Update on the cashier’s check

A few days ago I was whining about spending my birthday at the bank, sorting out the mess my former landlord created by not depositing my cashier’s check. It was sure to be a huge debacle, I thought. There was no way Bank of America would easily credit my account with that money.

Pleasantly enough, I was wrong. While Bank of America’s customer service phone line is hit or miss, the staff at the 79th & Lex branch are always great. I have gone in to talk with them about so many things over the past two years, and the tellers and bankers are unfailingly polite and patient. Recently, they’ve had the manager standing guard in the lobby greeting customers and asking if you’ve been helped. It’s the little things like that that really raise the bar. Plus, it’s nice that I know most of the tellers by now. That familiarity is kind of rare in my NYC life.

They didn’t disappoint me Saturday. Although there were more than a few furrowed brows when I explained the situation, one of the bankers made a phone call to headquarters, and presto! They could credit my account for that amount. It was a done deal in about five minutes. It took me longer to upgrade my savings account to a money market.

To celebrate, I hopped over to the Barnes & Noble on 86th to spend a gift card. A new water bottle has been on my wish list for a long, long time. It had to be aluminum, and it had to be cute. I’m pretty happy with my new $15 Gaiam “Grass” bottle:

This moving business just won’t end

Mister Redhead greeted me at the door this evening with a letter from our former landlord. We’ve been waiting for the security deposit and last month’s rent to be returned to us, but alas, this letter didn’t quite carry through on either of those things. Sigh.

Enclosed was my cashier’s check for the security deposit. It had never been deposited in the interest-bearing account, as my lease promised. In her letter, the landlord explained that her mother-in-law had been gravely ill, etc. etc. etc. and she simply forgot to deposit the check. Enclosed was a personal check for a few dollars, to make up for what interest the deposit should have earned. (Still have to double-check the math on that.)

But back to my cashier’s check. If it was a personal check, it wouldn’t be a big deal. I’d just tear it up — no harm, no foul, as the money wouldn’t have left my account at all. But cashier’s checks aren’t the same as personal checks. The money left my account as soon as the cashier’s check was printed. It doesn’t matter if the payee deposits the check or not. So now I need to take some sort of extra step with Bank of America to get that money back. Hopefully, I can just walk in with the check, show them the letter, explain the situation, and they’ll credit my account. Can it be that simple? Please? At the very least, this is going to cause me one phone call and one trip to Bank of America. Not what I need this week.

The lengthy letter never once mentioned where my last month’s rent is. You see, back in January 2007 when I signed the lease, I prepaid my last month’s rent. But when rent was due this January, I wasn’t sure if we’d be moving or not (because we hadn’t been notified how much rent was increasing). Being a responsible person, I paid January’s rent, just in case. My thinking was Ms. Landlord could cut me a check to reimburse me if we did decide to move. Stupid me. I’ve brought this up with her via voicemail and with the apartment manager, who promised he’d talked to her. But not a mention of it in today’s letter. Double sigh.

Once I get an answer from Bank of America on the cashier’s check, I’ll need to pen my own letter, enclosing photocopies of my lease, highlighting the fact that I prepaid that last month’s rent and am still owed a sizable sum of money. Just how I want to spend my birthday weekend…