MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Most of us use ATMs to get cash, but workers like restaurant servers or delivery drivers who get a lot of cash often use them for deposits at the end of their shift.
They may rethink the idea of depositing cash once they hear one Middletown, Ohio woman's story.
Colleen Curran recently went to her local Bank of America branch to do something she had done many times before.
"I put my card in to make a deposit," she said.
She had cash from her job for a deposit, though this time a lot more cash than her usual $200 or $300.
"The majority of the bills were was $100 increments," she said, "and it came to $2,220."
Yes, she attempted to insert over $2,000 cash. It turned out to be a bad idea.
Once Curran put it in, she claims, it just kept spinning around.
"The screen went dark, and there was no receipt or anything," she said.
Her $2,000 were gone.
What can you do in this case?
Granted, this doesn't happen every day. Most ATMs will accept cash just fine.
But there are some things you can do to make sure this doesn't happen to you.
- Think twice about depositing very large amounts of cash in an ATM.
- Avoid deposits at ATMs not owned by your bank.
The lifestyle site The Balance, meanwhile, says never make a cash ATM deposit if it is an essential deposit, such as to cover bills due tomorrow.
Any delay in posting will result in bounced checks.
We contacted Bank of America's corporate office, where a spokeswoman promised to investigate, and told us the next day "the matter has now been resolved."
Shortly after that, Curren said she was contacted by the bank, which told her they had located her cash and would restore it in the next billing cycle.
Good news — but she says lesson learned.
"Nobody expects a bank ATM to break," she said. "It was scary, it was not fun."
Big deposit? Make it inside the bank during business hours, and that way you don't waste your money.
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