Complaint Review: CHARTER ONE BANK - Cleveland Ohio

I was shocked to have heard that the bank manager had been caught from this bank for stealing customers monies.

It's amazing how so often so many people will back these banks up and claim that theft never happens in the banks, but it is the customers errors.

I have still never received my $150.00 back from the bank and they have no record of it.

I would have never thought that Joanne would have done this. I simply loved her and looked forward to seeing her each time I went to the bank. She was the most friendliest and wonderful person I had ever met.

I'm in shock.

The next time a bank employee tells you this type of thing doesn't happen, laugh at them and take your money out.

Former Charter One assistant manager charged with fraud

By Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer

March 17, 2010, 8:00AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 29-year bank employee who worked as an assistant manager in the Broadview Heights branch of Charter One bank has been accused of defrauding the bank out of nearly $1.5 million.

Federal prosecutors charged Joanne Kuchna, 65, of Seven Hills with bank fraud on Tuesday. They claim she stole money from customer accounts and concealed her actions by shifting money from one account to another.

The fraud began in 1995 and continued until Nov. 4, 2009, according to the indictment.

One aspect of Kuchna's scheme was to secretly withdraw money from customers' certificates of deposit before they matured and use it to cover fraudulent withdrawals she had previously made on other customers' CDs that were then maturing, according to the indictment.

In other cases, Kuchna would take customer money intended for deposit in a CD, create the instrument, but never log it into the bank's computer system, according to the indictment. She would then use the money to cover shortfalls in other CDs or for her personal use.

Kuchna forged withdrawal slips as part of her deception, according to prosecutors, and sometimes had unsuspecting employees under her supervision conduct transactions for her. She also created false IRS forms for customers, the indictment states.

The loss to the bank based on shortfalls in the accounts of at least 17 customers came to $1,489,850.88, according to the indictment.

Kuchna no longer works at the bank. Reached by telephone late Tuesday afternoon, she said she was unaware of the indictment.

Charter One spokeswoman Carrie Carpenter declined to discuss details of the investigation but said all affected customers have been identified and their accounts made whole.

She added that the bank always encourages customers to review their accounts and notify the bank if they have any questions.

I finally get my envelope with the copies of the checks that were deposited for the $280.79. I received two sheets of paper and they felt justified to bill me for $65.00 (which was credited into my account the next day after I complained). I had not had the copies for more than 24 hours when I received a phone call from the Broadview Hts manager Tracie telling me that my dispute will be closed and that Charter One will be removing the $153.25 deposit that they placed in my account - WHAT A JOKE! I have to immediately prove what checks were deposited for the $153.25, because they are closing the dispute! There is no way that I could prove this in such a short amount of time when I just received the copies. In order for me to prove which checks are missing, I must contact my students and find out if their checks cleared - not to mention that I work at 11 different schools and am unable to be consumed with Charter One Bank and trying to correct THEIR errors! I'm planning on calling Tracie tomorrow to tell her that if and when I find the errors and the dispute is closed, I will take it to Small Claims Court.

This is an excellent way for her to try and squirm out of this error with no explanation as to what happened in the first place to my $280.79 deposit, but to "chalk" it up as a bank Glitch.

I don't trust Charter One Bank anymore and I can't have this bank as my personal checking account, because I have no idea what other "glitches" are going to happen in the future and how they will consume my time for correction purposes.

I"m out of here as soon as this situation is fixed.

If I  were you I would close the account and go to another bank.

That's what having a bank account is like these days if you keep a low balance. It is almost like a 2nd job. No matter how much you try to do everything right...a "glitch" or "error" or something comes up..and you have to live day to day not knowing what is going to be missing the next day when you wake up...

It is almost like playing video poker every time you go online to see what your balance is...

And to think how online banking could have made our lives easier...nothing further from the truth.

I almost fear swiping a debit card anymore. As far as checks..I try not to touch those with a 10 foot pole. I will never deposit a check either if it is at all possible..try to cash it first..or at the very least..make due until you can deposit it to a live bank teller and get a legible receipt..otherwise this can happen again.

10/20/09 I phoned customer service inquiring about my missing deposit of $153.25, because as far as I knew my local branch dropped everything, but my question as to whatever happened to the deposit was never answered except they didn't receive it. I was told that Charter One would mail me copies of the checks from the $280.79 deposit, because I was unable to obtain copies from a local branch due to the fact that the screen kept coming up blank. I needed these copies, so I could figure out which checks were deposited for the $153.25 missing deposit. I was told they would do a "Vector Search" (sp?). My local branch then called me and said this was referred back to them and to come to the branch. I can't because they close at 4:00 pm and I can't get there by then which is why I always used the night deposit.

On 10/21/09 I woke up to find that I had a "credit memo" deposited into my account from Charter One Bank for the amount of $153.25 along with a notation of missing check (which was supposed to have read either missing deposit, or missing checkS). I called my branch in Brecksville and asked if this deposit was temporary, or permament. I was told it was permament, but good thing I called the main office, because then I was told it was temporary and if they never find my deposit it would be withdrawn. WHAT A FIASCO! BUT IT'S NOT OVER YET......

On October 24th I woke up to find a RESEARCH FEE OF $65.00 deducted from my account! I called customer service inquiring what they withdrawal was and told them that no one told me that Charter One would remove $65.00 from my account for any research and besides, IT WAS CHARTER ONE'S ERROR! To make a long story short, I told them that was an "unauthorized transaction" and the woman told me she would redeposit it into my account. This was credited to me today, October 26th. I don't know how much more I could take with this bank and I'm watching my account like a hawk.  

"My thoughts on this.... the bank isn't making any money off of me. I don't pay any NSF fees, no fees whatsoever, so they have to get money from me somehow, might as well take it from my account."

  I thought that your complaint was that deposits were not credited.   I have no doubt that your deposit was likely lost, stolen or mishandled, but are you claiming that the bank is somehow processing these checks and keeping the money for itself?   Besides the obvious paper trail that would create, they'd also have to do some pretty inventive accounting to cover it up.  It's just not a plausable scenario.

" If anyone else has had problems like this we need to unite and get together to investigate. In the meantime, I have to contact my students to see if their checks cleared."

   This is where the answers will be found.   If someone got money from the checks that you deposited, the evidence of who got it (and when) will be on the checks that are returned to your students.

As for the deposit made in the night deposit for $153.25, no credit will be given to me, because they are claiming they never received that deposit. I thought I might be able to figure out which checks were never cashed simply by obtaining copies of the cashed checks from the bank.  

I went to another branch and obtained copies of the deposit slips and checks from two previous deposits, but the one deposit that disappeared, miraculously had nothing to print, so I was not able to obtain a copy of that deposit slip, nor was I able to obtain any copies of any checks deposited on that day! I guess when someone wiped out the deposit, they wiped out all of the evidence as well from the copies of the checks - smart move.

My thoughts on this.... the bank isn't making any money off of me. I don't pay any NSF fees, no fees whatsoever, so they have to get money from me somehow, might as well take it from my account.

If anyone else has had problems like this we need to unite and get together to investigate. In the meantime, I have to contact my students to see if their checks cleared.

Depositing anything in a night deposit box.....bad move

Bank stealing money from customer....worse move.

I hope you have copies of the online documentation of the $280.79, which is a record and proof positive they received the funds..or can get it..because if you can and the bank continues to give no recourse...a smalls claim court can settle this very quickly.

If you have no documentation..it's all in the banks hands now..you have lost ALL control of that money as the bank sees fit. You must wait for their "investigations" and "looking into it" etc. In the meantime..any financial hardship or inconvenience this causes you..is of no concern to the bank..what-so-ever. In this case..the bank is the investigator..the police..the FBI..the judge...the jury..and the executioner..all you are is a customer at a loss..imagine that?

Once they realize it was a "glitch" and return your money, however long it may take...and not give you any fees for "holding" your money against your will due to an error or defect on their end..you will wonder why if you ever made a mistake, glitch or error..and held their funds (such as by an overdraft for example)...why you would be charged handsomely in fees...am I right?

In the worst case they may "decide" they never received the money..and in that case you may just have to chock it up as a loss due to theft and move on..sorry to say...the bank has more lawyers then you do.