Dump Bank Giving Me A Hard Time...

Was just wondering, when you take the coins back to the bank are they rolled or just loose>? My son and I do pennies mostly and I re-roll them. I havent had any problem ,we only take 1 box back at a time though, and I have gone to 4 different banks either to cash them in or trade in for another box, lol.

Very nice post unholyroller. I have no problem with roll hunting (used to do it myself) but get tired of seeing people complain about banks (i.e. businesses) cutting them off. I'm not sure where the sense of entitlement comes from where they think a bank should order as many boxes as an individual wants for their collecting purposes or searching for silver. Or where they think a bank should have to cater to their coin dumping even if the individual opens a token savings account with the minimum in the account. How much money exactly is a bank going to make off someone with a $25 savings account compared to the cost of someone dumping coin there every week or every two weeks? It costs them time and money to process these transactions so it would make sense to not overdo it at any one branch.

I'll post this here rather than start a new thread since this seems on-topic. After reading this thread I'm concerned I may need to adjust my practises for coin roll hunting.

I live in a small town in Eastern Canada, where only 3 of the 5 major Canadian banks are represented, with one branch for each. I bank with only one of these, so naturally I went in there a couple of weeks ago when I started. I've been withdrawing and depositing boxes of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. In two weeks I've withdrawn 9 boxes total and deposited 7 of those. These boxes are standard amounts, full of a fixed amount of hand-rolled coins that have on the bank floor, or in the vault - and I return them in the same way. Besides a spot check to count the number of rolls, people generally take you at your word here. Seems to be very little hassle involved in exchanging coin, and I haven't got the feeling that I've overstayed my welcome. The tellers who have seen me more than once simply seem curious, and are satisfied when I tell them I'm a collector, or looking for silver coins. I really wouldn't want my bank to take exception with me, so should I change the way I'm going about roll hunting? The next nearest branch of my bank is 45 minutes away, so not really an option for transactions in business hours.

Haha, I just compared banks to restaurants in another thread. I wasnt copying you unholyroller, I promise!

@unfamiliar: I wouldn't raise a stink, as you put it. In the end, I think all it would end up doing to make this particular branch even more upset.

At this point I have to wonder is it worth it to keep this branch as a dump branch? Forget the nice tellers you've dealt with up to this point, the manager has raised their own stink on the subject. Even if you fight this, call their higher ups, and walk in every time with a letter from the Bank's CEO stating you have permission to do this, there is always the chance that this branch manager will find other ways to try and block you dumping coins. Or, worse yet, find a way to alert other branch managers about you such as making a phone call or flagging your account (no idea if this ever happens, but you never know).

Instead, cut your losses and either don't return to this branch, or don't conduct coin collecting business at this branch. I have a branch of BofA that I never do coin collecting business with, and they don't know me as a coin collector. This way I always have a local branch to go into to conduct normal business.

Instead take the time to find ALL of the branches of this bank that you could visit and try dumping a box off there. I can almost promise that you will find many more branches that won't raise a fuss over what you are doing. Plus, the less often you visit a bank branch (either for dumping or buying) the less of a worry you have of repeating this example.

Better yet, find a different bank and opening the smallest account there you can (make sure there are no hidden fees that will overdraw your account with them without knowing). For example, I am thinking of going to a Wells Fargo or small credit union and doing this. You've just increased your resources on bank branches you can visit to buy and dump coins, keeping in mind the more branches you can visit, the less worry you have of being pushed around by a bank manager.

And lastly, if you really feel like pushing back a little, ask the branch manager if this is a company wide policy, or just their personal policy, and ask them to back it up in writing by showing you a copy of a User Agreement or Terms and Conditions fine print. I've done this a few times for things not related to coin collecting, and half of the time when the branch manager can't produce a written policy and they are caught in a bluff (which this might just be that), they back off. Big risk, and not really sure it would be worth it when the option to go to a different bank seems less of a hassle to me, but it is your choice. Besides, maybe your bank does have a written out policy that states how many boxes of coins one can deposit within a period of time, and you just are unaware of it. =)

Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

For what it's worth, I backed off.

For exactly the reason MadMortician explained. I didn't want the bank manager doing something that would ruin my relationship at the other branches.

The manager called me the next morning to explain that he had to stick to his guns on this because it was costing them money, but he wanted to work with me and would take and buy as much coin as I wanted for a fee. I told him I appreciated his offer and would consider it, and ended the call.

Like MM suggested, I just won't go into that branch anymore for coin related business and keep it as the branch I use for all non-coin activity.

@Unfamiliar: Let us know what happens at other branches. Like I said, I don't see you finding the same situation at every bank. Love to hear an update after you visit a few different branches!