Money Falling From The Sky
What fun to open an envelope from the UK and find a royalty check for an accounting text I wrote that came out in 1999 and has since been reprinted in paperback in Europe. It seems I’m big in the Netherlands. But the size of the check was totally unexpected. Ah, like money falling from the sky. While my royalty had been calculated in Pounds Sterling, the check was in US$ from a UK bank.
So, I dutifully stamped it for deposit and took it to my bank and handed it to a teller. About five days later, I got a letter from the bank telling me the check did not go through. They included a copy of the check (about 50% the size of the original) with the note that it was as good as the original for redepositing. And there were bank stamps over most of the front and back of the check, all of which were a bit blurred so one could not really read them. The reason for rejection on the cover letter was unclear. So I called the bank’s customer service number.
The nice agent was as mystified as I was, but it seemed to her a problem with the American banking routing number on the check. I noted to the agent that I have been receiving checks from this same bank for years and there never has been a problem before. It was the weekend, so she did not have access to full computer records and we agreed I would call my banking representative on Monday.
Monday came and I talked/emailed with my banking representative. She did some research and said that they thought there was an inadequate routing number on the check, that she had looked up and added the correct routing number, and would redeposit the check into my account.
Five days later, another letter arrived telling me that the check did not go through. This time, I contacted the publisher and arranged for a wire transfer of the funds (and all future royalties, may there be many) would also be wire transferred.
Today the wire transfer came through. Exchange rates had changed over the ensuing period (March 31 to June 8) so that I ended up with $50 less.
I also asked the publisher if they had heard from any other of their US authors about problems with depositing of royalty checks. Nope. Ah, well. Such is money falling from the sky.
So, I dutifully stamped it for deposit and took it to my bank and handed it to a teller. About five days later, I got a letter from the bank telling me the check did not go through. They included a copy of the check (about 50% the size of the original) with the note that it was as good as the original for redepositing. And there were bank stamps over most of the front and back of the check, all of which were a bit blurred so one could not really read them. The reason for rejection on the cover letter was unclear. So I called the bank’s customer service number.
The nice agent was as mystified as I was, but it seemed to her a problem with the American banking routing number on the check. I noted to the agent that I have been receiving checks from this same bank for years and there never has been a problem before. It was the weekend, so she did not have access to full computer records and we agreed I would call my banking representative on Monday.
Monday came and I talked/emailed with my banking representative. She did some research and said that they thought there was an inadequate routing number on the check, that she had looked up and added the correct routing number, and would redeposit the check into my account.
Five days later, another letter arrived telling me that the check did not go through. This time, I contacted the publisher and arranged for a wire transfer of the funds (and all future royalties, may there be many) would also be wire transferred.
Today the wire transfer came through. Exchange rates had changed over the ensuing period (March 31 to June 8) so that I ended up with $50 less.
I also asked the publisher if they had heard from any other of their US authors about problems with depositing of royalty checks. Nope. Ah, well. Such is money falling from the sky.
posted by Bud Hirsch at 10:59 AM
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