How are we going to have a usable banking system by 1/1/2000 when there is not a single bank that is finished with its own Y2K project at this very late date? Ditto for electric utilities, telecommunications, etc.?? (Yeah, I know, "they are working on it"....)

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), October 19, 1998

Answers

Because, as discussed in another thread, the lawyers are holding back information the companies could be providing us with. Here is a perfect example.

My 78 year old grandmother is concerened and wanted to know if her bank would be ready. She asked a friend of mine who works there if they were ready, her reply was "Under the advisement of the company lawyer I can only say that we are well into our Y2K program"

So then I thought, this doesn't sound like my friend so I went to see her. I pulled her aside and said "Ok "K" (her first intial only), what's the scoop. Where are you really on Y2K and don't give me the lawyer bullshit". She told me "Honestly, we are done with remediation and we are testing. Chips have been tested, the code is changed and everything is done. The current schedule is ALL testing will be done by March" Why do I trust her? Because she has been a friend of my family for 12 years. I have never known her to be anything but honest with me, and when I asked why she had given my grandmother the bs "I simply don't know her as well as you. Nothing against her, but you I know I can trust, and I am under orders not to discuss this"

She also told me it is just not the lawyers saying they can not crow about where they are, the regulators are also saying they can't. According tot the regulators it might cause some banks to close if one bank was even a month closer than another to completion so they are saying that no one can say exactly where they are, just that they are "working on it".

I am sure someone will try to shoot holes in this, but I know this woman and I do believe what she told me because this is not someone who would pull the company line with me. This bank changed owners twice in the past 8 years. When it from the origianl owners to the second owners she called me and told me to pull my money out. She didn't trust the new owners and saw nothing but problems for me. Someone with that kind of track record I tend to believe.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 19, 1998.

No holes just a comment. Sounds like a real small, friendly bank and a good place to do business. Unfortunately, most of America is in the hands of the mega-banks. You might ask your friend about cash reserves for "runs". You might find your bank shutdown via a "run" because a large urban bank goes up in cyber-smoke.

-- R. D..Herring (drherr@erols.com), October 19, 1998.

Another comment. Lawyers are now advising everyone to give the same 'we're working on it' story. I understand that the way everything is connected to everything else, you can easily be blamed for a problem you were part of, even if the offending bug itself were nowhere near your jurisdiction.

But this also creates a giant smokescreen, so that from outward appearances, your bank looks just like the DoD, where everyone is hiding and hoping the problem will just go away. They too are 'working on it', in an environment where all you can get is blame if you go anywhere near this thing.

When I see industry experts beating each other over the head with the same data (see the power grid thread), I get this sudden urge to go shopping...

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), October 19, 1998.

RD,

They were a local bank, but are now owned by one of the thirty largest banks in the country (I don't mean to be evasive, but as I do not have permission from anyone at the bank to say any of this, I don't feel comfortable saying who they are). My friends comments from her first hand experiance with what is happening in our branch (she is in a postion to know) and from her friends higher up in the company and people in her postion at other banks. I admit this is not a 100% gaurentee, but it did alleviate some of my fears.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 20, 1998.

Re the lawyers and disclosure: Would it make any difference in their forthcoming with information if one approached them from the stance of being an INVESTOR or potential INVESTOR rather than just a peon customer? Any "disclosure" requirements differences?

-- dave bean (bean_d@hotmail.com), October 20, 1998.