Large Bank Finished Testing, Testing Showed Major Problems, But They Quit Because They're Out of Money

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Just got off the phone from talking with an old friend I have known for 12 years and trust completely. For the last year, he's been working on Y2K remediation for a large New York City bank. I am not going to name the bank because I care very much about my friend (almost married him), and don't want him to lose his job. I've been posting on this board for some time, though, and I've given a real email address, so take that for what it's worth.

My friend tells me that this bank, for which he worked as part of a consulting team, recently finished remediation and testing. At first I was impressed because I thought that meant proof a bank was ahead of schedule. He then went on to tell me that the testing proved that the remediation was not a success.

"Major problems?" I asked.

"Major problems," he said.

"If you were to name a percentage," I then asked him, "how far are they along in completing their remediations?"

"75%," he said, "Maybe closer to 80%."

"Are they going to be done in time?"

"That depends," he said.

"On what?"

"On whether or not claiming to the SEC that you are 99% compliant means you're done."

The bank has run out of money for remediation, my friend told me. They won't be doing any more work.



-- CD (CDOKeefe@aol.com), August 12, 1999

Answers

CD, thanks for the post. Pay no attention to the TROLL posts that are likely to follow.

The gravity of this kind of anecdotal information should not be underestimated.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 12, 1999.


I doubt that they have run out of money. More likely, they realize they've run out of time, so budgeting more money is futile.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), August 12, 1999.

As tantalising as this information may sound, it is, alas, anonymous and therefore unverifiable. Of course, so is much of the good news.

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), August 12, 1999.

Of course your going to say I am a troll for posting, so I might as well go under the TROLL id. Anyway, why does every doomer, psycho, scare story sound like cheap dialog in a soap opera.

Doomers need something to feed off of, so we get posts like the one above. Y2K is a problem, but its proving to not be big enough for the nut jobs, so they have to scare themselves more each day.

-- Troll (Troll@troll.org), August 12, 1999.


This happened to another bank. We heard about it on csy2k Tuesday night. They've gone manual. Hafta look up the log on the chat, lessee, Standard Mortgage Bank in Beaverton, Michigan. "Our mortgage company told us they are hand recording all payments they get in ... scary ... They said they gave up on trying to fix y2k...Well we didnt know it till I called and asked WHY the checks were being cashed so late? Even thought they recorded them on the 3, 4 or 6th ... The ladt put me through to the manager ... that is what he told me ... they don't have the tons of bucks to upgrade. He said that as long as the post mark is on the envelope and it gets here by the 15th I can be assured of prompt posting to my account."

There you go, word for word, bank name and location too.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 12, 1999.



Troll, we'll have our answer VERY soon!!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 12, 1999.


There's more startling info if anybody is interested.

Log 8/10/99

Y2K & Chat Room Archive Center

@}->-- 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 @}->-- 3~0 3~0 3~0

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 12, 1999.


CD: I just got off the phone with my sister who works for a large property management company in San Francisco. Across from her office is large mortgage company that deals mainly in commerical property. She saw the President of this company today and asked how business was. He said "not good." She asked what was going on. He said things were beginning to slow way down. She asked him why because she thought business was booming. He said that it was because of Y2K. Y2K? Yes, he said, our large company customers have run out of money because they are trying to get their computers in order and they don't have any money left to reinvest for expansion, he said things were beginning to tighten up. My sister agreed with him because several of their best clients have vacated to cheaper rental.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 12, 1999.

P.S. I'm not anonymous, you all know me here.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 12, 1999.

Ashton and Leska, just panned the Caton log from 8/10/99. A real eye opener!

Beano, calling Beano, please read this log. Some serious discussion on the readiness of mortgage companies.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 12, 1999.



Yep, Ray; actually the beginning of that one has MAJOR implications. They're all full of important insider info. We posted invites to the Chats on this Forum but not many show up ... it's invigorating and you can ask and learn much quickly. Glad you're out prospecting Y2K nuggets, Ray :-)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 12, 1999.

CD, since I always read what you post I know you're sincere : )

Anyway, we speculated about this earlier this year. Work would be done in an all out effort, money would be spent, but eventually for some it there would come a point where the reality of not finishing in time would hit. In essence, it's cut the losses time. It's fix on failure time. Seems logical, really, especially since it makes no sense to continue to dig a hole when the work will not be finished.

Also, regarding the ripple effect of money being reallocated for Y2k priorities. This makes perfect sense as well. If money is tied up in plans to ensure business continuity then you can bet that a company isn't going to pursue other ventures or upgrades, etc. Penny wise and pound foolish. Plus, that business is only trying to guarantee they continue to exist, they aren't growing their business and THAT has major implications in and of itself.

This snowball is rolling folks and it's getting bigger. Stuff we talked about a year ago is happening now and I don't feel too comfortable about it.

I want this stuff to go away.

Mike

=======================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), August 12, 1999.


CD, I was suprised to see you post this, as I have seen you take the polly side on most threads. Thanks.

I also noted on the deBunkery tonight that CPR is calling your post "an out-and-out HOAX".

-- a (a@a.a), August 12, 1999.


Oh good! This will be an EASY one to follow up on after January...you just can't hide a large NY bank going "toastal" without it being all over the NY Times...will be anxiously awaiting headlines! Large bank - no money....hmmmm, go figure. Regards,

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), August 12, 1999.

Fact-Finder--When corporations and private investors start scrambling for money to cover interest on their loans, you won't have to look far. As a matter of fact, you may not have to wait until January for this to happen, I predict in October you will see some real banking default headlines everywhere. Hey, just a prediction and you heard it here first!

-- madame whammy (madamewhammy@madamewhammy.com), August 12, 1999.


I wouldn't doubt the it. We've seen story after story about budgets going up. Check out this one, today on Yahoo Y2K News, about Citigroup, another big NYC bank. How many pockets are this deep? <:)=

Citigroup's projected Y2K costs rise

WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - news), the huge financial services firm, said Thursday the pre-tax cost of Y2K modifications and conversions rose by $50 million to an estimated $950 million through 1999.

To date, about $830 million has been incurred, including $170 million in the first six months of 1999, New York City-based Citigroup said in its Securities and Exchange Commission quarterly filing for the period ended June 30.

The cost is being funded from a ``combination of a reprioritization of technology development initiatives and incremental costs and is being expensed as incurred,'' the company added.

Substantially all of the required modification and internal testing work has been completed, including modification of all critical systems, and the company continues to make ``satisfactory progress'' toward full completion of its year 2000 program, Citigroup said in the SEC filing.

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 12, 1999.


Thank you, Ray and Mike. I appreciate your confidence.

a, what is the deBunkery on CPR? I don't know whether to be amused or irritated that they are calling my post a hoax. I can assure you that this was a VERY REAL conversation that I had this evening with my friend. I've known for many months that he was working on bank software remediation, and have tried several times to get answers from him about their progress. Always before he has been non-committal, not wanting to talk about it. He has no axe to grind, as he never worked directly for the bank in question, but rather a consulting firm. In fact, he still doesn't think Y2K will be overly horrific. He opines that it might cause a modest downturn in the economy, some inconveniences and workplace slowdowns, (which really has nothing to do with my original post, since it is only his opinion). However, I believe in his integrity completely. He has never lied to me, nor to anyone else that I have ever heard of. He is painfully honest about his taxes and everything else. My own trouble with him in the past has been that his intellectual brilliance does not always make for clear conversation. The above was very clear, and I reported our exchange as closely as I can recall it. There were probably some added...ums...uhs...or wells, the usual verbal noise that occurs in everyday language, but nothing of substance has been altered or invented. Anyone here is free to take exception to the notion that a bank would deliberately lie, or to consider that my friend could himself be wrong concerning the amount of work left to be done by the bank in question; but I am stating unequivocally that this conversation happened and my reportage was accurate.



-- CD (CDOKeefe@aol.com), August 12, 1999.

One more thing...How can any legitimate organization claim that my post is a hoax before even trying to investigate it? NOT THAT I WANT THEM TO CONTACT ME. I've got more pressing things to do than argue about this with people. Still, no one has bothered to email me all night about this, from a deBunkery, or anywhere else.

-- CD (CDOKeefe@aol.com), August 13, 1999.

Sorry. Reverse that. Who/what is CPR on the deBunkery?

-- CD (CDOKeefe@aol.com), August 13, 1999.

CD, not to worry. You could post, and upload pics, of aliens come to your front door demanding escort to your "leader," and zzzzzz zzzzz zzzzzzz nobody would eMail you ;^) Glazed daze, jaded and inured to serious facts, implications, and encroaching manifestations. zzzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz

But know this with a satisfied tingle in your fingertips:
When the trolls come flicking their vacuous insults on a thread, it is a de facto stamp of "CERTIFIED WORTHY INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN."

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 13, 1999.


Was over visitng my mom two days ago. Her neighbor, a stockbroker was out working in his yard. I started asking him about T-bills and he came over and gave me a run down which ended with, "interest rates, (on T-bills) have been going down because lots of investors are buying them looking for a safe haven before the CRASH". Any concern about Y2K I asked; "OH yeah, that too" he said as he walked away. I had noticed a "for sale" sign on his lawn and asked him where he was moving to; "Small town in Montana" he said.

-- Ralph Kramden (and@awaywego.com), August 13, 1999.

Yep, all the fancy, well to do rich people have left my city, and headed out to these little tows in Montanna and Wyoming and Kansas. Now it just leaves us trailer trash around to do whatever we feel like. Now things are being done right. We converted the grand ole opry into a professional wrestling ring. We bulldozed city hall, and moved it into a fancy dancy trailer. Yep, we are the new kings.

-- Boo Boo Stew (its@all.over), August 13, 1999.

Ray

Interesting!

Not the conversation on the other board, but the way you turned the conversation to meet your little fantasy. They were talking about ONE mortgage company. ONE. Somehow, the number ONE, got all screwed up inside your bonehead and turned into 'mortgage companies'. To me, and I realize I'm nobody, that does not represent the industry as a whole. But apparently it does to you.

Fascinating!

Nice try Ray, but you'll have to do A LOT BETTER than that.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), August 13, 1999.


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