Homepage / Money

204 Lebanon City Workers' Checks Bounce

Workers Notified Of Insufficient Funds In Lebanon's Account

POSTED: 4:32 pm CDT July 29, 2009
UPDATED: 7:25 pm CDT July 29, 2009

As information technology director for the city of Lebanon, Mike Collinsworth is used to solving hard problems. But after depositing his paycheck from the city, even he couldn't figure out why it bounced.

Related: Watch This Story

"I checked online with my bank, Suntrust, and sure enough, I was $836 to the negative (Tuesday) morning," he said.

It turns out that 204 of 300 city workers in Lebanon, including those in the fire department who tried to cash or deposit their paychecks Friday, are getting word from their banks that there are insufficient funds in the city's account.

Some employees said they'd already paid bills, expecting the money would be available.

"For every transaction that comes in that's a returned check or an overdraft fee, that's $35 or $40 in fees," said Collinsworth.

Russell Lee, Lebanon's commissioner of finance, said the city certainly has enough money in the bank to cover payroll. He said the bank the city uses, Bank of America, made the mistake.

"I guess you'd call it a glitch," Lee said. "There was some problem in their processing system, and it effectively returned part of the checks that had been deposited Friday. They don't know why it returned some, didn't return others."

In a letter, a Bank of America executive explained they recently implemented a new system to run Lebanon's payroll and said it did not work as anticipated and promised this would not happen again.

Bank of America informed other banks to redeposit the bounced checks and this time, they should go through.

"They're going to redeposit and run it through (Thursday); that's the earliest they can get it back, so at the moment, I'm still at $836 to the negative in my account," Collinsworth said.

Bank of America plans to cover any of those overdraft or returned check fees incurred by any city workers.

Because of the glitch, Lebanon's mayor is making plans for the city to switch its account to a local bank as well as offer direct deposit for employees.

Links We Like

Sponsored Content
To guard your job security, be sure to avoid these 10 common pitfalls. More

Thinking of remodeling? You don't have to spend a lot to add home value. See how even small updates can reap big financial returns. More

Great sex doesn't happen without some effort, especially in long-term relationships. Find fun ways to add passion to your relationship. More

The following tips can help your car become a less inviting target and slow down, discourage or actually prevent car theft. More

Credit Report

560? 675? 720? The average US Credit Score is 692. What is your score? See it online for FREE! More

Best Local Rates On...



LocalNational

30 Yr Fixed Mortgage4.96%5.01%

48 Mo New Car Loan6.01%6.58%

$30k Home Eq Loan7.39%7.80%

6 Month CD0.81%0.80%
Help! I don't understand!
More Rates


Sponsored Links

Stock Quotes

Get a Quote
Enter Symbol

Your Money

We Open This Edition Of Deals Of The Week With News From The Federal Reserve That Bank Interest Rates Won't Be Going Up Anytime Soon.  More

Honda Will Recall More Than 410,000 Odyssey Minivans And Element Small Trucks Because Of Braking System Problems.  More

Facebook May Be Introducing Personalized Barcodes That Users Could Scan With Their Smart Phones.  More

Apparently It Really Is The Thought That Counts, Not What You Buy.  More


Smart Savings

Do you catch yourself counting every penny these days? Find money-saving ideas big and small in our Smart Savings guide. More


E-Mail News Alerts
Get breaking news and daily headlines.
Browse all e-mail newsletters