(Note: Header date should read: 1/6/00)

If Not Y2K, Why?

Category: hit and run, Author: Gwen Shaffer, Issue Date: 1/6/100, File size: 4K, Philadelphia City Paper

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/010600/news.handr.shtml

If Not Y2K, Why?

At about 2:30 p.m. on New Years Eve, Ed Cummings sauntered over to the Commerce Bank branch at 1900 Market St. He planned to make a $4,800 cash deposit into his checking account. Cummings was counting on the money to cover the cost of Texas Instruments stock hed purchased earlier that day.

When his his turn in line arrived, Cummings requested his account balance. The teller told him the computers were down and the information couldnt be accessed. Cummings was a bit annoyed, but hey, computers crash once in a while. He deposited the cash, got a receipt and went on his merry way.

Monday morning rolled around, and a nagging feeling convinced Cummings hed better check his bank balance. He wanted to be sure his securities transaction would clear. It typically takes three days for stock deals to go through, and since a cash deposit should be immediately available, Cummings didnt anticipate a problem.

Upon punching his account number on the telephone keypad, a computer voice at Commerce Bank told Cummings his balance was $1,100. "Hmm," he thought.

Cummings immediately called the branch where he made the deposit just a few days earlier, only to be told they had no record of the transaction. The bank manager, Cummings says, had no idea where the $4,800 had gone - but it wasnt into his account.

The manager told Cummings that "stubby fingers" can sometimes hit a wrong number, and the teller may have done just that. Perhaps the money mistakenly made its way into another customers account, he suggested.

After a lot of coercing, the manager agreed to credit Cummings account if he brought in the receipt.

"I asked what would have happened if Id lost this scrap of paper, and the manager told me it would be a big inconvenience for the bank," Cummings says.

Cummings is convinced that whatever caused the transaction error, the Y2K computer bug was involved.

"Ive had an account there for two years and never had a problem," he notes. "Then, on New Years Eve 2000, they lose my money."

Commerce Bank spokesperson Sandra Martin insists that Cummings $4,800 fell victim to a mysterious "processing error" that has nothing to do with Y2K.

"We had no reported problems before, during or after the New Year," Martin says. "This is unrelated to a Y2K glitch."

Cummings is sticking to his theory.

-Gwen Shaffer (shaffer@citypaper.net)

Copyright ) 1999, CP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), January 13, 2000