Moneyville

Grandmother's Check

Randy's grandmother from California sent him a check for twenty dollars for his birthday. He deposited the check on Monday and on Tuesday he wrote a check for $19.00 for a set of drum sticks. A few days later Randy received a notice from the bank saying that the check he wrote on Tuesday had bounced (meaning that he had overdrawn his account). Randy was upset.

What should Randy do?

A) Call his grandmother and tell her her check was bad.

B) Call the bank and tell them their math was incorrect because he still had a dollar in the bank.

C) Call the bank and apologize for his mistake.

Answer:

A- Her check was good. Banks usually have a "hold" on a check from out of state; this means they do not cash the check until they verify that there is sufficient money in that account. Sometimes this can take from 3-5 work days to clear. When you make a deposit, ask the teller if there will be a hold on the money.
B- Their math was correct. On Tuesday, his grandmother's check had not cleared; the money was on "hold" until the bank could verify that there was sufficient money in the grandmother's account.
C- Randy realized that he should have waited several more days before writing his check. He knew his grandmother had sufficient money to cover the check but he had to wait for the bank to find that out.