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 Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 3:51 pm EDT Post subject: 1st Constitution Bank |
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On January 20th, 2011, I went to the 1st Constitution Village office to make a withdrawal. I asked for large bills, thinking it would be simpler for the teller. The teller counted the money, put it in the usual envelope and I took it home and put it in my safe for emergency purposes. On March 17th, I brought some of that original cash back to the bank to be deposited. The teller looked at my money, told me it was counterfeit, confiscated $100 from me and reported me to the Secret Service. The bank manager told me that I should have checked the money to make sure it was good before I took it out of the bank in January. I immediately went home, retrieved the rest of the cash 1st Constitution had originally given me, brought it back to the bank and asked them to verify that it was not counterfeit. Luckily for me, it was only one bill. The bank also told me that counterfeiters are getting better at what they do everyday and it is hard for even them to tell. So, no matter what, I lose, not the bank. On March 18th, I returned to the bank and closed my account. I demanded that they prove to me that every bill they were going to give me was legal tender. The assistant bank manager didn't want to do that and offered me a cashier's check. That WAS smart. Then I didn't have to touch any of their dirty money at all. After that, I went directly to the police station to file a report. If I were you, I wouldn't trust their money. If you have any money in the bank, withdrawal it as soon as you can. My family has been a part of this community for 90 years. I can't believe I have been treated this way. Next step, BBB.  |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 4:31 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| and the same could happen at any bank. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 4:43 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| Just a little over the top don't you think? |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 4:58 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| You're right, it could happen at any bank. And, maybe this is a little over the top. Just don't like what banks are allowed to get away with. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 5:09 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| Thanks for the info. How can I be sure that the money I got from my bank is not a counterfeit? I have no clue. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 5:18 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| They told me to buy a special pen to check the money. Wouldn't you think the bank should have already checked their money? Why do I have to do their job? You can get a Counterfeit Money Detector Pen at Staples for $5.00. Maybe if we have to do their job for them, the bank should be handing out these pens for free. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 5:54 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| Guest wrote: | | They told me to buy a special pen to check the money. Wouldn't you think the bank should have already checked their money? Why do I have to do their job? You can get a Counterfeit Money Detector Pen at Staples for $5.00. Maybe if we have to do their job for them, the bank should be handing out these pens for free. |
I agree. Checking for counterfeit money is every bank's job. In this case, it seems this bank missed it the first time, passed the counterfeit to its customer, and then detected it when the customer deposited it.
The customer must be very dumb to knowingly deposit a counterfeit in a bank. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Mar 21 2011, 6:15 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| I bet you the bank teller slipped the fake one in, traded it for a legal bill and passed it on. These tellers are all sneaky. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Mar 22 2011, 12:11 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| It sure is not the bank it used to be. They have a new policy where you can't cash a check you must deposit it first even if you have a zillion $$$$$ in your account. You must deposit the check then withdraw the funds.I don't know of any of the other local banks that do that stunt. The hometown bank, where you know the customer by name and give a darn about customer service is long gone from the main street branch. Just another nail in the hometown coffin. The Good Old Days are gone! |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Mar 22 2011, 9:20 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| First Constitution sucks. They are not a "friendly hometown bank" anymore and they are less convienant than PNC, Wachovia etc.. because of ATM fee's. Don't get me wrong those other banks suck also, they r just easy to find ATM's when not in the area. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Mar 22 2011, 10:20 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| Their interest rates are lousey, the service on main street is terrible, Must be time for a Buy Out! |
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Visitor
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| Posted: Wed, Mar 23 2011, 7:45 am EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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I don't think this is over the top at all. Aside from government bail-out money, banks get money to lend by people in their communities making deposits. Treating a local customer like this is bad business.
They deserve to have everyone close their accounts. As a matter of fact, if everyone went in and closed their accounts tomorrow (March 25), and asked for money in cash, we could close the branch down and have the regulators breathing down their necks. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Wed, Mar 23 2011, 10:09 am EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| Visitor wrote: | I don't think this is over the top at all. Aside from government bail-out money, banks get money to lend by people in their communities making deposits. Treating a local customer like this is bad business.
They deserve to have everyone close their accounts. As a matter of fact, if everyone went in and closed their accounts tomorrow (March 25), and asked for money in cash, we could close the branch down and have the regulators breathing down their necks. |
I agree with you in principle but unfortunately virtually all banks stopped behaving this way a couple decades ago. The original idea was that banks were middle men facilitators, taking deposits from the community and putting that money to work by making loans to the community. It was a virtuous cycle, though the banks always took a very healthy profit for their part. It is fair to say that the original concept was that banks make money FOR their depositors. Now banks primarily think of their depositors as the customers they make money FROM.
This changed gradually for a lot of reasons. The government started insuring depositors’ money, taking much of the risk out of the equation for banks. This caused them to grow rapidly by shifting from small, local investments to larger and larger commercial and corporate investments. Banks merged and because huge companies, then public companies, which was pivotal. Prior to that their depositors were effectively their “shareholders” but after that stock holders, mostly large institutions, became the shareholders, so bigness and profit became more important than the balance of community support through depositor reinvestments in loans.
Even then there was still a sliver of local connection because federal law prohibited banks from operating in multiple states, limiting merger size and still typing them at least to state-level scale. Once that regulation went away the dam instantly ruptured and we ended up with mega-banks which then merged with investment banks and put the final nail in the coffin of the concept of the local bank. All local branches are now, for a vast majority of banks, is facades. The people there have no authority, no discretion and are just cogs in the massive engines of generating as much money from depositors as they can. Banks no longer have a mandate or care about the local communities their branches are in. Zip. They don’t even try. I have six-figures deposited in my bank and yet that doesn’t even by me an eighth-of-a-point off a loan or lower fees on it. My mortgages and other loans have never been sourced by my primary bank because they are never competitive. They don’t care. Sure I get free checking because of my minimum balance. Gee, thanks. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Wed, Mar 23 2011, 10:50 am EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| Visitor wrote: | I don't think this is over the top at all. Aside from government bail-out money, banks get money to lend by people in their communities making deposits. Treating a local customer like this is bad business.
They deserve to have everyone close their accounts. As a matter of fact, if everyone went in and closed their accounts tomorrow (March 25), and asked for money in cash, we could close the branch down and have the regulators breathing down their necks. |
If the earlier comment wasn't over the top, this one surely is. |
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longtimebanker
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| Posted: Wed, Mar 23 2011, 2:21 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| Our family has banked with First Constitution for over 10 years and we have always had friendly, helpful service. It's unfortunate that the one person had a very bad experience but it is a highly odd one at that. Don't give the entire bank and its staff a bad rap as a result of the counterfeit event. |
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Unappreciated Depositor
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| Posted: Wed, Mar 23 2011, 11:34 pm EDT Post subject: Re: 1st Constitution Bank |
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| The last poster may have done business for the past ten years and been satisfied---but- Having dealt with First Constitution since the start when they were formed by the local high rollers, the bank has changed quite a bit. It sure seems that now the village branch has revolving tellers and what many call distracted, social butterfly management. It ain't what it used to be--its just another cold hearted bank that is working its way to being bought out. IMO Great for the owners- but bad for the community. |
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