Bank Manager Admits Y2K F#*@-Up

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OK, I'm trying to remain calm. Yeah, hah! I'm a small business person. I sell and accept credit cards through Humboldt Bank and Creditcard.com, which in turn credits my checking account at SunTrust Bank in Florida. Up until this month all has gone well. Then this week, Creditcard.com ET an amount to my bank, but they say they didn't get it. So somewhere there is in limbo money I've earned but is not credited. Today I went around and around for six hours trying to get it credited to my account. Meanwhile I have checks bouncing because the money is not in my account. Finally I talked to the bank manager and was told, "It's Y2K. Everyone is trying to straighten things out, but files are being misplaced and accounts are being credited wrongly. We can't help you!!!!!! (The !!!! are mine.) So, I'm screwed. This isn't the only problem with the bank. A couple of weeks ago I mailed a hefty number of checks for deposit. They were "misplaced" for over two weeks, until they were "suddenly" found and my account credited. Meanwhile, more checks bounced. No. This isn't a case of the dear old banks trying to just stall off so they can charge an account. This is, according to the bank manager, a Y2K problem. Three weeks early. I don't know what to do. My business is suffering badly. Just thought others

-- D.J. Phillips (gardengal@land.com), December 06, 1999

Answers

EEEEEeOOooooooooWWWwwwwwwwww! Thanks for the heads up, DJ.

Who knows what our bank is doing to our pennied account -- Bank of America.

Biz is gonna be hurtin soon ...

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), December 06, 1999.


There were some reports that Sun Trust was closed for an extended time before Thanksgiving...

-- Reporter (reporter_atlarge@hotmail.com), December 06, 1999.

Well Gartner Group predicted "dramatic increase in Dec."

And of course Mr. Dale ways essay----->

"A large bank can have 100,000 programs that run on 30 different platforms and use 50 different languages (type, vintage and compiler manuufacturer). Make several thousand................."

yadda, yadda, yadda!!!

Hope this does'nt get out to quick still need to... well you know!!

-- d----- (dciinc@aol.com), December 06, 1999.


GET YOUR MONEY OUT OF THE BANKS !!!

-- Rainbow (Rainbow@123easy.net), December 06, 1999.

D.J.Phillips,

You mean you could not show them that you have saved all of your IMPORTANT financial documents!!

Please don't tell me your financial documents won't help the situation! Isnt that What the FDIC and all those bankers that send out sermons to Pastors said to do----just trust in us and keep your financial records!!!????

Fall off my Leather executive Chair and rothflmao!! P.S. Sorry D.J. Having a small business myself I empathize with you!

-- d----- (dciinc@aol.com), December 06, 1999.



D.J.

Thanks for having the courage to name names. This means so much more than a "friend of a friend" in a city I cannot name. My small business likewise can't stay completely out of the bank because we need to accept credit card payments. Please oh please let it be a bump in the road, after which you will come back and tell us that it was all better in 3 or 4 hours.

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), December 06, 1999.


Umm, I may be wrong but...Humboldt Bank services a part of California, Suntrust is in Ga. and Fl., I can't find a Creditcard.com on the Web, and when I went to Humboldt's web site it informed me of the following ET mechanisms.

Linkpoint (Retail/MOTO/Restaurant/Purchase Card) Hypercom (Retail/Debit/Restaurant) Tranz 330 (Retail/Debit/Restaurant/AVS) Tranz 380 (Hotel) Tranz 420 (Retail/Debit) Tranz 460 (Retail/Debit/AVS)

CyberCash

Authorize.Net Tellan

Head's up folks. Now if I am wrong, the addition of the business name would be a great aid to clearing up the confusion. Cheers, AGF

-- drac (greenspanisgod@frb.giov), December 06, 1999.


creditcard.com does exist. Their server may be down.

Whois Server Version 1.1 Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net for detailed information. Domain Name: CREDITCARD.COM

Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.

Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com

Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com

Name Server: DNS3.NW.VERIO.NET

Name Server: DNS4.NW.VERIO.NET >>> Last update of whois database: Mon, 6 Dec 99 01:05:59 EST <<< The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU domains and Registrars.

-- John Ainsworth (ainsje00@wfu.edu), December 06, 1999.


Well, I don't know anything about any of the companies represented here, but there is an EZ-Creditcard.com, which offers the same services the poster described.

-- ohioan (ohioan@lost.com), December 06, 1999.

Thanks,John- I checked with NIC as well and the domain seems to belong to First Union operating out of Charlotte. Not a small operation and mayhap there has been some more consolidation in the banking sector but before I make any phone calls which will cost me money I will see if the Creditcard.com site comes up in the next couple of hours. My concern is simply that any reaction which I make be justified by facts. Cheers, AGF

-- drac (greenspanisgod@frb.giov), December 06, 1999.


This post has the ring of TRUTH. When I replied last night that I thought that virtually no companies are running remediated code, I failed to mention the one I was familiar with...Norwest Bank.

I have had nothing but the best experience with them, so IN NO WAY am I casting aspersions on them. I meant only to say that I have noticed a gradual turning off "non mission critical" systems and fallback to completely adequate, if not as convenient check inquiry systems, for example. BTW, I take it as a completely POSITIVE sign that they are dealing with 2000 production NOW!

Spare me the company that runs 1999 code, obsolete and LETHAL in 3 weeks, only because, by Jove, they will book profits for 4th Quarter '99 and jump off the January 1st 2000 production bridge when they come to it!

Expect 2, 3, MANY Hersheys then!



-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), December 06, 1999.


"DNS4.NW.VERIO.NET"

I have several friends at Verio Northeast. I'll try to remember to ask them tomorrow if that have any info on this. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 06, 1999.


Hi! This is D.J. Would like to be really positive about what happened today, but can't. I spent all day, going back and forth between companies (Creditcard.com and my bank). No one could find the proper files. Some had apparently gone to that great delete button in the sky--both places. I was also put on hold for long periods of time each call. Ironic is that on the bank "menu" a chipper female voice lets callers know "we're Y2K ready." Oh, yeah? Finally found my released money from Creditcard.com, but still mysterious as to where it had been and why. Just an apology about how sorry they were couldn't find it. But that didn't stop checks from bouncing during the 11 days it was misplaced. Anyone out there with a small business, I'm feeling bad for your guys. We're dropping Visa/MC at the end of this month and taking only checks from here on out. Wish we could specify cash. But I suspect we'll be a cash society before long anyway.

-- D.J. Phillips (gardengal@land.com), December 06, 1999.

On October 4th, I mailed my payment to Sprint PCS for my cell phone account. I have USPS receipt confirmation which showed the payment was delivered Oct 7, 1999. They sent my statement dated Oct 21, 1999 showing no payment. A call to their office showed NO payment received during the month of October. Check finally gets posted to my account Nov 1, 1999.

An isolated incident?

My payment to American Express was mailed out on Oct 2, 1999 with USPS receipt confirmation dated Oct 5, 1999 delivery. October statement shows no payment received as of Oct 9, 1999. A phone call to American Express shows payment processed Oct 19.

Where were my checks during this time? American Express usually is quick to charge a late fee if you miss the due date, but didn't this time...

A doctor's bill shows up 60 days past due. The accompanying note says to disregard the past due due to computer problems with billing...

I see a pattern developing here. I hear of more instances from friends and acquaintances (can you say y2k computer remediation?).

Keep your receipts for payments and pay a little extra for delivery confirmation if you use USPS...

-- Forum Regular (Here@y2k.comx), December 06, 1999.


Ok-been all around the houses, and the bottom line is: this is a fraud.

I spoke with IT operations at First Union. The domain name is inactive. No Creditcard.com is in operation. Great troll or is it a short seller? Cheers, AGF

-- drac (greenspanisgod@frb.giov), December 07, 1999.



Go away drac, you stupid polly.

-- (polly@troll.alert), December 07, 1999.

Just dropped Checkfree due to a screw-up that occurred in May. Never was resolved. One of those checks that never got there. When I called them about it, I was told it was a "Y2K problem" when they switched over their computer system. Very little service from Checkfree, even though they raised their monthly rate from 5.95 to 9.95 this year. It was up to me to find the screw-up (contact your bank, contact the vendor, etc.) Finally sent them a notice to pay the bill or I would cancell their service. Gave them the name and number of the bank and vendor so they could confirm what I'd known since May-No record of the check and no payment to the vendor. Still got the same computer generated email crap to do what I'd already done. Never had so many computer related screw-ups this year. Visa payment credited to the wrong account (took five months to correct). Never did find out who screwed that one up. And one more big pain in the ass: Vendors who change you account number without giving you any notice. Your payment disappears, you start seeing late charges, they have your money, and it's your problem. Sorry, just venting a little. Been GI for some time, thanks to the little missus. Really got it when we got a coupon from a local fast food that expired "16/30/00". Still have it to show to friends.

-- Jsyk (Justsoyou@know.com), December 07, 1999.

I had a similar probelm with Discover Card. Paid balance in an escrow and it "got lost" for a month. Kept accruing late and interest charges. "Showed up" a month later. Fortunately had a signed mail receipt to prove they had received it. At least that is a starting point. Still not resolved.

-- anon (anon@anon.calm), December 07, 1999.

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