What's In A Name?

It was almost closing time when the man came through the door and walked up to the new accounts desk. "I want to open an account," he told the customer service representative. "I have $100.00 in cash."

The customer service rep glanced at the clock and sighed. It was going to take her right up to closing time to do the paper work to open this account.

"What kind of account did you want to open, Sir?" she asked. "Oh, a checking account-and I need to get starter checks and deposit tickets right away."

"I'm very sorry, but we don't supply starter checks or deposit tickets," was the reply from the banker. "But if you need to make a deposit or cash a check before your check order arrives, you can get a blank check or deposit ticket from me when you come in. Do you live close by?"

"Oh, I'm not from around here. I live about 45 miles from here." the man told her.

The banker was now paying full attention to this would-be customer.

"Why do you want to open an account here if we are so far away from where you live?" she asked.

"I drive a tour bus, and I have a lot of time on my hands during the day in this area," came the answer. "So I decided it would save a lot of my time if I did my banking here."

The answer partially satisfied the customer service representative, but she still had a "feeling" about this account opening. She was extra careful about asking for and checking his identification.

He had a driver's license, and several credit cards. Membership cards in several organizations were also offered for ID. His name on all of them caused the banker to do a double take.

His name was Benjamin Franklin!

All of his identification appeared to be authentic. But she was cautious now.

He again asked her for starter checks and deposit tickets. Then he wanted to know if he decided to deposit an out-of-state check, how long it would be before he could take cash out of his account.

He told the representative that he thought his mail was being stolen at his home, and asked if the branch office would either hold his mail (refused) or mail it to his mother-in-law's address, which he gave to her. She agreed to do that.

When asked for a telephone number, he told her he didn't have a phone.

The new accounts rep was not feeling easy about this account, but she decided that she would ask a few questions in order to get to know her customer a little better.

She said to Mr. Franklin, "Boy, I bet you really get teased about your name. Benjamin Franklin-that really is unusual."

"Oh, sure," came the reply, "As a matter of fact, every time somebody pulls out a ten dollar bill I hear about it!"

The banker was now on full alert. She had been in banking long enough to know that the portrait of Benjamin Franklin is not on a ten dollar bill. Alexander Hamilton is. Ben Franklin is on a one hundred dollar bill.

And anyone whose name had been Benjamin Franklin all their life would surely know on which bill his picture appeared!

She continued with the account opening without comment, gave Mr. Franklin a receipt, and wished him a good day.

After he left, the new accounts representative, now feeling strongly that there was something wrong, started verifying facts on the new accounts application.

She called the telephone company and found there was a listing for Benjamin Franklin at his address. (He had said there was no phone.)

On calling the number, she talked to a Mr. Benjamin Franklin, who explained to her that he had been mugged in a local mall parking lot, and his wallet (along with all his identification and driver's license) had been stolen. He was very interested in the fact that someone was using his ID to open an account.

He notified the police. Several days later, they were able to follow up by going to the address given by the imposter as his "mother-in-law's" and found it to be the imposter's address instead.

They arrested him and charged him with the assault and robbery after he was identified by the real Benjamin Franklin. He has since been tried and sentenced and is serving time for that crime.

By paying attention to her "Banker's Sixth Sense, the customer service representative managed to save her institution from a possible large loss.

How do we know this?

Consider what the phony "Mr. Franklin" managed to do to another financial institution before he was arrested.

He opened an account there and received a starter kit from them containing 15 checks and five deposit tickets. That new accounts clerk remembered "Benjamin Franklin" asking about holds on nonlocal check deposits. She also remembered showing him where it was printed in the Reg CC disclosure that they had no holds on check deposits, even on new accounts!

The next day he went to another branch of that financial institution and deposited a $7,000 check drawn on an out-of-state bank. The check had been stolen out of the trash after a business had closed and thrown them away.

One day later, he came in to the office where the account had been opened and got $4,000 out of the account.

The financial institution received word from the out-of-state bank the following day that the $7,000 check was coming back for reason "Account Closed." The money, of course, was spent before his arrest. There is no hope of recovery.

The man posing as Ben Franklin made only one little slip. But he made it with a banker who has a really sharp "Banker's Sixth Sense"-a most valuable asset!

Do you ask questions and exchange small talk with new customers to get to know them? How sharp is your Banker's Sixth Sense? Would you have picked up "Ben Franklin's" mistake?

Copyright © 1990 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 1, No. 10, 9/90