In Sept of '08, I cashed two checks totaling approximately $5100 at Washington Mutual. I recently paid a local business with two of the $100 bills that I had received from cashing those two checks. The business owner approached me telling me that one of the $100 dollar bills was counterfeit. I went back to Washington Mutual to try to rectify the matter and they were basically non-compliant. I will be going back there today to have the rest of the bills checked. What are my rights? Am I just out that $100, or possibly more, as the bank is saying they have no way of knowing the bills came from them? Do I have any legal or monetary rights in this situation?
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The bank is correct when it says it has no way to know whether the counterfeit bills came from them, so you should not expect WaMu to volunteer to refund anything. Don't be too sure that the money is, in fact, counterfeit. Some older bills still in circulation don't pass some of the routine quick checks for counterfeit currency. Some automated bill counting equipment can mistake valid currency for counterfeit, and those counterfeit pens can easily be fooled. The bank should be better able to detect counterfeits than most merchants, but the only way for a completely accurate check is to send the bills to a Federal Reserve Bank or the U.S. Secret Service. Be sure to use registered mail, and get a receipt for the delivery.
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The bank is correct when it says it has no way to know whether the counterfeit bills came from them, so you should not expect WaMu to volunteer to refund anything. Don't be too sure that the money is, in fact, counterfeit. Some older bills still in circulation don't pass some of the routine quick checks for counterfeit currency. Some automated bill counting equipment can mistake valid currency for counterfeit, and those counterfeit pens can easily be fooled. The bank should be better able to detect counterfeits than most merchants, but the only way for a completely accurate check is to send the bills to a Federal Reserve Bank or the U.S. Secret Service. Be sure to use registered mail, and get a receipt for the delivery.
