teller to Black woman trying to make withdrawal: 'I Just Don't Feel Comfortable Giving It you'

[Demovictory9]

‘I Just Don’t Feel Comfortable Giving It to You’: TD Bank Teller Refuses to Give Connecticut Black Woman Money from Her

https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/03/18/i-just-dont-feel-comfortable-giving-it-to-you-td-bank-teller-refuses-to-give-connecticut-black-woman-money-from-her-own-account/


“I go inside, I had my TD bank card and my license,” Samuel said. “They were cordial. I’m not even gonna say they were rude.”


Businesswoman Gwen Samuel told Fox 61 a bank teller told her she didn’t “feel comfortable” giving her the money when she requested to withdraw cash from her account.

She waited for few minutes, assuming at first that nothing unusual was happening.

“And I see her over there and I was like, ‘Oh, she looks like she’s going through my account. OK, maybe that’s just the policy,’” she said.

What happened next made Samuel wonder if she was valued differently by the bank because of her race, despite having an account there.

“She hands me my license and she says, ‘I don’t feel comfortable giving you the money,'” said Samuel, who was attempting to withdraw somewhere around $1,000.

“So I got confused, so I said, ‘You don’t feel comfortable giving me the money,'” she said. “She said, ‘Well, you just deposited the check yesterday.'”

Samuel spoke up to tell the woman the check had cleared, and the teller confirmed it.


“And she said, ‘Oh yeah, it cleared. The money is available. I just don’t feel comfortable giving it to you,’” Samuel said.

https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/03/18/i-just-dont-feel-comfortable-giving-it-to-you-td-bank-teller-refuses-to-give-connecticut-black-woman-money-from-her-own-account/

[dameatball]

1. Man, this lady is a lot more gracious about it then I would have expected. WTF? Without more

details from the article the most obvious explanation is....ohhhhh....a power tripping, racist teller?? Curious if the bank has any plausible explanation.

[nebby70]

4. How gracious....

... the teller 'didn't feel comfortable????....
...I didn't realize that was part of the criteria for verification....
.... I'm sure I couldn't have been nearly as calm and kind as this lady ... (for surely she defines the word lady)

[brush]

15. I'd have demanded to see the manager and close my account...

immediately if they didn't apologize and fire the racist teller who didn't feel comfortable giving me my own money.

There's no excuse for that, and no excuse for being passive about it. Raise holy hell. Threaten to sue even.

[LizBeth]

50. +1

[Nexus2]

60. She was probably worried about them calling the police and ending up the one blamed [nt]

[Trueblue1968]

2. teller needs to be fired RIGHT NOW.

[Trueblue1968]

3. i hope that lady sues the bank for $43.678,095.00 ---- racial discrimination

[burrowowl]

6. Ditto

[malaise]

14. THIS

Madness

[jaxexpat]

18. Yep, it's the heart and soul of Jim Crow.

The fact of the teller acting on her prejudice is mind boggling but the simple reality that the teller had the thought, "I don't think I can trust this colored person", pass through their mind is the naked face of racism.

That racism hides in the dark places of everyone's lower brain. It's a tribal instinct born of primitive mammalian fear of strangeness, the unknown, and honed by the challenges of neolithic survival. All those vestigial "reasons" linger in the recesses of our subconscious like the appendix rests at the end of the colon, dormant and useless, potentially lethal. To loose them in the modern world is weakness and lack of self control, shameful and, just as you say, madness.

[malaise]

20. Racists perpetuate racism

and so do most institutions in society. The institutions also find new ways to spread lies about superior races.

[Demovictory9]

5. agreed.

[uponit7771]

7. +1,

[raccoon]

10. Amen to that. Nt

[Lucinda]

8. FFS - I tagged the bank main with the article on Twitter

I hope she changes banks and there is an exodus right behind her.....horrible statement from the bank.

I think I tagged the main TD bank act in this twitter post:

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Cha]

67. Rt TY Lucinda! The teller should have

told her if they had a policy against it!

I would have said.. may I speak to the manager & see if they're comfortable giving me my money?

[Lucinda]

69. The whole thing is so shady Cha. The customer already knew the funds had cleared

and told the teller that. Which I think she confirmed. It was just pure hatefulness from where I sit...

[Cha]

70. Right.. it looks like

the TD banks are all over the place.

Does it say where this bank is located?

Yeah, power tripping.. looks like she chose the wrong woman to mess with.

[Lucinda]

71. Yeah...it mentions which city it was in...and I tagged the main bank on twitter

I was doubly mad after the bank statement sounded like they were just excusing it

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. W... T... F?!

I'm a white guy, and I had a similarly weird experience about 25 years ago. I was told that I couldn't withdraw a particular amount of cash just MINUTES after I had deposited a greater amount of cash into my account! (I had accidentally deposited too much cash while forgetting an upcoming expense.)

I was told it was their "policy", though, not that the teller didn't feel comfortable with me!

[FBaggins]

13. Neither transaction sounds that unreasonable

Transaction speed is getting faster and faster, but it still takes some amount of time for transactions to post and (in the case of a check) for the risk of loss to subside.

There are scams where a crook deposits cash and then uses the receipt to withdraw cash from multiple locations. The bank can’t tag the withdrawal against the new balance because it hasn’t shown up yet.

In the case of a $1000 check, it isn’t at all uncommon for funds to not be available the next day. There is a short period of time after the bank receives funds when the drawee bank can still reverse the transaction. It’s much shorter than it used to be when I was a teller (as much as 11 business days), but not being able to get cash the next day isn’t unusual.

What is unusual is the story of how they told her... which of course is unacceptable... but also just one person’s story.

[hardluck]

25. Reg CC

Deposits of cash are available next business day. Although when I was a teller in the 90s something like what you did, I’d waive or get a supervisor to waive.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

26. It was amazing to me because it was at the same bank.

I turned around before I even left the place. Then I showed my receipt and pointed out the teller who just took the cash deposit. No matter at that place, per "policy".

Back in the days when debit cards and ATM's were more rare. Lol.

[2naSalit]

29. Most ATMs have a limit far less than...

she needed. You can only get so much/day. I once needed about $5K and my cu is a couple hundred miles away. I function off a debit card and an ATM at the local cu for free. My daily allowable limit from my cu is $2500 and the daily limit at the free ATM was $500. I found that the ATMs around town had different limits and I spent two and a half days collecting enough cash to make a cash purchase of a car, a private transaction.

So if this lady wanted about $1K, She would have needed to go to several ATMs.

Racism need to go.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

31. True.

I think that amount that I wanted to withdraw was only about $500 back then, though.

This story involving the black woman definitely strikes me as racist!

[2naSalit]

33. Oh it is totally racist.

[bdamomma]

62. Sickening

I would have done what a another DU said, withdraw your money from the bank, and go somewhere else.

[2naSalit]

63. That would be my response.

[dawn5651]

11. head office for td is in toronto i hope she called ...and yes i know this happened in the united

states...but sometimes you gotta go to the head office.

[Ziggysmom]

12. So sick of racial BS

When I would go shopping with black friends, department stores like Macy’s or Penney’s, I could walk around for an hour and not be approached by a salesperson. But my friends were constantly bombarded and followed. They brushed it off and said they were used to such behavior. Nobody should have to get used to such crap.

[Aussie105]

21. Racial profiling at a very unintelligent level.

Wife gets stopped and searched every time she flies .

Fits the profile of a nanna smuggler / drug runner, you see.

Became a joke after a while.
Me: I bet you get pulled aside when you check in.
Wife: Grimaces, but says nothing.

Sure enough, next minute . . . stern looking official wonders why we are laughing.

[tymorial]

16. Wow. That's a disgusting wow.

If a white person ever needs an example of "you have no idea what it's like", that's it.

I have no words

[johnthewoodworker]

17. This is our new Republican/Nazi America, POC are officially 2nd class. Read the paper.

[Hekate]

59. This is the old America, nothing new at all. The racists dusted off Old Jim Crow and...

...gave him a new suit, fresh sheets, new MAGA hat and instructions to travel the whole country, where he found he was now welcome.

Read the history.

[Aussie105]

19. As a closet white supremacist nazi

that teller must have lots of bad moments when 'not white' people come in to withdraw money.

Who know what they will do with it?
And $1,000 is such a lot of money for an irresponsible colored person!

/sarcasm

Teller needs a new job. A kick up the backside and a backroom position counting pennies.

Or just fire her. I'm sure that bank has a PR or complaints section.

[DFW]

22. I think I would hve been speechless for a moment

I would have then said, "well, then please put that in writing with your signature, and I will find another teller more comfortable at doing her job."

Whether or not that teller would have held on to her job after seeing reports on the incident in the paper the next day and on the local TV news, would have been of no concern to me.

I have the feeling that these things sometimes have consequences in the States. Here in Germany, nothing ever happens in such situations. I was once yelled at and cursed out as a "foreigner" when I tried to buy some stuff at a local health food store. The woman at the cashier started screaming that I was trying to pass off a fake €100 bill. Since the bill had come from the bank, I was rather confident it was legit, but I asked what she found so suspicious about it. She said there was no such signature as the one found on my bill. The European Central Bank had just changed directors a year before, and so the signatures on the paper money were changing over from Wim Duisenberg to the new director, Jean--Claude Trichet. She was apparently unfamiliar with Trichet's signature, but any idiot dealing with money in a retail situation knows that the last thing a counterfeiter would do is put a completely fictitious signature on a bill they trying to pass off as real. I was so furious, I went and made out a report at the local police station (anything resembling Nazi behavior is investigated if a formal report is made), and wrote to the head office of the health food store chain. The woman kept her job (I was furious, but she's German, and I'm not), but she did receive a few visits from both her higher-ups and the local constabulary. I have never set foot in the store since.

[blueinredohio]

23. She should have called the bank manager and said

I don't feel comfortable with this teller waiting on me and if that's how its going to be when I want a withdrawal then I don't feel comfortable doing business at this bank either.

[Progressive Jones]

48. I would have gone full on "Karen" in that situation. I would have "caused a scene". nt

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

24. I would immediately close all of my accounts there.

[2naSalit]

34. +1

[Deminpenn]

27. Lots of banks have policies about the deposit

and withdrawal timeframes. For ex, my bank identifies between balance and available balance.

[BradAllison]

51. But that does not seem to be the issue here. (n/m)

[Crunchy Frog]

54. Then why wouldn't the teller simply explain what the policy was? And why was she able to withdraw

the money from a different office of the same bank?

[Deminpenn]

68. Yes, that was curious

nt

[Ms. Toad]

64. Banks are required to follow Federal fund availability rules.

They can make money available more quickly, but they can't hold money longer before making it available.

[Vinca]

28. I would have then asked if she felt comfortable closing the account because now that was going

to happen. If the bank has a stated policy about not releasing money from deposited checks for X number of days to allow the check to clear, the teller should have explained that to the woman and told her when the money would be available. If that wasn't the case, the bank should consider what amount to write on a check to settle the matter of a potential discrimination lawsuit.

[Solomon]

30. The facts in the story said that the teller had confirmed that the check had cleared.

So why are so many people trying to excuse the teller by saying the bank needs a waiting period to know the check had cleared?

[Karma13612]

36. Exactly

I know our regional bank (which has locations in NY and PA), treats deposits of checks written on same bank as cash deposits with money immediately available.

If hubby wrote me a check on his account and handed it to me to deposit in my account, the money would be available as cash immediately.

This was pure horse nuggets.

She made this woman drive around to ATM/s to get the money she had every right to get from the teller.

Tellers sometimes play ‘deciders in chief’ and impose more restrictions than their authority gives them. In NYS, a few years ago, tax refund checks were getting stolen so there were some strange rules in place for deposits or cashing of said checks. So, when our joint filing tax refund check arrived in the mail, with my husbands name since he files for us, I got his required signature, added my signature and then took it to the bank to deposit in my account.
The teller refused to let me deposit the check in my account. Hubby was currently out of town on a fishing trip. My choice was to wait for him to be present (what is this, the 50’s??) or deposit in his account.

Screw that. I marched the deposit slip and check outside, stuffed them into a overnight deposit envelope and slipped the envelope into the night depository.

No questions, no problems, the check was deposited into my account.

I happen to be white, but apparently I fit some profile the teller finds suspicious. There are a lot of addicts and ner’ do wells in the area of this branch of the bank. Maybe she paints with a broad brush. I use the branch because it isn’t smack dab in the middle of downtown which is congested at midday.

[Vinca]

53. My bank does that and I'm white. In fact, I have 3 accounts at the same bank and if I

move money from one account to the other and it's over $1,000 I have to wait until the next day to pay anything with a debit card from the account the money has been moved to. And if the debit card purchase is going to be over $1,000 I have to notify the bank beforehand or the card will be rejected at the point of sale/service. It's definitely a nuisance and when we've encountered that problem we've just pulled out a credit card. We probably wouldn't have to deal with this issue if there weren't so many scamsters in the world, but it is what it is. I don't think we should automatically assume everything is race related. It may be this teller was profiling or it might not be.

[Demsrule86]

55. Change banks. But in my opinion this is not the same. The money had cleared and was available.

Thus the teller made a decision to withhold the money...she needs to be fired immediately.

[MrsCoffee]

72. Not the same thing. She wasn't trying to use a debit card. She was standing in the bank.

I don’t think we should automatically assume your situations were even remotely identical.

[ProfessorGAC]

75. That's Weird!

That isn't the case for our CU. Never has been. (The CU is our PFI, Primary Financial Institution)
Just 3 weeks ago, I found a fantastic older convertible for sale. Agreed in principle. Drove home, went on line to bank #3, transferred 5 grand from savings to checking.
Walked back to dealer (only around 6 blocks), paid with a debit card. Transaction went through instantly, and it was a couple hundred more than I transferred. (Obviously, there was already money in the checking account)
So, that's 2 banks where I know what you experience does not happen.
I'd look into a bank that has a more efficient process. It's clearly possible.

[mainer]

32. Thee've been online scams about "cleared deposits"

My son was selling an item and was told the buyer’s check had cleared. He was about to ship the item when it turned out the check was fraudulent and it really takes up to a week for deposits to actually be cleared.

[Solomon]

40. Look. Did you read the article? Not only did the teller confirm that the check had cleared, the

teller said, and I quote: "the money is available".

This is racism pure and simple as it gets.

[mainer]

47. you're right, since the other branch gave it to her

It's just that my son was also told the check had "cleared" when in fact it hadn't. So that was confusing to him.

[Demsrule86]

57. And she got the money from a different branch where tellers were not racist.

[mainer]

49. I looked up the issue

It explains why my son's bank told him the check had "cleared" but the funds weren't available:

Depending on the amount of the check, you may have access to the full amount in two days. Some banks make a portion of the check available immediately or within one business day. For example, your bank might make $150 or $200 of a $500 check available immediately, or within one business day of the deposit, and make the balance of the check available in two days.

The bank may be likely to clear checks right away if you have a consistent history with a certain payer. Say, you're a freelancer and receive checks every other month for work you do for that company.

The bank may hold the initial check to make sure it clears. If you let them know you are expecting similar checks from the same company on a regular basis, the bank may release the funds to you for subsequent deposits after a pattern is established.

Large Deposits
It bears mentioning again that large deposits may come with longer hold time. Some banks may hold checks that total $1,500 or higher for as many as 10 days.

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/081716/how-long-does-it-take-check-clear.asp

[Demsrule86]

56. The funds were available and if a bank did that to me I would take my money out.

This is not the same thing...racism is what it is.

[Johnny2X2X]

35. The banks statement is almost worse than what happened

Zero real apology, blamed Ms. Samuel for not understanding their explanation. Sickening.

[lagomorph777]

37. Is that teller still employed?

She should definitely not be employed.

[Demsrule86]

58. Fire her immediately.

[greenjar_01]

38. Wow...

[Fullduplexxx]

39. No problem they just sent her to the blacks only TD bank

Jeezuz this makes me sick

That teller didnt say this transaction violates any policy she said. " I " as in me myself and no one else feel uncomfortable doing this.

[Bettie]

41. The funds are either available or they aren't

If funds are available, the bank should be able to process a withdrawal.

The teller was wrong and the bank's non-apology is bullshit, evidenced by the fact that she was able to withdraw from an ATM.

If the funds were not available that wouldn't have been possible either.

[Karma13612]

73. +1000..nt

[Baitball Blogger]

42. Awful!

[live love laugh]

43. BBHMM

Reference: Rihanna

[Maru Kitteh]

44. I don't know what state this was in but the client should end up with

a WHOLE LOT MORE than the initially requested $1000 OF HER OWN MONEY.

[electric_blue68]

61. What's that new word? Caudacity? 😠

Last edited Fri Mar 19, 2021, 11:50 PM - Edit history (1)

[applegrove]

65. Is this a trend? First Ron Johnson claims it is normal to be afraid of BLM

VS a white mob if seditionists and now some women has feelings on a black woman taking money out of her account? Have they been told to stop calling the authorities on black people doing their jobs and start exploring their feelings on people of colour in their outside voice? To keep the racist magic going?

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

66. I think the branch manager

will have a tough time explaining it when called up to a meeting at the board. If the teller refused the transaction because the teller thought she saw red flags pop up, than did not take the transaction to a supervisor , the teller if not fired will end up in a file room along with temp workers for a good long time . However if the teller's feeling uncomfortable is actually the branch manager's take on that, the teller may not take the fall alone for the tight reign kept over the bank employees.(subordinates) I think Gwen is a smart business woman who knows how to get around a problem. Solve the problem than get back to yer desk and get on the phone with the main office and present the issue at hand. I rather suspect the branch manager is behind the problem. If the problem was really an issue at that branch , a simple call to her branch will have been the resolve. And the branch manager or the next in line has to make that call. And such a call can turn out to be very embarrassing given there is an indication that one does not know one's job. On the other hand the teller could be a Trump freak .

[JI7]

74. Any updates to this ?