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Discriminated man continues to be discriminated against

Wally Fairway

By Wally Fairway
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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5550

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https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/01/23/tcf-bank-race-discrimination-case-sauntore-thomas/4546199002/

Black man, in Detroit, wins discrimination lawsuit against his employer. Takes the settlement check to his bank, and they call the police for fraudulent check even after he presents information about the settlement.
He goes to another bank, opens a new account and has the funds cleared in 12 hours; and he says he will sue his former bank for discrimination.

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Sauntore Thomas, 44, of Detroit, sued TCF Bank on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2019, alleging it refused to deposit his check from a race discrimination lawsuit he settled because he is black.

Sauntore Thomas, 44, of Detroit, sued TCF Bank on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2019, alleging it refused to deposit his check from a race discrimination lawsuit he settled because he is black

 

Edited by Wally Fairway
typo
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Incredulity

Incredulity 11675

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You can accuse this of being a humblebrag if you want.  That is not my intent.

 

It is absolutely stunning to me how hard it is to even deposit checks of anything more than a nominal value in person.

Even if you have the funds in the account to completely cover the check and aren't making any withdrawal or other transaction.

 

Teller: "oh, this is over my limit.  I have to get my manager"

five minute later manager stumbles over asking for id.

 

 

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23113

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There's a new invention call the smart phone. Along with it is another marvel called the banking app. Get this...it allows you to deposit a check from your phone. All you need to do is to open the app, take a picture of the front and back of the check, tap a few keys, and holy shit, the check is deposited. And another amazing thing, you do not have to deal with dipshit tellers. Fucking AMAZING.

Doesn't excuse the treatment this dude received but holy hell, I avoid having to deal with customer service people any chance I get. They mostly differ on the degree of shittiness.

 

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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Anything over $10K, the banks are supposed to dig into.  Verify funds.  A wire and fed ref # if possible.  They are also taught to call out anything that seems out of the ordinary.  Three checks deposited into an account with .52 cents into fits that bill and cashing one for $13K is icing on the cake.  

Often they put a hold on the money (hence the check cashing issue) for checks that large.  They also have to report them to the IRS.  These are all anti money-laundering & criminal activity laws that have been around for years.  Black.  White.  Brown.  Or purple.  Glad he won the first suite, but I doubt this one has legs.  

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Cajun

Cajun 11714

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45 minutes ago, Iceman said:

What does his veteran status have to do with anything?

Curious why that is in the article.  Maybe the bank doesn't like the military either?

Because he didn't watch his buddies die face down in the muck so they could go around checking with THEIR MANAGERS!!!

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

There's a new invention call the smart phone. Along with it is another marvel called the banking app. Get this...it allows you to deposit a check from your phone. All you need to do is to open the app, take a picture of the front and back of the check, tap a few keys, and holy shit, the check is deposited. And another amazing thing, you do not have to deal with dipshit tellers. Fucking AMAZING.

Doesn't excuse the treatment this dude received but holy hell, I avoid having to deal with customer service people any chance I get. They mostly differ on the degree of shittiness.

 

For checks that large, most banks do not allow mobile apps and deposits.  Anything over $10K - which triggered this whole thing.  

*Bank Secrecy Act - formerly known as the Currency and Foreign Transaction Reporting Act 

Edited by BabaYaga
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Cajun

Cajun 11714

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Posted
1 minute ago, BabaYaga said:

Anything over $10K, the banks are supposed to dig into.  Verify funds.  A wire and fed ref # if possible.  They are also taught to call out anything that seems out of the ordinary.  Three checks deposited into an account with .52 cents into fits that bill and cashing one for $13K is icing on the cake.  

Often they put a hold on the money (hence the check cashing issue) for checks that large.  They also have to report them to the IRS.  These are all anti money-laundering & criminal activity laws that have been around for years.  Black.  White.  Brown.  Or purple.  Glad he won the first suite, but I doubt this one has legs.  

LCTR

Large Currency Transaction Report

Learn it

Live it

Love it

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StruggleBus

StruggleBus 3922

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21 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

Hopefully he can ride for a while on his lawsuit earnings, because no employer is going to jump to hire a sue happy dude (whether they were justified or not)

Apparently this comment didn't go over well. My intent wasn't to justify if, simply that it will almost certainly happen. Whatever

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Cajun

Cajun 11714

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Posted (edited)

And this isn't about a bank's discrimination against a man of a certain race, it's about a man of a certain race's lack of willingness to go the extra mile and learn to walk with his butt cheeks all tight and shit...

UnitedPoorAkitainu-size_restricted.gif

 

Edited by Cajun
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Bevo

Bevo 13578

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Posted
7 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Anything over $10K, the banks are supposed to dig into.  Verify funds.  A wire and fed ref # if possible.  They are also taught to call out anything that seems out of the ordinary.  Three checks deposited into an account with .52 cents into fits that bill and cashing one for $13K is icing on the cake.  

Often they put a hold on the money (hence the check cashing issue) for checks that large.  They also have to report them to the IRS.  These are all anti money-laundering & criminal activity laws that have been around for years.  Black.  White.  Brown.  Or purple.  Glad he won the first suite, but I doubt this one has legs.  

Even if he doesn't have a case, the bank may still settle. Going to court and having a reputation hit would most definitely cost the bank more than a $13K settlement.

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seven

seven 1367

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25 minutes ago, gecko said:

Interested in what TCF can prove re: a watermark that says "void".  If accurate, this may be their savior.....but the internet will have moved on and branded them racists so it won't really matter

Chase didn't seem to have that problem 

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deadshank

deadshank 24653

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Posted (edited)
50 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Anything over $10K, the banks are supposed to dig into.  Verify funds.  A wire and fed ref # if possible.  They are also taught to call out anything that seems out of the ordinary.  Three checks deposited into an account with .52 cents into fits that bill and cashing one for $13K is icing on the cake.  

Often they put a hold on the money (hence the check cashing issue) for checks that large.  They also have to report them to the IRS.  These are all anti money-laundering & criminal activity laws that have been around for years.  Black.  White.  Brown.  Or purple.  Glad he won the first suite, but I doubt this one has legs.  

This is true; however, Chase,  WF, etc. are notorious for "holding" large checks to "verify funds" when the check is written by one of their own customers to another interest.  They know the funds are there but they will debit their own customer's account yet not make the funds avaiable to the payee so they can float the money in what ever market in which they can make money.

/csb: Just two weeks ago, I had a customer write us a $731K personal check to cover a draw for work on his home.  Chase took the funds out of his account the very next day and then finally released it to our account after 8 business days and him calling his banker up to chew on his ass for a while.  We knew Chase would probably do this but  8 days is redonkulous.  Our customer is very well-to-do and I doubt Chase wants to lose him because his 30K employee company banks with Chase and he's type of guy that would tell them to shove it if they gave him too much BS.

Edited by deadshank
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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54247

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42 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

Doesn't excuse the treatment this dude received but holy hell, I avoid having to deal with customer service people any chance I get. They mostly differ on the degree of shittiness.

I went to buy new jeans a couple of weeks ago.  After I tried them on  and decided what size I needed, I got on my Amazon app and ordered them, just so I wouldn't have to deal with the checkout process.

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Cajun

Cajun 11714

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"Are you a member of our rewards program?"

"Can I get your zip code and phone number?"

"Would you like to sign up for our credit card?"

Meanwhile line stacks up behind me.  I was at Dick's Sporting Goods the other day and the questions/upsell were endless.  I finally told the kid, "Just ring it up, this is rude to all these people" pointing to the 5 deep line standing behind me.

And, of course, he was the only register open. 

 

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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5550

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55 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Anything over $10K, the banks are supposed to dig into.  Verify funds.  A wire and fed ref # if possible.  They are also taught to call out anything that seems out of the ordinary.  Three checks deposited into an account with .52 cents into fits that bill and cashing one for $13K is icing on the cake.  

Often they put a hold on the money (hence the check cashing issue) for checks that large.  They also have to report them to the IRS.  These are all anti money-laundering & criminal activity laws that have been around for years.  Black.  White.  Brown.  Or purple.  Glad he won the first suite, but I doubt this one has legs.  

Those may be the rules for everybody, but they are calling the police for the Black, Brown, Yellow, Purple way more than they would (if at all) for the White

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Doc Reeves

Doc Reeves 6434

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Posted

My FIL used to run international accounts at Frost bank years ago and part of his trading was to always treat any customer with the upmost respect.

He has numerous stories but the one he would tell others during training was one day in the late 70’s he noticed an old Mexican man who was obviously a laborer with rough hands and dusty clothes. He was sitting waiting on an agent and when my FIL left then came back from lunch he was still sitting patiently. My FIL being Hispanic found this to be rude on the banks part and offered to help him. The man said he wanted to open an international acct then pulled out a weathered, crinkled grocery bag with his life savings of $500k in cash. 

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po elvis

po elvis 2073

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1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

Glad he won the first suite, but I doubt this one has legs.  

Why are you glad he won his first suit? We know nothing about it except it settled confidentially. The fact that he is doing a ridiculous lawsuit with the bank says the first one might have been ridiculous. Honestly, looking at the guy, it probably was.

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blacklab

blacklab 11940

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Posted

A couple of companies ago we got $6 million in venture capital. It was wired into our checking account and I needed to move most of it into savings. Wells Fargo website transfer box only allows 5 digits so I headed into the bank to make the transfer.

I went to the teller and said I need to transfer some money from checking to savings. She asked why I didn't do it online and I told her the problem. She asked how much I needed to transfer and I said $5.7 million. The look on her face was priceless. She said one moment and a guy came out of the back and took me to his office, offered me a coke, gave me two huge Wells Fargo stuffed horses for my kids and generally treated me like a king. A whole different world that I was not used to in a bank.

A few years later I was in a branch doing something and could see the persons screen. When she found me in her system it had big red letters at the top. I don't remember the exact wording but it was something like "BE SURE TO TAKE SPECIAL CARE OF THIS CUSTOMER". It was obviously a carry over from the time my company had those millions, because at that time the total amount in all of my accounts was probably less than $1000.

 

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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20 minutes ago, po elvis said:

Why are you glad he won his first suit? We know nothing about it except it settled confidentially. The fact that he is doing a ridiculous lawsuit with the bank says the first one might have been ridiculous. Honestly, looking at the guy, it probably was.

Glass half full....;)

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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5550

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13 minutes ago, blacklab said:

A couple of companies ago we got $6 million in venture capital. It was wired into our checking account and I needed to move most of it into savings. Wells Fargo website transfer box only allows 5 digits so I headed into the bank to make the transfer.

I went to the teller and said I need to transfer some money from checking to savings. She asked why I didn't do it online and I told her the problem. She asked how much I needed to transfer and I said $5.7 million. The look on her face was priceless. She said one moment and a guy came out of the back and took me to his office, offered me a coke, gave me two huge Wells Fargo stuffed horses for my kids and generally treated me like a king. A whole different world that I was not used to in a bank.

A few years later I was in a branch doing something and could see the persons screen. When she found me in her system it had big red letters at the top. I don't remember the exact wording but it was something like "BE SURE TO TAKE SPECIAL CARE OF THIS CUSTOMER". It was obviously a carry over from the time my company had those millions, because at that time the total amount in all of my accounts was probably less than $1000.

 

BabaYaga would like to know if you are blek or non-blek; for statistical proposes only

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NeverMarryAStripper

NeverMarryAStripper 21907

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34 minutes ago, Doc Reeves said:

My FIL used to run international accounts at Frost bank years ago and part of his trading was to always treat any customer with the upmost respect.

He has numerous stories but the one he would tell others during training was one day in the late 70’s he noticed an old Mexican man who was obviously a laborer with rough hands and dusty clothes. He was sitting waiting on an agent and when my FIL left then came back from lunch he was still sitting patiently. My FIL being Hispanic found this to be rude on the banks part and offered to help him. The man said he wanted to open an international acct then pulled out a weathered, crinkled grocery bag with his life savings of $500k in cash. 

and a few minutes later the police arrived and that 500k was immediately the subject of asset forfeiture and the old man died a penniless pauper

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Doc Reeves

Doc Reeves 6434

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1 minute ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

and a few minutes later the police arrived and that 500k was immediately the subject of asset forfeiture and the old man died a penniless pauper

Yeah, definitely a different time now. He said he knew of a few safety deposit boxes that still have over a mill in cash in them from older Mexico City business men who kept it secret and have died. Changes are good it will still be there long after we are all gone

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Cajun

Cajun 11714

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23 minutes ago, blacklab said:

A couple of companies ago we got $6 million in venture capital. It was wired into our checking account and I needed to move most of it into savings. Wells Fargo website transfer box only allows 5 digits so I headed into the bank to make the transfer.

I went to the teller and said I need to transfer some money from checking to savings. She asked why I didn't do it online and I told her the problem. She asked how much I needed to transfer and I said $5.7 million. The look on her face was priceless. She said one moment and a guy came out of the back and took me to his office, offered me a coke, gave me two huge Wells Fargo stuffed horses for my kids and generally treated me like a king. A whole different world that I was not used to in a bank.

A few years later I was in a branch doing something and could see the persons screen. When she found me in her system it had big red letters at the top. I don't remember the exact wording but it was something like "BE SURE TO TAKE SPECIAL CARE OF THIS CUSTOMER". It was obviously a carry over from the time my company had those millions, because at that time the total amount in all of my accounts was probably less than $1000.

 

When I worked at a very large, prominent mutual fund company, my second year in one of the accounts I was given to handle was Johnny Carson's.

I remember running fund exchanges for the broker.

I think the most I moved from cash to equities in one phone call was $65 million or so.  I was a 23 yrs old and thought seeing $100 bill was crazy cool.

I hated when I'd get those calls.  Pucker factor takes its toll.                    

/csb

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Dahobbs

Dahobbs 17624

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1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

Anything over $10K, the banks are supposed to dig into.  Verify funds.  A wire and fed ref # if possible.  They are also taught to call out anything that seems out of the ordinary.  Three checks deposited into an account with .52 cents into fits that bill and cashing one for $13K is icing on the cake.  

Often they put a hold on the money (hence the check cashing issue) for checks that large.  They also have to report them to the IRS.  These are all anti money-laundering & criminal activity laws that have been around for years.  Black.  White.  Brown.  Or purple.  Glad he won the first suite, but I doubt this one has legs.  

What does any of that have to do with calling the cops on this guy? The job is to verify, but it doesn't appear this bank made any effort to actually do so and just assumed it was fraud. The very fact that it was handled by a major bank without problem just a little later suggests TCF Bank's actions weren't entirely on the up and up. 

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GringoSalado

GringoSalado 1651

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1 hour ago, Doc Reeves said:

My FIL used to run international accounts at Frost bank years ago and part of his trading was to always treat any customer with the upmost respect.

He has numerous stories but the one he would tell others during training was one day in the late 70’s he noticed an old Mexican man who was obviously a laborer with rough hands and dusty clothes. He was sitting waiting on an agent and when my FIL left then came back from lunch he was still sitting patiently. My FIL being Hispanic found this to be rude on the banks part and offered to help him. The man said he wanted to open an international acct then pulled out a weathered, crinkled grocery bag with his life savings of $500k in cash. 

 

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Iceman

Iceman 2716

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Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

What does any of that have to do with calling the cops on this guy? The job is to verify, but it doesn't appear this bank made any effort to actually do so and just assumed it was fraud. The very fact that it was handled by a major bank without problem just a little later suggests TCF Bank's actions weren't entirely on the up and up. 

The story (conveniently) leaves out any conversation by either party during the exchange.  Are we to believe that it went down like this: " Oh my God, a black man is trying to cash a check!  Arrest him!!!"?

Or the flipside might be that our good friend tried to...um...borrowing a term from the craps tables; parlay his hard way that hit in the form of the first settlement, by getting another from the bank in question.

The story at face value doesn't make sense to me. it went from 0 to 11 over nothing. the article notes his military service, but doesn't cover any conversation with the bank.  the important details are missing...

Edited by Iceman
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Gene Parmesan

Gene Parmesan 4008

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1 hour ago, po elvis said:

Why are you glad he won his first suit? We know nothing about it except it settled confidentially. The fact that he is doing a ridiculous lawsuit with the bank says the first one might have been ridiculous. Honestly, looking at the guy, it probably was.

We don't know if either of the lawsuits were legit or ridiculous.  

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Zombie

Zombie 284

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Posted
1 hour ago, po elvis said:

Why are you glad he won his first suit? We know nothing about it except it settled confidentially. The fact that he is doing a ridiculous lawsuit with the bank says the first one might have been ridiculous. Honestly, looking at the guy, it probably was.

Why is the second suit ridiculous? The bank called the police on him instead while they told him they were working to verify his checks when they weren't. If I'm his lawyer, I'm using discovery to see how often they've done and the race of those they've done that to in the past. If they call the police disproportionately on people of color, then perhaps the discrimination claim has legs. The fact that Chase deposited the guy's checks right after all this seriously undercuts the first bank's defenses.  

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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Posted (edited)
18 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

What does any of that have to do with calling the cops on this guy? The job is to verify, but it doesn't appear this bank made any effort to actually do so and just assumed it was fraud. The very fact that it was handled by a major bank without problem just a little later suggests TCF Bank's actions weren't entirely on the up and up. 

Quote

According to police, the bank's computer system read the checks as fraudulent.

the checks Thomas presented displayed a watermark that read VOID when they were scanned in a web viewer.

If this happens, they are required to alert authorities.  We also don't know if he requested the $13K all in cash @ Chase as he did initially.  Which is the big trigger I'm seeing here.  Nor do we know if more verification was provided at the second.  As mentioned.  Discovery could be telling.

Edited by BabaYaga
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