Complaint Review: TD bank N.A. - Union New Jersey

But the one disadvantage of this site is that we only have to go on what is written.  But this is a public web site that anyone can post to.

No where in your report did you say that TD bank told you to submit the affidavit of fraud, all we have is that SSA told you to take it up with your bank and then you immediatly going to your bank to file the affidavit.  But what we do have is you also stating that TD Bank told you that you can not claim fraud against a Government agency.  So how is anyone supposed to know that they also told you to file one?

Next, I suggested you get on a 3-Way call, because no where in your report did you say that happened. 

Which is interesting because if SSA is telling you to talk to your bank and you have TD Bank and the SSA on the phone at the same time.  For SSA to not tell TD Bank how to what they need to do this seems like there is some sort of communication disconnect or perhaps other information you are not mentioning.  So what was SSA's response to the bank when the bank HOW do they request the money back..because remember the SSA told you to take it up with the bank?  The bank did ask that question right?

Also, whether or not you want to know it or you like the reason, I explained how(and why) your check got cashed.  And you are right if it was an individual, a company or a Government Agency it doesn't make it any more right.  But depending on how the check was presented to the bank it still could have happened.  The only difference is that getting your money back MAY have been a bit easier.

Of course there is always one other course of action.  You are probably in an area with many news stations, just about every news station has a "Troubleshooter" type of person.  Have you sent your situation to them?  Perhaps they can get to the bottom of this...and save you the thousands in Lawyer fees.

And who are you?? First off the affidavit of fraud was exactly what TD bank told me to file...I didn't pick that out of thin air. I explained the situation, they told me the form to fill out. Secondly, when does cashing a check NOT made out to you consider not fraud? If a person did it, they could/would be prosecuted.  Just because a government agnecy does it, does not mean it is right or okay.

If I had written that an actual person cashed the check you would probably agree it was fraud and the bank should return the funds to me. We did have a 4-way conference call....SSA, Branch manager, rep from the investigation dept, and myself. SSA said they don't have the ability to refund the money and the bank said without an actual bank to go to to get the funds there is nothing they can do. Not one person said that SSA had a right to cash that check.

Not sure what your role on this site is but if it's to make people coming on here to post their bad experiences with a company feel worse then do me a favor and don't reply on my complaint anymore.

 Okay first off you aren't exactly a victim of fraud, this is a result of a check you wrote and just sent to the wrong payee.  Not to say that you may not have a legitimate "complaint", just that this is not to the same level as someone taking a blank check and helping themselves to your funds.  As such your affidavit of fraud may have been a bit too much.

You also have to realize that in banking today it is very unlikely that once you sent the check out it was seen by another human, or if it was it was only looked at for a fraction of a second.  The check you wrote to the SSA was most likley converted electronically through a "Clearing House" where TD Bank is not going to verify that the person the check was written to is the same one that endorsed it.   The only time a bank will even be able to do this now is if you personally present a check to a teller or deposit it in a branch's ATM.   Again this is how every bank will basically work, there are some more details to this, but this is just a quick overview to get you the idea.

It is also very unlikely with Electronic Processing that your original check even exists anymore.  At most you may have an "image" of the original check that TD Bank may or may not have.  If they just received "authorization" from the SSA they only have a record of the request..it would be SSA that would keep an image of this check. 

I would have to say that TD is correct in this situation that you can't exactly claim "fraud" against a Government Agency.   It looks like this comes down to an Overpayment to the Government where you may need to go another route such as declaring this on your taxes and getting it back that way..just a thought if it takes a while this may be the quickest.

Have you had tried to see if TD will get on a 3-way conference call with you and the SSA?  Perhaps if you get them on the same call they can work something out and stop "passing the buck".  Again this may not be quick but it could save you a lot of time in the long run.