What Happens If the Bank Makes a Mistake?

What happens if a bank makes a mistake with your money? Unfortunately, it's a lot more common than you think and depending on what the error was, may take some time to fix.

Sometimes the issue can be resolved simply by calling customer service or strolling into your local bank. However, other times, mistakes may take longer to troubleshoot.

Remember, it's important to look at your bank statements on a regular basis to ensure there are no mistakes, and if there are, to try and solve the problem immediately.

Steps to take

The first step to take is to bring it to an employee's attention, whether that be customer service or branch associates. If the person you speak with is unprofessional and not helpful (which many of our reviewers write about), try a different employee and when worse comes to worse, raise the issue with management.

Depending on how you prefer to deal with these types of situations, you may want to skip the employee and go straight to a manager to get your needs directly handled.

No matter what route you choose to take, be sure to note names, times and dates of when you spoke with whom. Also, it's important to note that no matter how upset you are about the situation, it's always best to handle the matter in a professional way, as this may be the fastest way to get your issue solved.

Other sources for help

There are times when banks just don't seem to handle the issues appropriately, and that's when you take your issue to government vehicles. One such organization is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is a department of the U.S. Treasury that works to ensure a safe banking system for all Americans.

For more on how to handle a bank error, see our in-depth article on how to successfully handle a dispute.