co.

Checks should be deposited or cashed promptly. You have only until the next succeeding business day in which to collect, or deposit for collection, any check. If you hold a check longer than forty-eight hours, and the bank on which it is drawn should fail in the meantime, you have released the drawer and must take your chances with the other claimants against the bank. For this reason the banks send out all checks deposited with them for collection on the same day, or the next succeeding business day; otherwise they have released both the drawer and the endorsers, if the paying bank should fail or any loss should result by reason of their delay.

Checks drawn on banks in the same town, and which are deposited after the clearing hour, are held over at the depositor's risk, until the next day.

YOUR ACCOUNT ON THE BANK'S BOOKS

There is no mystery about bank bookkeeping. It is about the simplest known. The total amount of your deposit is added to the balance you already have in the bank; then the total amount of your checks, that reach your bank that day, is deducted; the result is your balance.

Right here it is well to emphasize that the great majority of the banks keep no record of the names of the parties from whom you receive checks which you deposit; nor do they keep any record of the names of the people to whom you make your checks payable.

When you deposit a check, the only record generally kept by the banks is the date that you deposited it, the amount, and the town in which it is payable. If it is on a bank in the same city, your bank will keep a record of the name of that bank, but not otherwise.

In handling thousands of checks daily, it can be seen what a stupendous task it would be for a bank to keep a complete record of the drawers and all the endorsers on every check. Its force of clerks would have to be doubled or trebled.

The bank should not be expected to keep your private memoranda, and it is the duty of the depositor to keep a complete record of the parties from whom he gets the checks that he deposits or cashes.

If a check is lost in the mails, the bank has a perfect right, after giving the depositor the amount, the date on which it was deposited, and the town in which it was payable, to charge the amount to the depositor's account until he furnishes a duplicate of the lost check. So, if you cash a check drawn by John B. Smith, for example, and payable to James A. Jones, and then endorsed by several other parties; it is your duty, and not the bank's, to keep a record of the person from whom you received that check, and obtain a duplicate if it is lost before reaching its destination. Also with all other checks which you deposit or cash.

Many retail firms cash checks for customers; and after endorsing, will deposit them for collection; keeping absolutely no record of the sources from which they received them. For example,--Mrs. Brown, of St. Louis, receives a check from her son in Cincinnati. She gets it cashed at the dry goods store with which she deals. Then the merchant deposits it, with numerous other checks, in his bank for collection. If the check is returned unpaid, the bank certainly has a perfect right to call on the merchant to pay it. The merchant then calls on Mrs. Brown to pay him. Now if that check is lost in the mails, say burned in a railroad wreck, the bank has the same right to call on the merchant for a duplicate. And it is no valid excuse for him to say that he has no record of the person from whom he received it.

In short, each person endorsing a check should keep a record of the person from whom he received it, or for whom he endorsed it.

On the last business day of every month your statement is made up and you should call for it as soon after as convenient. Then you should assort your canceled checks according to the dates or numbers of same, and compare them with the stubs in your check book. This is very important in order that you may detect any forged or raised checks and promptly inform your bank. If such checks are not reported to the bank in a reasonable time, you will have to stand the loss. The total amount of the checks not returned by the bank should be the exact amount of the difference between the balance as shown by your check book and your bank book. For example,--you give a check on the last day of the month; it does not reach your bank until the first, second or third day of the next month. It can not be charged to your account until it does reach your bank; therefore, the bank's statement will generally show a larger balance than your check book. The difference is the amount of checks that are out.

Banks do not like to tell the amount of your balance over the telephone. They can not identify you "over the 'phone," and some person, who has no business to know, may be inquiring into your affairs. For the same reason they do not like to state the amount of your balance to any one in person, unless you authorize it. That is a confidential matter between you and the bank, and they make this rule for your protection as much as their own.

STOPPING PAYMENT OF A CHECK

If, for any reason, you desire to stop payment on a check, communicate with the paying teller as quickly as possible. Give him a full description of the check, the name of the party to whom it is made payable, the number, the date, and the amount. Then always confirm this action in writing. If, after examination of your checks, the bank informs you that this particular one has not been paid, you can safely issue another, if desired. Inform your bank, however, that you are issuing a duplicate, and write the word "duplicate" across the face of the check.

VII

HOW THE BANK COLLECTS THE CHECKS YOU DEPOSIT

When your deposit is handed in to the Receiving Teller, he assorts the checks you give him into "foreign" and "clearing" items.

The "foreign" items, that is, checks or drafts on banks in other towns, are then passed on to the route clerk. He, in turn, assorts them so that they may be sent to the banks that will collect them for the least possible cost. For instance, if your bank is situated in the middle West, the checks you deposit on the far West will be sent to a Chicago or St. Louis bank. Checks on Eastern cities, except New York possibly, will be sent to Philadelphia or Baltimore. Checks on nearby towns probably will be sent direct to banks in those towns. The reason for not sending checks direct to the towns on which they are drawn, is, that often they can be collected much more cheaply by sending them through other large cities.

The less expense your bank incurs in collecting, the less it will have to charge you. The depositor should understand that the bank's charges for these collections are figured at about cost.

It is a fact that an examination of this account on the books of any city bank almost invariably will show that it is a source of loss rather than profit. In other words, the city banks really charge their depositors less than it actually costs for collections on other towns.

The "clearing" items, that is, checks on banks in your own town, are passed to the Clearing House clerks. The collection of these checks through the Clearing House, and the operation of that institution, are next explained.

VIII