Friday, January 19, 2007
CONSUMER ALERT: What You Don’t Know Can Cost You!
Most commercial and savings banks have discontinued the accounting practice of returning original cancelled checks to their account holders, replacing them with photocopies of both sides of each cancelled check instead. This way, account holders have a record of who actually signed the back of the check to redeem its face value.
This signature is universally required for resolving countless business transaction disputes. The back-of-check endorsement also proves ownership to resolve warrantee claims and is admissible as evidence in court cases. In short; no record of the back of each individual check, no legal documentation.
HBSC Bank, USA, N.A’s account holders have recently received written notice that they would no longer be receiving original cancelled checks, but photocopied facsimiles of these documents. When these statements arrived, consumers noticed that they had received photo facsimile copies of the face of each check only.
When they contacted HBSC management about these anomalies, consumers learned that a) the original checks had been destroyed and that b) if the consumers wished to have copies of both sides of a check, a $5 charge per check would be incurred. (Note: The Blog editor is not certain which statement is more disturbing- that the checks have been destroyed; that there is a sizeable service charge to receive a photo facsimile of both sides of one’s cancelled check OR how it is possible to make a photo facsimile from a check that allegedly has been destroyed!)
For some time it has been the practice for major financial institutions to include photo facsimile checks in lieu of originals in their accountholder’s monthly statements. Both Citibank, N.A. and Chase among many commercial and savings banks provide their account holders with monthly statements including photo facsimiles of their cancelled checks. Their monthly statements, however, provide BOTH sides of each cancelled check.
This is food for consumer thought if one pays bills by check and may require proof “down the road” that they did indeed pay their gas, electric and fuel bills, mortgage, child care, credit card(s)……to name a few!
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Kessler International, the leading forensic accounting, computer forensic and auditing firm, has opened two new offices recently, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Atlanta, Georgia. The new locations, in Lancaster at 2173 Embassy Drive, Lancaster, PA 17603, and in Atlanta at 260 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 2200, Atlanta, GA 30303, further expand Kessler’s nationwide presence. There are now 8 Kessler International locations nationwide (in addition to the Firm’s numerous offices in Europe and Asia), to meet their clients’ growing demand for the Company’s investigative and other specialized forensic services. With these new offices, Kessler International has expanded its premier investigative and forensic accounting services all along the Eastern seaboard, continuing to better serve as well as to continue to attract the nation’s most discriminating corporate, government and individual clients.
Michael G. Kessler, President & CEO of Kessler International notes, “Nationwide, demand is strong for high-caliber, discreet and thorough investigative and forensic consultants. We are experiencing a great demand for our services in the Middle Atlantic and Southern states.” Kessler continues: “These new offices additionally demonstrate that Kessler International knows the importance of building and maintaining solid business relationships and underscores our commitment to supporting these regions. The Company’s expansion into Pennsylvania and Georgia are highlights of a banner year wherein Kessler International’s highly-skilled staff and personalized service “raised the bar” even higher in ‘Setting the Standard for Investigative Excellence.’”
Some of the services offered by Kessler International‘s new offices include forensic accounting, internal corporate investigations, anti-counterfeiting and anti-diversion programs, computer forensics, cyber crime detection and evaluation, business intelligence and criminal and civil investigations. Additional areas of expertise include brand protection and asset tracing.
For more of Kessler’s long roster of “Success Stories” in 2006, please visit http://www.investigation.com/press.asp
Monday, November 20, 2006
Kessler International launches its new online blog dubbed “The Kessler Notebook”. Come back often to read about the recent headlines we’re creating around the globe as well as informative articles written by our staff of worldclass experts in forensic accounting, brand protection, computer forensics, and corporate investigations.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Visit Kessler International