Patrick Combs - Stories

Bank Error In My Favor: Collect $95,000 / ORIGINAL version.
© 1995 Patrick Combs

"Beating Fear!"

July 6th came and I had an obligation to call Robert Gauge from First Interstate Security. But I had not returned to San Francisco as originally planned -- and I was not planning on giving the money back when I did return.

It was the single hardest phone call I've ever made in my life. I put it off all day, until 10:30 pm at night. Then it took me a full hour to psyche myself up enough to be ready. My God son (a twenty-two year old college senior) and my mother sat across the dining room table in silent support. The last thought in my mind before picking up the phone was a self test: Is this worth being falsely accused with criminal charges? I could just call him and say, 'I'm going to give you the money back,' but deep down, I wanted to stand up for myself.

I picked up the phone and paged him. Then I sat and waited for him to call back. I hated the waiting. I was scared to death. It went painfully, painfully slow..... Then the phone rang. I looked into my God son's eyes and then into my Mother's and then picked up the phone.

I said to him (almost verbatim):

"I'm calling you back as I promised. I'm extending my stay in Boston. And I need to inform you that upon my return I don't intend to give the money back, unless we reach a different agreement. I'm going to explain why.

I've received no official notices from First Interstate making a legal claim to the money. And no one has explained to me why I should give it back. Everyone, except you, has advised me that the money is legally mine. I was told by a First Interstate teller that the check money was safe to spend because a law protected me from it coming back after 10 days. I've been advised that according to commercial paper law, the money became mine when First Interstate didn't serve me with a timely notice of dishonor. And that a check is not made non-negotiable by printing the words non-negotiable on the front.
Now, unless we reach some other agreement I intend to keep the money."

At this point he said in a nice tone of voice, "Where do we go from here?" Up until that moment, he just let me speak. I had imagined that he would explode as soon as he heard me exert that I was going to keep the money and that he would say, "I'm putting a warrant out for you arrest. We can talk in court." But he didn't. He listened, only trying lightly to cut in but quickly turning back when I continued to speak without pause.

I started speaking again.

"I'm upset and I'll tell you why:

* I've been a customer of First Interstate for over 10 years, and instead of calling me and treating me like a customer of over 10 years, right away you called me and treated me like a criminal.
* You chose to freeze my account, even when you knew the money in question was not in my bank account.
* ATM machines confiscated by ATM card and as a result, any time I've wanted to do anything on my vacation, I've had to borrow money from my friends and family. It's humiliating.
* Then after you gave me your word that you'd correct the lock down on my account, an ATM machine ate the bank card my mother uses -- and she uses that card to get medicine and food money from my account. It has left her worrying that her son is in financial trouble.
* You promised me documentation of insufficient funds and instead I got some memo from another bank.

When I finished, Robert (with the utmost respect) primarily said only two things: 1) He apologetically promised to get me an official letter and to see if my ATM cards could be replaced. 2) He tried to politely explain away all of the legal claims I had made to the money. He went from telling me that, although I was quoting from the same law book he uses, none of the laws were applicable because mine was not a check, but an advertisement (apparently he hasn't read the negotiability chapter) -- to telling me that it was understandable that the bank had taken 33 days to dishonor the check because it was an out of state check that had to go ALL the way to Chicago. (He meant by horse and buggy I presume).

The most interesting moment for me came when he asserted, "It's the people who make these check who should go to jail, because they are the ones trying to mislead people." (I agreed with his sentiment, but think jail's a bit harsh. I would like to see this whole thing result in a new rule called, The, 'If You Make It Look Like a Check, You Make It Pay Like a Check' law.)

Robert and I spoke for nearly an hour. He remained throughout, absolutely and incredibly polite. I would calmly and firmly reassert my rights and then he would politely try to explain them away.

To my surprise, he never made any requests of me -- not even demanding to know when I would return. He kept returning to the two things he was going to do for me next. AND, the word 'fraud' or 'criminal' was never used.

Three days later I was in the Boston airport getting ready to fly back to San Francisco. My mother and I had been talking a bit about my plans for dealing with the money and the conversation had made her stressed and weepy. When it was time for me to board the plane, she looked me in the eye and said, "Well, I won't tell you to not do things like this any more, because when you stop taking risks, your life gets boring. Just keep saying your prayers and I will too." I thought about that the whole way home.

Part VI: Henry Bailey"