Can you tell me if this is typical bank policy? My minor son's name was on a CD (as OR). The CD says you must have the certificate to cash it in. (It was taken out in 1988, son's name added later). My son went into my bank, gave them his SS#, and asked to see any account that had his name on it. The man proceeded to show him a savings account and the CD. He allowed my son to cash in the CD, and gave him approximately $5,0000 in CASH and let him walk out the door.

Even if this legal, should this not have thrown up red flags to this Bank employee, and a call been made to me?

I would think that the answer to this is going to depend on bank policy, which may or may not be what you want to hear. In my opinion, if the account was set up in an 'OR' situation, then either person could cash in the account. If that had happened in my bank, we would have asked for the original CD. If the owner didn't have it with them, we would have asked for a 'lost affidavit' to be signed, which simply states that the CD is either lost or not available, the ID would have been verified of the accountholder, and the CD would have been cashed in. The fact that the child was a minor gives me some heartburn, because the account should have been set up to reflect that. If it had been set up that way, there is no way that the child would have been able to cash that in. It is strictly going to be a bank policy issue as to that, I think. Have you called the bank and spoken to the manager and asked for their policy on this, or at least an explanation?

If the ownership of an account is "A or B" both parties have full rights. The bank is under no obligation to inform one of the parties of the actions of the other(s).
Some possibilities as to why your son may have been able to cash the CD:
CDs that actually involve a physical certificate are rare today. In 19 years, surely the certificate matured and was renewed. It may have been renewed as a non-certificate CD.
Depending on your state law, minors may not actually be minors when it comes to bank accounts in their names.

I have to agree with "Anonymous." I have several CDs and have no "physical" CDs. There are good reasons to have CDs issued as "or" instead of "and." One being that each party indicated on the CD has full rights to the CD.

If you are this concerned, you might want to question your son as to why he cashed in the CD and did not ask you about it before doing so. I believe I would be more upset at him than at the bank.

Oh, upset would be an understatement. I won't go into that part of it. Apparently "bank policy" governs a lot of things, that I thought were mandated by the banking commission. This has been quite an education. Thanks to all of you for your input.