Have y'all heard of this?

This is from Roleigh Martin's listserv. A friend printed it out for me and I thought I would pass it on.

Begin article----

Roleigh:

You may wish to alert your listserv to carefully examine any "stuffers" in with their bank statement. (I usually toss mine without reading.)

I received a fax from a local attorney who is extremely well Y2K-informed. The following "Amendment" to his checking account with National City Bank stated:

"This amends the Rules for Personal and Business Accounts

Effective with your next statement, a special linked savings account is opened with every checking account except for the National City Sweep Account and the National City Asset Management Accounts. At the beginning of each statement period, funds in each checking account that are in excess of a threshold balance as established by the bank from time to time in its discretion, are swept automatically into the linked savings account. If during any statement period the funds in a checking account fall below the threshold balance then the funds in the savings account, if any, are automatically swept back into the checking account to restore the threhold balance. On the 6th such sweep during a statement period all funds in the savings account will be returned to the checking account. You cannot directly access the linked savings account. Each checking account and its linked savings account are treated as a single account for purposes of record keeping and fees. The linkage of the accounts will not affect your use of the checking account. Please note that as required by federal regulation, the bank reserves the right to require 7 days written notice from you of intended withdrawals from any savings account." (Stamped "January 1999").

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess that perhaps this is a measure to reduce expectations of depositors to receive same day large withdrawals from checking due to Y2K concerns.

I went in to the bank armed with questions: No, it was not a new federal regulation--the only federal regulation compliance was that they had to notify customers if there was any change made to their accounts; the new policy was instituted as of January 4th; no, customers would not earn interest from their linked savings account. I was told that several of the major banks had "gotten together" and decided this was a good practice for "administrative purposes."

As you most likely know, most signature cards contain the 7 day policy, but the language generally reads, "on interest bearing accounts". National City Bank does not include that language on the card; however, it does say that by signature one attests to having received the "Rules for Personal Accounts". This document does contain the language.

If this is a wave of bank policy to come, perhaps those relying on the language on their signature cards will not alert their customers as National City Bank did. It might be interesting to find out if anyone else can confirm another major bank instituting the linkage of savings to customer checking.

Sandra Ghost

End Article---

I wonder how many people are going to be able to get to their money when they desperately need it. My husband and I are already operating and mostly a cash basis. Keep your eyes open folks.

-- Sharon in Texas (sking@drought-ridden.com), February 22, 1999

Answers

If they tried to do this to my account (thank goodness that I do not bank there), I would try to find some method to beat them at their own game. Find out what their "limit" is, get my account below that so that funds transfer. Keep doing this and taking out more and more cash so that the "savings" account were empty, and very little was left in the actual checking account. Then I would deposit cash for the checks that I need to write.

Hope my bank doesn't try to do something like this....

-- (cannot-say@this.time), February 22, 1999.

already cash is King. We have had several people (contractors) as in plumbing, electrical wiring, etc., quote us a price and then say very quietly that there would be a 20% reduction for cash. We have used these people before and have never heard this. One that I know pretty well, finally came out and said it was his way of building a cash reserve for y2k that no one would know about...meaning the gov't, I guess. The run is about to start!

You got tenny runners??

-- Taz (Tassie@AOL.com), February 22, 1999.

Simply one more good reason to make a steady series of small withdrawals between now and the time the banks stop all access to cash

-- nota (banker@dollars.com), February 22, 1999.

In a fascist country (Amerika), it' polite to deal in cash.

(Any government bootlickers or those who DGI re government reaming you, look up the definition of fascist. Hitler's Jewish stuff was "merely" a peculiarity of his version of fascism.)

Remember, there is only enough "cash" printed to cover about 1.5% (I've seen estimated of 1.32% to 2%) of demand (checking and passbook savings) deposits. Your (our) monetary system is inherently corrupt and dishonest. Look for other threads regarding the necessity of getting into cash and real goods.

-- A (A@AisA.com), February 22, 1999.

Hello, everyone!

I just have to share this with you all. I have been experiencing a few y2K problems in my neck of the woods. A few days ago I called my automated banking system to get my balance. (You know, you call and enter your acct no. using the keypad on the phone, etc.) I received a fast busy signal so I knew it wasn't working. A few days later I called to check again and it had a recording saying they were "experiencing technical difficulties". By this time I have an inkling that this may have something to do with y2k (I do try to be open minded). Well, guess what? Last night I called and there was a recording which said "we are upgrading our automated system to be y2k compliant". It must be taking awhile because it has been at least a week since in went down. Also, my husband hasn't received his national guard drill check from last drill yet. Has anyone else experienced this problem? I have also been having trouble at work trying to get books from a certain vendor (I work at a library). In this instance it is for a continuation order of books that we want to receive every year such as the Texas Almanac, Guiness Book of Records and a few others. I am getting the royal runaround but I am certain that it has something to do with their "new computer system" because it has to look-ahead to the next year. Sorry to be unloading like this, I am getting a little frustrated because I feel that these people are not being forthright with me. Does anyone else have any stories of personal Y2K encounters?

-- Sharon in Texas (sking@drought-ridden.com), February 24, 1999.