opened fraudulently, you have effectively, but subtly,
alerted the proper party in time to prevent damage. If the account
is legitimate, the letter will appear as a nice marketing gesture.
Welcoming letters are a good tool to use with new customers of all
types.
Any time an individual is added to an account under
a Power of Attorney or court order, a letter should be sent to the
account address confirming the addition. Signatures on POAs should
be checked against the signature card.
Use caution with emailed requests. You may know
John Doe's email address is johndoecustomer@aol.com, but if you
receive an email request from that address you can't be sure John
sent it. Let's say John and Mary Doe have a joint account. You get
an email from him saying "Please remove me as a joint owner
from the above-referenced account. John Doe." You assume the
email was from him. Oops! Turns out
John left his computer behind when he and Mary separated, and Mary
used it to impersonate him. Always resort to real-world confirmation
of cyber-requests.
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If
an owner of an account orders you to remove an authorized signer,
consider notifying the authorized signer with a courtesy call or letter.
If the owner and the signer have gotten into some sort of nasty dispute
and the owner has not notified the signer that he is being removed,
the signer may unwittingly keep writing checks. If you pay those checks,
you may incur some losses. Ask the owner at the time of the removal
if the signer still has any blank check stock and if the signer is
aware of the change. If the signer still has checks, you may want
to require the account to be closed and open a new one to avoid unauthorized
signature problems.
Simple steps like those outlined above can go a long way toward protecting
your customers - and protecting your bank.
Copyright © 2000 Bankers' Hotline. Originally
appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 10, No. 7, 7/00 (reprinted with
permission from the author)
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