@ridgebackpilot wrote:
At this point I can't tell whether the Toyota dealer or Chase Auto is responsible for this situation. Checks do get lost in the mail; I'm a little surprised that businesses still exchange checks in this era of online payments and wire transfers. Whatever the case, it appears that the situaiton will be resolved soon. Thanks again for your thoughts!
A month ago I would have been surprised at the above comment. Then I changed jobs and submitted all of the paperwork to roll my (reasonably large) 401(K) over to my new company's plan. The money left the market as of 25-May and was mailed to a lockbox for the financial institution my new company uses to manage their 401(k) plan, it was allegedly never received. A second check was sent out via FedEx, arrived, and was then rejected and sent back to the sending financial institution. A third check was also sent, this time via USPS Priority Mail and once again, was never heard from again. Finally the fourth check, once again via FedEx, arrived and was accepted; the money finally made it into the market yesterday, fully five weeks after it came out. I mean, really? Sending hundreds of thousands of dollars via the U.S.P.S. in this day and age? What the Little Lord Fauntleroy (expletive self-deleted) were they thinking?
When I asked a CSR from my former company's financial institution which managed their 401(K) plan, they said State Street Bank was responsible for the sending of the checks, and they are the ones who reaped the benefits of "the float" for five freakin' weeks. I'm thinking they owe me a nice bottle of Veuve Clicquot in compensation, at the very least; a bottle of 2008 La Grande Dame would serve nicely thank you.
Sorry, I just needed to rant on the whole concept of checks being mailed to financial institutions in the year 2021. Grrrr!
@disdreamin wrote:
Good luck on getting this resolved, OP, and following to see how it all turns out.
Thanks for all your thoughts and comments. All's well that ends well: The dealership mailed Chase another payoff check, and this one appears to have cleared. The dealership sent me an electronic copy of their check, and I called Chase Auto to follow up. They put a research team on the case and it was resolved quickly. My old loan was paid off and I was issued a refund check for the extra payment I made to avoid being docked for a late payment.
In this case, it may have helped that I'm a Chase Private Client; the bank seems to be quite relationship-oriented. Still, I remain surprised that anyone deals in paper checks anymore!
@ridgebackpilot wrote:Still, I remain surprised that anyone deals in paper checks anymore!
Your comment once again resonated with me. The fourth check from my previous 401(K) account finally showed up in my new 401(K) account last Tuesday; I checked my balance Friday and WHAT!?! Suddenly my balance doubled! Apparently one of the three missing checks showed up and was processed into my account. Tomorrow ought to be interesting watching Transamerica undo this Charlie Foxtrot.
