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By Nick Mordowanec
Staff Writer
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Brian Leonard was in the middle of a kitchen remodel when he realized he needed to deposit a check to pay one of his contractors, but the seemingly simple transaction quickly turned into a rescue operation after learning that his bank had "closed" and his money had allegedly vanished.
But thanks to his persistence and a call to his local television station, the Oakland, California man not only recovered his "missing" $33,000 but also came face-to-face with the growing trend of services such as banks closing their brick and mortars or moving to limited hours due to staff shortages and the prevalence of online banking.
The situation began when Leonard had to pay his contractor $33,000 for the work that had been done in his kitchen. Needing to transfer the money from his Wells Fargo account to his Bank of America account, Leonard said he brought a cashier's check straight to the teller at his usual Bank of America branch so it would immediately clear, according to KGO-TV.
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After making the deposit, the teller allegedly told him the money would be accessible by either the afternoon he came into the branch, Leonard told the news station, or by the next morning at the latest.
But the money allegedly didn't show up that afternoon, or the morning after. He called Bank of America the next day trying to find out what happened and was surprised to hear that the transaction seemingly never occurred.
"The woman said that there was no record of the transaction," Leonard told KGO-TV. "So as far as she was concerned, no transaction happened. Nobody said, 'We'll find out where the money is, we'll make good on it, we'll take care of it.'"
The news became gloomier: Leonard was reportedly told the branch was closed indefinitely, mere hours after he reportedly made the huge deposit.
"When I realized the branch was closed, and the teller that took my $33,000 cashier's check is nowhere to be found, my heart sank into my stomach," he said. "I felt like I just saw the boat leaving the dock and my money's on the boat."
So, he tried his luck at another Bank of America branch. The doors were reportedly locked, making Leonard "very nervous" about the prospect of ever getting his money back due to having no further communication with the teller at his usual branch.
He trekked to a third branch, which was open but unable to reportedly help him. Leonard said the bank manager told him there was no record of a $33,000 transaction and, therefore, nothing that could be done.
Leonard said he showed that specific bank manager his cashier's check and deposit receipt as proof of the deposit, but the response was the same.
That was when he contacted local media outlets, as well as higher-ups at Bank of America, to straighten things out.
A Bank of America spokesperson told Newsweek that the original branch where Leonard deposited the $33,000 cashier's check was only temporarily closed and not permanent—a normal occurrence due to consolidating employees and resources, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have resolved the issue with our client's check deposit," the spokesperson told Newsweek. "The deposit was not lost. This was a cashier's check that was made out to Bank of America instead of the client, which caused a delay in the processing of the transaction. We've apologized to our client for the inconvenience and waived any related fees."
Bank closures occurred in 2021 at record levels. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, a record 2,927 branches closed their doors last year—a 38 percent jump compared to 2020 when 2,126 branches shut off the lights.
Wells Fargo, with 267 closures, led the pack and was followed by U.S. Bank at 257.
Aside from the pandemic, reasoning for the uptick in brick-and-mortar avoidance includes more customers simply choosing to manage their accounts and conduct transactions through mobile applications or other digital devices.
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